Angie called this morning looking for Pedialyte.. Uh Oh... looks like her little bud has got the stomach flu now too! A little while later she called back suggesting I write a post about Splenda in juice... well... you know that shit pisses me off... but seeing as Angie was about to burst with rage I suggested she write her own post.
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Here's Angie in all her rage...
Okay, this could be a short story or a long story. But since I am so flustered and my baby is sleeping and I am no mood to do the work that I should be doing, it's going to be a long story.
I went into my son's bedroom this morning (he's almost 2). Immediately I was hit with the rancid smell of vomit. It was everywhere. But he was super happy so we debated about whether to take him to day care. He sucks his middle two fingers when he sleeps so we thought he might have accidentally gagged himself. But then he had a runny diaper, so I decided to keep him home. Luckily I did, because in the following 2 hours he had 6 or so diarrhea diapes (one of which was so bad that it immediately ended up all over MY pants as we were snuggling. He also threw up once--and yes all over me because we were still snuggling.
So I figure, this kid needs pedialyte. I decide to call my husband and ask him to run and get it, because this kid is puking or pooping every 5 minutes and there is no way I want to try to go and get it. But, NOOOOO, that's not going to work. Because I have the car. Where is our 2nd car? Oh, that would be 150 miles away in my hometown. Why is it there you ask? Because on thanksgiving night, we hit a deer headon going 55 miles an hour. Luckily we were all safe (and even better our son was not with us as it was 11p at night and we had just ATTEMPTED to see a movie that was sold out--the person in front of us bought the last ticket). Anyway, our car was badly injured and they are still fixing it. So I have the only car and thus I must attempt to go the store to get it.
We get about 2 minutes from home and he vomits all over himself and the car. He actually pukes like 3 times. So I head home, change him, and head out again. We make it to Target this time. And believe it or not, the above is not what I am frustrated about.
I am bopping around the store as quickly as I can for the reasons described above. I grab pedialyte. I grab more diapers. Then go and grab some juice. The nurse at our pediatrician's office recommends combining the plain pedialyte with some white juice--masks the taste and if he pukes again it will not be bright red crap on the couch. So I grab the only white juice (white cranberry) that i see and head to the check out. Oh yea, i take a minute to find the doritos, because I need my comfort food.
All is well, no puking, no pooping. We make it safely to the car.
Then I get home to mix the juice and pedialyte. But then i notice 2 distrubing facts. First the "juice" is only 24% juice. UGH!! Now, I rarely buy juice for the babe...so i don't remember i am suppose to triple check this. But i figure, ah heck, that's okay he's sick. I am not going to obsess on this.
But then I notice the other little thing on the label. The splenda label. Seriously??? Splenda in juice. WHY??? Do we really need to put splenda in kid's juice. Do we need fake sugar in juice?? Seriously. Now I am a diet dr. pepper/diet coke fanatic. I gave it up the entire time i was pregant and most of the time i was nursing. I think the fake sugar stuff is bad for you. And I sure in hell don't want to give it to my baby. So I am livid. But he is asking for something to drink and he's tired and i don't want to take him out again (how likely would it be that my luck would last and he wouldn't end up puking all over us at the store) so i give it to him.
So I ask you...or you as freaked about giving splenda to kids as I am? Do you think that adding fake sugar to juice is totally ridiculous and stupid. I mean come on, it's juice! There's natural good sugars in there. Do we really have to a society where splenda is in everything.
Thanks for listening. I feel better already. And thanks Mrs. F for giving me a forum for my frustration.
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Mrs. F here...
I do NOT give my children artifical sweeteners nor do I consume them myself at all when I am pregnant or breastfeeding.
Some links on artificial sweeteners HERE andHERE and HERE
Now I do want to note that I do not have a problem with Diabetics using artificial sweeteners (either does Angie).
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48 comments:
My mother-in-law carries a Ziploc baggie of Splenda packets with her everywhere she goes, because she fears she will not be able to get it when she needs it. (In fact, she becomes indignant every time she comes to my house and rediscovers that I don't stock that fake crap in my house.) She is certifiably insane, and that alone is proof enough for me that Splenda is bad. Bad. BAD!!
