There's An App For That! Navigating the Ingredients in Foods

I pay pretty close attention to what I eat and that means I try to take note of each and every ingredient in the foods I buy. I mean think about it, ingredients are a given and for centuries, they have served useful functions in a variety of foods. You can't very well have a cookie without some flour, butter, eggs, sugar, salt...well you get the picture, the list goes on and on. Ingredients are everywhere and unless you are eating something in it's raw or natural state, ingredients are essential.

Something went awry though in the second part of the last century and today those ingredients aren't always essential. Actually sometimes they could be detrimental and in the scheme of things they often play no role in the quality of the product at all. Today we have additives, many, many additives. Many of which we can’t identify, or even pronounce, and as a thoughtful eater, and consumer, I can’t help but wonder what many of them are for.

Additives are something added to our food supply for a number of reasons – some of them are natural, some are not. Consider this, there are currently 3,000 chemicals added to our food supply – that covers everything from the seed to the table. 10,000 chemical solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives are used in food processing, and over 1,000 new chemicals are introduced each year. When you look at that in conjunction with the increasing numbers of cancers, immune system disorders, neurological problems, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities, allergies, and hormonal disturbances, it is hard not to take notice.

Navigating the ingredients list in the foods found on our grocery store shelves is important – more so now than ever. But truthfully, with over 1,000 NEW additives, preservatives, and chemicals added to our food supply each year, how on earth can the average consumer hope to keep up with it all.

For example, let’s look at Xanthan Gum – sounds safe enough, right? Wrong. Xanthan gum is produced from fermented corn syrup and used as a thickening agent. This substance is most likely made from genetically modified corn as in the U.S. over 80% of the corn crop has been genetically modified. High fructose corn syrup worries aside, concerns about GMOs range from the unknown long term health effects on human and animal health to the rise of herbicide-resistant weeds. Only products labeled 100% organic contain no genetically modified substances.

Then look at Decanoic Acid – sounds scary, right? Well, not really. Decanoic Acid is a flavoring substance found naturally in anise, but can be produced synthetically for use in food and other products.

It’s a jungle out there because no longer is a cookie just a cookie.

To stay informed, me and my iPhone that I love oh-so-much happened across a FANTASTIC App called “Don’t Eat That!” This App, which cost $1.99, put in the palm of my hand a database that can be the key to understanding the ingredient maze and help me shop smarter.

The App, which is downloaded to your iPhone (or iPod Touch) gives you access to 1500+ food additives, ingredients and chemicals, including those that are carcinogenic, unhealthy for children, or are commonly known allergens. The database is stored on your iPhone so no wi-fi or 3G access is necessary, just download, hit the grocery store and investigate.

The ingredient search can be done several ways, and users can look at:

All Ingredient Names

Problem Ingredients

Harmful to Kids

Banned Ingredients

Carcinogens

Genetically Modified

Allergies

Asthma

Additives/E numbers for food additives named in Europe

If I was on the fence about buying an iPhone, or even an iPod Touch, this App alone would cinch the deal. In the palm of my hand I have the power to choose the foods that will serve me, and my family, and put the foods that can harm us back on the shelf. Loved my phone before the App, but now – wow – it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever had!

School Lunch Now A National Security Threat

School lunches have been called many things, when my kids were young GROSS was the phrase of choice. However, MSNBC reported this week that a group of retired military officers are giving the school lunch a new label: National Security Threat. That's not a reference to the mystery meat served up in the cafeteria line either. The retired officers are saying that school lunches have helped make the nation's young people so fat that fewer of them can meet the military's physical fitness standards.

Now whether you are pro military or against, those are some frightening statistics. The report MSNBC is referring to goes further to say, “more than 9 million young adults, or 27 percent of all Americans ages 17 to 24, are too overweight to join the military. Now, the officers are advocating for passage of a wide-ranging nutrition bill that aims to make the nation's school lunches healthier.”

Add to that a study conducted by the CDC that found that 9 out of 10 school kids are not meeting the suggested daily allowance of fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet. Type 2 Diabetes and obesity are nearing epidemic proportions in our schools.

