Feeding the Belly-
there's a baby in there and they are eating what you
eat.
Okay, so two years ago I didn't know what "organic" meant. I
thought that healthy eating was a colorful plate with fruits and veggies and
that an apple was a healthy snack. I thought that those people who
were weird about the labels on their food were mother earth worshipping hippies
and I considered myself to be a pretty healthy eater.
Then, I made some friends who explained to me the difference between organic
and non-organic foods, and what is means if something is "genetically
modified" or GMO. I tell you people, I do not look at food the same.
I wanted to include this in my birth journey because choosing to eat the right
things has been a major part of carrying this baby, and has often been a
struggle. A few months ago, I had a breakdown in Safeway when I was grocery
shopping with my husband because it was almost Valentine's day and the bakery
was full of heart shaped cookies and pastries and delicious looking cakes and I
looked at it all and started to cry. "Why are you crying?" he wondered
as I stood there blubbering next to my shopping cart. "Because it's not
fair!" I exclaimed, "They make it all look so good and it smells like
heaven over here, but it's really so bad for me and for the baby!" And
then he patted me on the back and said, "Sweetie, you can eat whatever you
want to." And I said, "No! Those are full of toxic chemicals for me
and for my baby." And then I marched off to the ice cream aisle and got
some organic ice cream.
There was a night last week that I dreamed, yes
dreamed about
buying a hot fudge sundae pop-tart and sticking that puppy in the microwave
until it was melty and gooey and chocolatey and mmmmm....but then I looked at
the back of the box ( in real life) and actually felt a little sick to my
stomach. My baby is forced to ingest whatever it is that I eat, and why would I
want to pump their frail little body with artificial dyes and colors?
That particular flavor of pop-tart contains Red 40, Yellow 6, and Blue 1.Yellow
6. The toxins in these dyes are known to cause cancer, hyperactivity in
children, asthma, skin rashes, migraines and
even
affect children's learning abilities. Most are already banned in other
countries too. Caramel color, which has shown to cause lung cancer in mice with
long term exposure, also made it into this breakfast food.
I tell you people, you will be shocked about what's in food if you really pay
attention! And it wasn't my fault that I didn't know that non-organic apples
are actually SUPER bad for you, they are the most contaminated,
pesticide-sprayed food you can buy. They just soak up the bug killing chemicals
like a sponge and then yum yum you sink your teeth in and eat it up! How could
I know that, when the food companies weren't talking? So don't feel bad,
please! Just consider yourself warned and hopefully we can all be more informed
and make better food choices in the future.
Before I dive in with any more horrifying food facts, I first want to define
something, "Organic". What does Organic really mean?
If the fruits and veggies you are buying say that they are "Organic"
that means that they were grown by the farmers without the use of pesticides
(which essentially is bug killing poison. Think Raid), synthetic fertilizers,
sewage sludge, genetic modification (which is where they go in and literally
change the DNA of the plant to make it produce more, or be a specific
color...think Frankenstein. Also, not healthy for the plant or you) or
ionizing radiation.
For meats, Organic means that they are raised without anti-biotics, growth
hormones, or non-organic food (you are what you eat and what your food eats).
It is good when buying meats to look for terms like "Free Range" in
chicken, which means that they aren't given toxic feed pumped with growth
hormones, and "Grass Fed" for beef which means they eat
grass like cows are SUPPOSED to, not stuffed with growth hormone corn meal
feed.
So maybe by now you are feeling outraged. How could farms and companies feed us
this garbage? Well, farming organically takes a longer amount of time and costs
a lot more money, so if farmers can get away with it, they will use all of
these toxins to pump out more produce faster. That's just the society we live
in, selling people poison for profit.
I used to think that milk was good for me. Have you heard of RBST? That stands
for
recombinant bovine somatotropin which is
basically a growth hormone that is supposed to make cows produce more
milk. And to some degree, it does, but it also has a nasty side effect of
making the cows sick when they are injected, so the farmers always give a shot
of RBST and a shot of anti-biotics into the cow, which of course goes straight
into the milk. Milk from cows treated with rBST has been shown to contain
higher levels of insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a hormone that occurs naturally
in both cows and humans.
Higher levels of IGF-1 in humans have been
associated with prostate, colon and breast cancer. Icky, icky stuff.
It is possible to buy RBST-free milk or even better Organic milk, which
actually IS good for you and contains loads of calcium instead of chemicals!
Drink up! :)
I used to think that honey was good for me. And honey in it's unpasteurized,
natural, raw form totally is! However, anything else is just artificial
filler.What makes honey so healthy is the presence of bee pollen which is
packed with important proteins in the form of amino acids. Unfortunately,
the majority of honey sold in America is filtered of any bee pollen and
pumped with corn syrup and artificial sweeteners in its place. Again, this is
easy to avoid. Just look at the label for the words "unpasteurized"
or "raw" and you'll be in a sweet place!