Seriously? In juice? What's the purpose? So diabetics can have juice?
ok, that entire story just sucks ass. poor you, poor your little dude. I find JUICE itself annoying. i don't have juice in the house, i gave my daughters water all the time and they never really took to juice when i gave it to them. i think b/c i didn't offer it much. so i love that they are not juice freaks. as for splenda in anything....FAKE SUGAR to me is about as bad as it gets. there is something very wrong with it all. i had GD while prego and had to give up all my sweets and carbs, hubby would try and buy me stuff with fake shit and i would gag.
I'm hoping Angie will comment back to everyone.. but in the meantime... I'm here anyway... so
First I want to say that if you aren't supposed to have something while you are pregnant than it is not good for you and certainly not something you should give your kids. I don't let Kid smoke or drink either!
Deb,
I think A LOT of people buy into the "Splenda is different it is "made from sugar so it tastes like sugar""
Now I will sheepishly admit that when it first came out I (wasn't pregs or b'f) did use it for a while and was like hmmm how is it made from sugar..and I would read the back and say to myself "sucral-ose... dextr-ose... fruct-ose... I guess it is reasonable it is made from sugar" than I found out and was like what fucked up marketing!
And I think so many people think sugar is what is bad and think well sugarfree HiC or soda is okay.. and all you can do is just shake your head because there is NOTHING in that kind of shit.. the only real thing about it was the damned sugar!
As for Angie's juice she bought cranberry juice which is always sweetened (or you'd die).. so there was a greater chance of coming across a diet version of this over say grape juice.
Feener,
I also don't give Kid (or Baby) juice. But of course that is a whole other discussion... but hell Kid's at school and Baby is sleeping...
Juice is pretty much empty calories. Not much better than giving your kid a soda in my opinion.
So I ask you...or you as freaked about giving splenda to kids as I am? Do you think that adding fake sugar to juice is totally ridiculous and stupid.
No, and Yes. I hate that so many things are sweetened unnecessarily, especially things that are already sweet, like juice or applesauce.
But I don't have any problem with artificial sweeteners. Our pediatrician did tell us that some studies have shown that aspertame inhibits calcium absorption, so we were trying to hold down the number of diet sodas the kids drink. I really think that most of the official concern comes more from not knowing exactly than from hard evidence. But I know that excess sugar will make my kids fat and they're already genetically predisposed to be diabetic. I know the best option would be to eat fewer sweet things of any kind, but frankly, I'm not up to that challenge.
Well, I only buy unsweetened applesauce and unsweetened juices (old orchard makes several flavors in the frozen section), and I read yogurt labels VERRRY carefully. They're the worst for the one-two punch of aspartame/high fructose corn syrup and modified corn starch. (Which actually makes me want to post my own rant on my own blog about the HFCS in EVERYTHING!!) We pretty much only have juice in the house when someone is sick or it's fall-fresh-apple-cider season from the local orchards, since I agree that juice is generally pointless calories (though the calcium orange juice could be reasonably useful).
And I'd rather have the kids have regular sugar than the fake stuff. We're all about the home-baked goods for parties here. But we actually don't have sweets or candy around that often. Husband and I drink diet sodas.
But here's the thing, if Son has had a big healthy dinner with two glasses of milk (his norm), then I don't mind letting him have a little "bubble drink" for a treat afterwards. Of course, he doesn't get this as his drink with dinner. And even he knows he's not allowed to have the ones with caffeine. And he probably drinks the stuff an average of 4oz. once a week. Is this bad? Probably. Could I fight it by buying flavored unsweetened seltzer water? Yes, and I do when I remember too. But Husband loves his diet root beer, so he always remembers to buy that, and I have enough to fight Son about what with trying to explain why he can't eat six or eight pieces of Halloween candy at once, or why he has to wear long sleeves in MI in December even though none of the shirts with "bad guys" on them are clean, or why it's important not to shriek at the top of his lungs after his sister has just been corrected for doing so, etc., etc., etc. So I just don't have the energy to fight the bubble drink fight. He doesn't even care if we water it down, so we do 50/50. It's not good for him, but I guess I don't think it will do that much harm in such small quantities...