First of all, our responsibility not only as parents, but as members of the community, is to help kids make healthy choices. Anyone who has ever been around a child, tween, or teen should know better than to expect them to make the right decisions about health if they don’t have the education to do so, and especially if they don’t have healthy options to choose from. While the ultimate responsibility for that lies with the parent, there are changes that can and should be made in the schools, because bottom line, for many low-income children throughout the country, the school lunch program is a vital source of their overall nutrition.

Think about it though, it’s difficult for a child to turn down the hamburger and fries, chicken nuggets or greasy pizza from the cafeteria if the only other alternative is wilted salad that no one eats and has been sitting around for two days. And while many government agencies and school districts are contemplating change, and even the Obama administration is working to expel junk food from the nation’s schools, what can we as parents and community members do to either help that process along, or get something started?

Well, one great example would be in Nashville, where a new wellness program established by Metro public schools in December now has an enforcer: parents. Organized by the Healthy School Food Team, a grassroots group of parents promoting wellness initiatives in Nashville, gathered at the Farmer’s Market Thursday morning to discuss healthier food options in the city’s public school cafeterias. In addition to working to promote healthy lifestyle and eating habits in the schools, the group’s long-term vision includes food coming from local and regional farmers, and offering a variety of fresh fruit and produce instead of Fritos and the stuff that’s offered currently.

Not only are changes starting to come in thanks to the grassroots efforts of parents and educators, there is also some star power behind this push as Jamie Oliver is using fresh fruit and vegetables to try to win the hearts, or at least the fatty arteries, of a West Virginia city in his show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and if you haven’t seen the show, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Rachael Ray is also working to reform school lunch, and Paula Deen, queen of Southern fried goodness, recently taught an auditorium of kids how to cook and eat healthy.

Hopefully these reports, and if nothing else this star-power, will help to further compel parents to find ways to make changes in their communities and schools. Because changes need to happen, they need to happen at home, and they need to happen at school, and truthfully, they can’t happen soon enough.

Natural Ways to Combat Spring Allergies

Pollen is off the charts in most of the US this week, and spring is in full force, in an almost crazy, accelerated way. Maybe your symptoms started early, when trees started blooming? Right now, for me, that continues. Pollen is my problem and the trees are letting it fly.

Spring allergies are common, and according to The Weather Channel, they are a result of pollen from trees, which can start pollinating anytime from January to April, depending on the climate and location. Trees that are known to cause severe allergies include oak, olive, elm, birch, ash, hickory, poplar, sycamore, maple, cypress, and walnut. Generally this time of year there is more rain, here in the Midwest anyway, and the rain helps by reducing pollen counts.

Daniel More, MD, FACP, a board-certified allergist and About.com's allergies guide, says that it is difficult to avoid exposure to pollens, but he does have some tips to minimize exposure:

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* Keep windows closed prevent pollens from drifting into your home

* Minimize early morning activity when pollen is usually emitted between 5-10 a.m.

* Keep your car windows closed when traveling.

* Stay indoors when the pollen count is reported to be high, and on windy days when pollen may be present in higher amounts in the air

* Avoid freshly cut grass and mowing the lawn

Personally, I take enzymes to help me combat the woes of pollen, which believe me, have caused me plenty of difficulty in the past. A high amylase enzyme (a carbohydrate digesting enzyme) is what the immune system uses to fight airborne pathogens. When the body is low in amylase, in many cases allergens such as pollen, pet dander and other histamine inducing substances cause an immune system response, i.e. the creation of histamine. Histamine production is a reaction by the body to a perceived pathogen with the symptoms of watery, itchy eyes, runny nose, coughing etc in an effort to expel said pathogen. Amylase taken therapeutically on an empty stomach may relieve a person of such symptoms.

A few other tips I found while searching for some natural approaches to allergy relief today also included some things I could/should integrate in all year round, but especially during the weeks that my allergy symptoms can really take hold.

* Local honey. We’ve all heard the benefits of regularly including local honey in your allergy arsenal. But what many people don’t know is that many nutritionists recommend that you start eating about 1-2 teaspoons of locally grown natural honey BEFORE the allergy season starts. Why? Well, bees collect pollen from local plants, and their honey is known to have some low levels of pollen. Taking it before the season helps your body to get use to some pollen level in advance before the full-blown season strikes.