Salmon is healthy food, right? Wrong. When buying salmon, always choose wild
caught and organic. (By the way when you're out at your favorite restaurant or
sushi place and you order the "salmon", they are NOT using the
healthy kind.) Aside from the dangers of excessive mercury, a large
portion of the salmon sold in stores has been dyed to appear healthy and
appetizing. The diet of aquarium pellets that farmed fish is fed leaves them
malnourished and as a result their flesh looks dull and grey. Nothing a
little food coloring can’t fix! The pellets are infused with a chemical
coloring agent not far off from the paint you use to decorate your walls. Not a
pretty picture I’d say.
Now for the real doozy.
So most of us know that "processed foods" aren't considered a typical
healthy diet, even the supermarkets will tell you to put down the twinkie and
pick up a banana if you want to make the "healthy choice" but most of
us like to make the occasional exception, especially when we're eight months
pregnant and the pop-tarts are calling our names, but let's take a closer look
at what it is that we are eating and see if one time is so harmless after all.
Goldfish, The snack that smiles back-
Man, I used to love these little guys! I lived on these in my church nursery
growing up. The first ingredient listed is enriched wheat flour, which
basically means that so many natural ingredients were stripped away in
the processed flour that things have to be added back in. The iron added
is a metallic form that our bodies just can’t absorb fully. As for the folic
acid, research now shows that the fortification of foods with folic acid
is linked to cancer.
Moving on to the cheddar cheese–it’s not organic. That means the cows ate a
diet of genetically modified grains and then produced milk for the cheese,
which we know contains RBST.
These are all reasons enough to flush these fish, and this is only the third
ingredient. That cheese also contains annatto as a coloring agent. Although
it’s from a natural source, the seeds of the achiote bush, annatto has
been linked to irritable bowel syndrome.
Finally, the vegetable oils. Unlike olive or coconut oils that are extracted
from pressing, vegetable oils are made in a very unnatural way. The oils are
heated to unsafe temperatures, oxidized and then treated with petroleum
solvents. Then the oil is treated with chemicals to make the color and odor of
the oil more pleasant. On top of that, they are also made from GMO crops like
corn and soy.
Yoplait Go-Gurt- These yogurt tubes may seem like a healthier snack option when
it comes to processed foods. A look at the ingredients shows the typical
culprit of conventional dairy. Animal products are the first products you
should be buying organic. Along with the genetically modified dairy you’ll
find modified corn starch, which is also GMO. Go-Gurt also contains 2/3 of
the daily recommended amount of sugar for children in just one tube. The
thickener carrageenan, shown to cause intestinal problems in animals, is
also used. An ingredient we haven’t yet discussed is potassium sorbate. This
preservative can cause allergic reactions, nausea, diarrhea, and even DNA
damage. The convenience of a squeezable yogurt isn’t really worth all of those
risks.
Kellogg's Froot Loops (or other cereal)- You may have heard that Kellogg’s
Froot Loops contain weedkiller. It’s because of the GMO sugar, corn and soy
that are prevalent in this breakfast cereal. The partially hydrogenated
vegetable oil is GMO and contains trans fats, which are considered to be the
worst kind of fat and are linked to serious health risks.The unique spelling of
“froot” is probably because you won’t find any real fruit in this cereal. What
you will find is a vibrant array of colors. Froot Loops also has 6
artificial and natural colors on the ingredients list. So by starting
your day with a bowl full of colored cereal, you’re setting up your
growing baby for hyperactivity and an increased risk for ADD or ADHD.
Hostess Twinkies (or any other of these type of snacks) -The twinkie has never
really gotten a reputation as a health food. The ingredients
include partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, shortening, and beef fat–all
trans fats. It also has the usual offenders of enriched bleached white flour,
high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, MSG, and artificial colors. That means over
fortified flour, dangerous GMOS, and toxic food additives and colors.
You get the idea...I've gotten to the point where it is hard for me to eat food
outside of my home! I'm off to subway for lunch and then I remember that the
vegetables are sprayed with bug poison, the chicken is fed growth hormones, the
ranch will contain RBST and potassium sorbate, and that the bread they use
contains Azodicarbonamide, which is the same chemical used to make yoga
mats, shoe soles, and other rubbery objects. It’s not supposed to be food or
even eaten for that matter. And it’s definitely not “fresh”.
Instead, I do a lot of cooking at home, which is better for my budget in the
first place. Speaking of budget, let me be fair and warn you that if you want
to pursue a lifestyle of eating real food, that it may take a toll on your
wallet. Organic food is SO MUCH more expensive than conventional brands, which
may take some sacrifice on your part, but if there's one thing I know it is
that when cutting corners with your finances, paying for your health is never
something that you want to pass on. Invest in your body and your kid's bodies,
because you only get one.