Don't get me wrong, I have my own furious hot buttons (don't get me started on the violent previews that run in the corner of the on-demand menu at ALL times of day like when I'm trying to find an episode of Little Bear for a 3-year-old!)...Splenda just isn't one of them.
Thanks Feener...it has been a rough day. I am totally with you--we rarely give juice for the reasons you and Mrs. F describe. That's why I didn't even think about the 100% fruit juice thing.
It scares me, this whole addiction to Splenda. Deb, I can't imagine your MIL carrying ziplock baggie of splenda. Why are people so into it? Why do people think it is better than other forms of fake sugar? I just don't get it!
Thankfully, Mrs. F is sharing her 100% apple juice with us so I can avoid both fake juice and fake sugar. And avoid another trip to the store.
Chris and Mommytime--
Thanks for your comments. I totally hear you when you say there are other challenges to fight right now. I can see that. Right now I am blessed with not having a lot of other challenges--helps when your kids can't talk back to you.
It is amazing how tough it is to balance feeding our kids well and feeding them what they will eat. We don't want our kids to develop bad food habits, we don't want them to be overweight, and we don't want to fight them constantly.
I have always been worried about the fake sugar thing. But the thing that really pushed me over the edge is the fact that it was in juice. I totally agree with Chris when he says he's annoyed about artificial sugars being added in things you don't expect it to be added in. Mrs. F raised the point that of course cranberry juice has to be sweetened. I never thought about that. I wasn't thinking of anything beyond please N don't puke on me, please don't puke on me.
mommytime,
"We pretty much only have juice in the house when someone is sick or it's fall-fresh-apple-cider season from the local orchards, since I agree that juice is generally pointless calories (though the calcium orange juice could be reasonably useful). "
concur.
as for the occasional soda...
Aww shit ... Kid eats chocolate practically every. damn. day.
and violent previews.. INFURIATING!!.. once Kid was sick and I turned on the TV believing it was on Noggin (it was on ESPN... thanks to Mr F).. but I did not know that so I just rushed in and rushed out. After a few minutes Kid says "this... isn't... something... I've... seen.. before..." I run in and HOLY SHIT it was some HORRIBLE graphic serial killer preview!
and lol.. I have found my button that isn't my "furious button"!
Chris,
I almost psychotically don't believe artificial sweeteners actually help control weight.. so we have to agree to disagree on that.
ANGIE... where's ANGIE?!?
and if anyone is wondering why I have apple juice after claiming we don't drink it... that's why.. someone brought it to Thanksgiving as their hostess gift.. Mott's apple juice.. isn't that weird?
Ang,
oh and it is outside of your side door!
this whole addiction to Splenda...Why do people think it is better than other forms of fake sugar?
It tases better because there's no after taste.
I think that the problems with sugar substitutes is miniscule compared to the HFCS issue. High fructose corn syrup has got to be one of the worst additives in our diets.
Sorry everyone (especially Mrs. F) for my lack of responding--I was on a business call (actually, someone wanting me to interview for a job in my husband's hometown).
So Michelline if diet coke had splenda vs. what it has now would it taste different?
My husband always tells me to look for HFCS, but I haven't researched the issue. Can someone give me the "skinny" on it.
Mrs. F Thanks for the apple juice (even better, bringing it to me--N is still sleeping--3 hours now).
And let's not get Mrs. F started on the t.v. issue. Now that's one of her issues. Actually, she's the one who influenced me to keep N away from the t.v. He still doesn't watch it. Actually, Mrs. F that would be yet another great subject to debate :-)
Damn, maybe I should get my own blog!
Ok. First of all, Angie. boohoo! Vomiting illness is, in my opinion, the worst form!