* Wash your hair at night. Rinse the pollen out, especially if you’re a gel or mousse fan because these products can trap pollen. And if you spend a lot of time outside, shower. Pollen and mold spores can fly into your hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and skin. Be sure to wash your hands when you come inside and if your allergies cause a lot of watery eyes and itching, rinse your eyes out too.

* Eat foods to help your body fight allergy attacks. Green tea contains antioxidants that may help stop your body from reacting to allergens like pollen. Marshmallow Root is also a good decongestant. Onions, garlic, citrus fruits contain natural antihistamines. Prevention Magazine also recommends you drink plenty of fruit juices, because fruit juices are rich sources of antioxidants that help reduce inflammation, but read the label to make sure that it's real juice and not a bottle of corn syrup.

*Wear natural fibers. Reason number 5,769 to wear natural fibers is that by doing so, you are avoiding a personal pollen build up. When synthetic materials rub together, they can cause static electricity that makes like mini-magnets for pollen. Who knew your clothes could help you keep your allergies under control!

* Soak up the calm. In one study, seasonal allergy sufferers had a more extreme reaction the day after performing a stressful task. Stress raises cortisol and that can lead to a more extreme allergic response. Since pollen may be keeping you indoors, a few minutes of meditation or a soak in the tub should help.

If allergies aren’t a problem for you, go out and enjoy all that spring has to offer, and when the pollen count gets a bit more manageable, I’ll feel brave enough to meet you on the trail. In the meantime, I’ll just be here hoping for a nice spring rain!

Know Your Farmer - Local is the New Organic

Yesterday was the first day of a spring/summer ritual for many  - it was opening day of our local Spring/Summer Farmer’s Market. We arrived early and the parking lot was full, and it will be weeks before any hopes of fresh produce will become a reality. The money was changing hands anyway, and people were buying everything from meats to cheese and milk to bread to plant starts.  This year even brought not one but two local organic coffee roasters! And well, you know me; coffee is one of my favorite things!

We shop almost exclusively at the Farmer’s Market for a multitude of reasons – but putting those reasons aside, how has our Farmer’s Market, and those across the nation, managed to grow so popular, so fast?

In my opinion, it’s about the quality. People want to know WHERE their food comes from, and know that the food that they put on their tables is the best quality that it can possibly be.

The Organic Consumers Association reports that traditional farmer's markets are flourishing, and not only for the fresh, seasonal produce. As consumers begin to visit these local establishments they learn that food has a history and a taste, and that there are other members of their communities, from amateur growers to professional farmers, who are eager to talk about the food on display.

While many farmers in our Market are not certified “organic”, they are using clean, hormone and pesticide free farming methods. Certification is costly, but the story behind their techniques is just a short conversation. Over the years we have picked those that farm the way we like to eat, joined their CSA’s and refer them to friends. If you are unsure just say, “do you use pesticides” they will either say yes or no, you can decide from there.

We are committed to our Farmer’s Market year round, and every other Saturday all winter long we bundled up and braved the elements to buy fresh meat, eggs, milk and cheese. Yes, the farmers travel to be there, but usually no more than 30 miles. Our food is local, our farmer’s are local, we are supporting the local economy, and at the same time eating clean, ethically grown food.

It’s a fact that eating local means more for the local economy.  According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy.  When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.

When you go to a conventional grocery store, how much of the food sold there is local? Probably not much. According to statistics in Brian Halweil's Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket, fruits and vegetables now travel between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to market, "an increase of roughly 20 percent in the last two decades." And that's just the produce within the U.S. Halweil says that 898 million tons of food are shipped around the planet each year, four times the amount that was shipped in 1961.

That’s mind-boggling and unsound on so many different levels that I’m not quite sure where to even start. The miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic. And the environmental damage caused by corporate farming and the transport of conventional and organic food on every shelf in the supermarket is devastating.

Bottom line – local is the new organic. I feel good each and every week to go out and hand money to my local farmers in exchange for quality food. The money I hand them goes directly back into their operation, and their pocket. There is no middleman taking his cut, my money to the farmer. Period. And the quality I get in return? Priceless.

Fresher – tastier – and more nutritious, each and every time.

Know your farmer, and support your farmer’s market – your health and your community’s financial sustainability depend on it! To find a farmer’s market in your area, go to Local Harvest at http://www.localharvest.org/.