We try to stay away from artificial sweeteners. I say try because we have it now and then. Aaron loves Crystal Lite (and I'll drink it too, every now and then), although I don't give it to the kids. THey don't really like it anyway. Without getting into the history of our family's eating (which is actually very complicated), I'll just say we don't do the juice thing either. (but again, Not a "rule" really, we just stay away most of the time. same as the crystal lite. or if their sick, etc.) I guess it does kind of bother me that there's splenda in the pedialyte, but if it would keep a little body from getting too dehydrated, I'd say, screw it, he can have it for now.
I grew up putting Equal on every bowl of cereal I ate til I was about 14. Ew.
and Mommytime, don't get me started on the violent previews that run in the corner of the on-demand menu at ALL times of day like when I'm trying to find an episode of Little Bear for a 3-year-old!
YES YES YES! Stupid little on-demand box!
i
Oh yeah, I should add, about the "Equal." My dad AND brother are both diabetic. We had artificial sweeteners galore around our house.
Okay, so I'm in the middle of writing an exam for my students to take tomorrow, and Husband has mercifully taken Son to the indoor play place while Daughter is napping, and I'm just checking this blog thread as a brief procrastination...so I can't write the HFCS thing right this minute...but give me two hours and then check out the newest post on my blog, ang, and it will be there (no need to hijack Mrs. F's with my own long rant/explanation! :-)
Scary previews? I recall recently seeing a preview for the scary-ass "Spiderwick Chronicles" in the middle of the day on Nickelodeon or NIck Jr. just because it's a Nickelodeon PRoduction. NOT appropriate for a five year old.
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On to the matter at hand...Regarding artificial sweeteners... No need for my opinion on this to be viewed as contentious or judgemental, it's just my opinion...
It's long been my belief that one day all of these things will turn out to have been terrible for you / cause cancer / hairloss...something. Plus, to me the taste has NEVER appproached an acceptible level for me. So, I never use any "diet" products.
This isn't just about food either, it happens with Teflon...Rogaine...or MBTEs in gasoline...the "miracle scientific solution" turns out to be worse than the problem.
Just like to "keep it real' when I can.
So Michelline if diet coke had splenda vs. what it has now would it taste different?
There is a Diet Coke with Splenda as well as the normal Diet Coke sweetened with Aspartame. And they do taste different. I don't really like the one with Splenda, but I would suspect that it's because I'm already acclimated to the one with aspartame as I've been drinking it since the mid 80s. Regardless, I prefer Diet Pepsi to Diet Coke :)
I think adding ANYTHING to juice other than the actual fruit juice itself is crap, but that's just me.
As far as Splenda, I tried it and wasn't too fond of the taste. It was just odd to me. Then I found out it was processed using Chlorine and I haven't touched it since.
Aspartame, let's not even go there. It's been linked to all kinds of icky stuff and makes me ill so we stay far from that.
I've convinced the kids (it is the truth though) that Aspartame kills brain cells and that is why they need to stay away from it. They have no problems doing so.
Of course my kids, sans D, will happily eat fruit than junk 9 times out of 10. Now if I could just convince myself to do that.
I hate that so many things are sweetened unnecessarily, especially things that are already sweet, like juice or applesauce.
I hear you, Chris. I never even realized HOW sweetened certain things were until I tried them without...applesauce is a great example. I find that unsweetened applesauce needs a dash of cinnamon-sugar on top, and it's as good as the crap I grew up with—and probably MUCH better in terms of calories.
I am a pretty terrible eater in a lot of ways, so I'm not one to judge anybody else harshly. I eat almost NO fruit. Never have, likely never will. Not that I don't like it, it was just never a habit for me right from growing up. A glass of OJ was my fruit, and now I don't even drink that!
Over the last year, following Mrs. F's lead I've watched what I eat more carefully, and make better decisions at times about the garbage that goes in, but I haven't done much to increase good foods...I'm an engrained bad eater.
On many child-rearing decisions Mrs. F has led the charge (big surprise, right?) but I have made a conscious decision myself to right many "wrongs" from when I grew up. Chief among them is eating: I really try to encourage Kid to be an adventerous eater. I was a total Food Pussy and I don't want that for my kids. I want her to eat and love fruits and vegetables, not acquire a taste for soda and juice...In many ways Kid F is a healthier eater than either of her parents.
People are astounded to hear that some of Ruby's favorite foods are salmon, broccoli, sushi, mushrooms, avocado, among others...and she doesn't like pizza. (That's NOT something we encouraged, in fact it can be a pain)
She is learning to swim (I never did), and she loves it. And I will encourage her to be active and athletic as she grows up.
I will kick her ass if she ever smokes, and I made through life without any serious alcohol usage and have NEVER done any drugs—and will expect a reasonable attempt for her to live similarly...
I want better for my kids in every way I can control. The food she puts in her body and what she watches, reads, and plays with are those things right now.
Once they venture further out into the world, I know it will be harder.
ooh.. I'm loving this thread
"And let's not get Mrs. F started on the t.v. issue"
shhhh... Angie... I don't need to alienate all my readers.. it's bad enough I'm a food nazi!
In all seriousness, I really don't want to alienate anyone. I'm super opinionate about a LOT of stuff, research endlessly and use my education and limited free time for good and not evil... and make the best choices I can about those things.. this is especially true about what I put in my children's bodies.
So for me the choice isn't between HFCS and artificial sweeteners. Both are unacceptable and we don't have anything with either in the house... literally. We don't cook on Teflon, use saran wrap in the microwave, etc. I don't give the kids dairy or meat with hormones or antibiotics. Some people spend money on clothes we spend it on food. And I agree with Mr F there is not enough testing to know how safe/unsafe artificial sweeteners are and that is not something I test out on my children. period. These are battles I am willing to fight. For me these are things I can control so I choose to. Hell I'm having an anxiety attack about giving Kid a non-organic clementine for crying out loud. I'm passionate about it.
But to be clear it doesn't mean I think less of anyone who doesn't make my same choices..
It's great getting everyone's comments. I will come back later and comment more (Mr. F, you gave me lots to follow up on). But the little guy is up and vacillates between being very happy and very sad. so need to focus on him (plus he has a 102 temp).
Katieo--thanks for the sympathy. I have to say we have been lucky though. This is the first time he has ever puked (22 puke free months!) and in about 18 months it's like the 3rd time I have ever had him have to stay home from daycare. His immune system rocks. So it's rough in that I have never had to deal with this. But at the same time I am really grateful.
I'll be back! Just don't want to leave you all hanging.
I don't have kids, and I carry splenda packets, let the slaughtering begin... :0)
did you folks know that Mountain Equipment Co-Op in Canada, huge retailer of all things enivornmental and products to get you out in the environment have just pulled all Nalgene water bottles off their shelves because we are all doing to die of some nasty chemical leaching into our water?
Oh, and for the parents, all your baby bottles/sippy cups are made with the same thing...
That concerns me way more than splenda and frankly it doesn't concern me at all right now..
want to read up? Here is a link:
http://tinyurl.com/38zegq
I just want there to be a final authority on this stuff, and yes I know I'm responsible for me in the end but for just once I'd like someone to throw me a bone already with a simple "do this" "don't do that".. just saying..
Shirls--
Oh have you hit a hot topic for moms. We are slightly obsessed by the BPA issue. If/when #2 comes we will get all new baby bottles. We have checked or replaced on sippy cups that are not "clean" with non BPA cups. I have no idea if this is really bad or not. But it scares me. And it makes sense. And it's an easy fix. I think one of the furious' said that there are only so many things we can easily control. And, for me, not giving splenda and having BPA free cups is pretty easy thing to deal with.
But you are definitely right, it is something critical to think about. And I also totally agree that it would be so nice if there was a definitive answer to if it's bad or not. If only science was that easy.
shirls,
oh believe me our kids are NOT drinking out of it! Only #5 plastic cups and Sigg bottles around here.
And I absolutely hear you on the wanting one final word on what is and is not slowly leaching into my food. Thankfully because I b'f and don't work my girls never used bottles and the plastic straw cups we used for her are #5 (okay).. I freaked out a while back and threw out all our tupperware, melamine kid plates, etc and replaced them with glass storage containers. I absolutely did put inappropriate "bad" plastic in the microwave (especially bad) when heating Kid's food when she was little.. but I just didn't know.
For me I just can't live with the what ifs and my kids... if it were just me I wouldn't care as much.
Mrs. F said: But to be clear it doesn't mean I think less of anyone who doesn't make my same choices..
[sorry i don't know how to do italics--and yes i know chris told us where to go to find out--but i have been swamped]
People, she ain't just saying this. She totally lives this philsophy. As you would expect, and as she admitted, she was very strong opinions on how she should raise HER kids. But she is so open to how other people raise their kids. There have been a lot of things we have agreed on. And there have been some things we have done differently. And she doesn't judge. She doesn't do the passive aggressive shit so many mom's do. I love that this post has gotten so many different opinions. I am glad we can debate this without flames and snippy comments. It has been a fun debate where people throw out their ideas and no one is attacked for their opinion. It says a lot about the people who come here. And about Mrs. F.
And don't worry Mr. F I am still coming back later to address your issues. Just had a few free minutes.
Dude! Your blog is on FIRE!
Mrs F -- really on not letting Kid drink or smoke? Mean Mommy! ;)
I'm so so SO glad to hear that there are mothers out there that are sane. My references to parenting from close friends and family is it's not a big deal to give them sugar, HFCS, caffeine and I'm HORRIFIED by these things.
My husband is European and is HYPER anti things like this -- like he won't even put Visine in his eyes. He went and bought Mexican coke at Costco cause it has real sugar in it, not HFCS. I wonder if the Europeans have it right. I'm positive that HFCS is not allowed in those countries. Damn Washington lobbying interests!
(and Angie, I do hope your day improves. Vomit + poop do not sound like day-making events).
Well, now I feel like a loser. When I had my first child who is now a month shy of 8, I did everything organic, no candy, fruit gummie stuff, no TV until age 2, blah, blah, blah. Then #2 was born, and I slowly slid off with this stuff. Not all, I mean I only let them eat organic yogurt with their hershey kisses, but my little one has been watching Scooby Doo since he was a baby practically. Also, Star Wars taught my oldest to talk (he had a severe speech disorder and delay) and Pokemon (yeah, it's weird with boys) taught him how to read on his own. I don't do juice either, but I do let them have those fruity waters by Minute Maid that have a "splash of fruit" in it for in the car...and it has sucrolose in it(which I think is splenda or something.) My youngest eats very little food. Not picky, just doesn't want to eat and was never on the chart let alone being in a low percentile. I then on the advice of my pediatrician let him have powdered donuts. The doctor said when your child is underweight, you let some of the good food habits out the window so he will get some meat on his bones. Both of my boys love fruit and eat a lot every day. My little guy only like non-fat yogurt. I only buy Stoneyfield and it has only good stuff in it. I let them eat tortilla chips, but I don't buy chips, cheetos, etc...but they have had them before. I feel like this is confession:)
I know I use my youngest as an excuse for slacking on some of my food principles, but he just is not an easy kid to raise...in all ways. He is a fantastic kid, but HUGELY spirited. If he wants to eat a freakin' hot dog roll with ketchup and mustard only for the day, I don't fret and give it to him. I just make sure the roll is high fiber and occasionally the condiments are organic. I had to let go of a lot with this kid...and it was a struggle to get to that point.
I have to admit that I do not look to make sure HFCS is NOT in all of our products. I know I should...I knew that before this blog post.
Also, I present a variety of foods to my kids and they STILL don't eat. I really think some of it is just who they are. I was vegetarian for many years and still don't eat much in the way of meat so I don't give it to them often. I don't know if that is why neither kid will eat any meat or not. My older child does like Perdue chicken nuggets and I let him eat them.
I need to look in my pantry and see what I have. Most of it is good stuff, after all Whole Foods is my favorite store in the universe. Oh geez, I do buy them M&M ice cream sandwiches as a treat sometimes.
Now I have no idea what you all are talking about with the plastic...I do have tupperware and some plastic cups for the kids. Are these things bad???
TV and Video games...my boys do have gameboys. For the record, I do not play video games, never was interested, never thought I'd let my kids play them, etc. I blame it all on my husband. And I do have to say that the peace that it gives me for the time they are playing them is priceless...which makes me very flighty on managing it. I hate the video games, but I love being able to actually make dinner or sit for a minute and look at the mail or whatever. I so blame it on my husband. He is a software architect and LOVES all tech stuff and toys. And I love peace.
Forgive me for I have sinned (oops sorry...flashback to my lapsed Catholic upbringing:) )
For the record, no soda in my house for the kids...but my husband was a mountain dew skater punk when I met him 17 years ago and though, he has gone to diet by my force (the sugar in soda raises something in one's cholesterol--i forget what), he still has soda. I treat that like poison for my kids. But I don't care if any one else gives it to their kids. Who am I to judge...we all have our things. My youngest has had organic chocolate milk, deadly Hostess powdered donuts, a banana, melon, a bite of a cheese stick and a cold pancake today. Oh some chocolate from the Christmas countdown calendar. Nothing stellar with that food diary.
Julie,
I hope it felt good to get that out. But from what I can see you are a kick ass mom. You can't do everything all the time. So yep, i am freaked out about spenda, but every time we go to our local grocery store he gets the free cookie. He knows to ask for it. And like your youngest, we are so excited when he hits the 5the percentile on the weight chart. So yep, when we go to qdoba he gets tortilla chips with his taco meat. And he has the occasional dorito. But we balance it with seaweed and broccoli and fruit up the yang. Now I am just a first time mom, so I don't know all that much. But I think like everything in life it's all about balance. We give cookies and we give veggies. Most of us do the very best we can given the circumstances we have.
So Julie, you sound wonderful. Please don't be too hard on yourself.
Heather--
Thanks for the goo wishes. He's doing a lot better. Sitting in the tub talking up the storm at the moment (mom on toilet with laptop).
I think the Europeans have it right in so many ways. And when we travel over there, i love say coca cola light.
Julie,
" I feel like this is confession:)"
lol... god Julie you are not a bad mother! jeez
I don't live in a vacuum either and (gasp) Kid has had a few Happy Meals in her time (but no fries!.. I don't let her have fried potatoes due to a study linking their consumption by preschool girls to the later development of breast cancer.. yeah I'm that kind o' crazy)
And I'm not perfect and we eat treats and stuff.. I just do the best I can with the stuff I can control. And thankfully we do have a WFS and I can afford to go there and Kid grew up this way so she doesn't even know what *real* fruit rolls up are so doesn't balk at the FruitaBu. And hell, I eat real serious garbage w/o regrets. I am notorious for making Kid a good lunch dropping her off at school and then going to Mc D's for my lunch!
and FYI.. nothing at WFS has HFCS, or TransFats, or artifcial sweeteners (or colors.. I think)
not all plastic is bad (but being an extreme type I just got a garbage bag and chucked it all)
I found THIS and it is easy to read and makes it clear what not to buy. Rubbermaid is fine! I'm just really *thorough*... plus I was pregs and kind of *crazy*.
Mr. F
I mostly wanted to touch on your comments about how your parents raised you especially with how you want to do things differently. I had a pretty good childhood--there was dysfunction, but nothing too bad. But it's amazing the difference in food choices we give Nate vs. what we go. We were American food all the way, meat and potatoes, with lasagna, tacos, and spaghetti thrown in. Nate on the other hand eats mostly Asian foods (he eats best when we go to Japanese, Indian, or Korean). Won't eat pizza either--nor basically any other carbs like sandwiches, wraps etc. I never ate any ethnic food until graduate school. It's funny how different we are trying to feed Nate.
Heather,
plus those Europeans know how to keep lead out of their toys!
mommytime did write a post on HFCS go HERE to read it.
Then go check your pantry.. I did!
I almost psychotically don't believe artificial sweeteners actually help control weight.
I think it depends on how you use them. I don't know about anyone else, but they've undeniably helped me.
Chris,
read THIS (its short!) it pretty much sums up my opinion.
THIS might be the study that is taken from (also not long)
I do feel not long ago there was a study that showed artificial sweeteners contributed to weight gain and or retention .. can't find it now.
But how do you think it has helped? did you switch from non-diet drinks/foods and lose weight? does it just help you stay within a calorie range you don't think you could hit w/sugar?
I honestly don't know anyone who is overweight and/or struggling to lose weight/stuck at a weight who DOESN"T drink diet soda... I completely buy into the articles ideas above about it messing with your sweetness perceptors.
I love soda (regular) but in order to lose weight and maintain I gave it up instead of switching to diet. I don't like diet, I won't drink it when I'm nursing anyway, and I think you can lose more w/o than you can with it.
But how do you think it has helped? did you switch from non-diet drinks/foods and lose weight? does it just help you stay within a calorie range you don't think you could hit w/sugar?
Oh yeah. I switched from regular to diet and stopped using cream and sugar in my coffee. I cut out several hundred calories per day. Yes, I could try water or unsweet tea, but that's just not going to work for me. I'll drink water with lemon sometimes, but I really like my carbonated drinks. Most of the people I know who are trying and not succeeding to lose weight are also drinking diet, but they don't exercise consistently.
I was thinking about this and my mom also uses a lot of Splenda. She's lost and mostly kept off a lot of weight since 2003. Her drink of choice is diet 7-up.
Mrs. F, the link in your post concerning Rubbermaid and bad plastics isn't working. I really want to read that article too.
my mom is a HUGE diet coke drinker.. up to 6 a day... but she didn't switch from regular.. and it doesn't help her lose either.
I too love carbonation but I've switched to sparkling water. I really can't have soda in my life... I love it too much and one leads to one a day which snowballs. And the diet doesn't help me it just keeps my soda cravings up. I drink 1-2 cups of coffee with cream and sugar a day (65 calories each).
Tina
HERE
see if that worked.
otherwise go try it the old fashioned way:
http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=77083
That worked, thanks!
Holy cow... I had no idea this was going to take off like it did!
To summarize:
- No bad plastic in our house
- There is no soda or juice in our house (milk and water only)
- I find the corn syrup thing overwhelming and prefer to hide my head in the sand instead
- We don't use artificial sweeteners of any kind in any product, because there just isn't enough sugar in my house to make it matter
- I hate fruit, too, Mr. F. I'm pretty sure I'm a candidate for scurvy
For my kids I don't buy anything with added sugar or sweetners. I however do enjoy diet coke with splenda. The truth is that nothing is really good for us. It seems that choosing between any of them is like picking something out from the devil himself. Anyway, to each their own. I do appreciate the good reading material provided here. Thanks so much.
deb,
yeah you really missed the boat on this one ;)
funnily enough we often joke that Mr F will never get scurvy (no seriously this is a frequent joke) because as his mother famously told me while I was pregs (and we all know I put on quite a bit of weight pregs) that she only gained 13 lbs when she was pregnant with Mr F because all she ate was oranges. Ridiculous.. surely untrue... but hilarious and fodder for constant bashing on our parts!
Kenady,
Although I strive to feed the kids well.. I consume more than my share of unhealthy food choices!
I've stopped drinking diet pop, or any pop, for the most part but ALWAYS use Equal in my coffee. I should stop - and drink it black. I'm going to cut back - tomorrow only one Equal (instead of two.)
another "im reading backwards post", but i know youll get this mrs f...
items i DO NOT under ANY circumstances allow in my home:
coffee
soda
hotdogs.. oh this is a hot button
all white bread
partially hydrogenated oils
anything with nitrates or nitrites
aspartame
regular salt
juices/snacks with hfcs
and i am so with you on the going crazy thing.. i threw all our plastic out when packing to move.. now have none.. planning on pyrex.
and just to be honest, dh is trying to gain weight, so he drinks juicy juice, and eats newman- os and such... everyone else drinks water and milk only..
also no artificial sweeteners for ANYONE.. also a food nazi
mrs. f, this one's for you... you can actually answer to these in a newer post. does it also bother you for people to buy "wheat" bread and consider that (bad for you white with added color)healthy? i know someone who gloats on how healthy it is.. even after being corrected. do you have this same peeve or am i alone?
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