Meadow Gold Dairy gets with it!

YAY! Alyssa came home yesterday so excited to tell me that they had a little celebration at Weber State University when her friend went in to buy strawberry milk and saw that the red #40 had been replaced with beet root powder. Alyssa is a vocal advocate for no petroleum so the friends all knew. I contacted the great people at Meadow Gold Dairy and am pleased to report that indeed, the colors AND artificial flavoring have been replaced in Strawberry and Chocolate milk. Also, the corn syrup has been replaced with sugar. We're not big on sugary milk in general but we'll definitely have a celebration at home for that! I urge you to contact your local producers of flavored milk, especially at schools, to see if this is a possibility for them as well. Here is the response to my question. Danika, We have made some changes to remove artificial colors and flavors out of our formulas as much as possible. Our Tru Moo line, chocolate and strawberry milk now have all natural colors and flavors. This is a permanent change, not going back. We have also replaced HFCS on all the Tru Moo line of flavored milk with sucrose (sugar). You can read the ingredients on the label of the Tru Moo line, see attached nutrition facts. Thank you. Max Torres Quality Assurance Manager Meadow Gold Dairies 3730 W. 1820 S. Salt Lake City, Utah 84104 Email: max_torres@deanfoods.com Office: (801) 907- 0558 Fax: (801) 973- 2750 Cell: (801) 634- 4277

GMO foods and autism?

http://geneticroulettemovie.com/ Not Petroleum but part of the big picture. This is a free streaming movie about GMO foods and how they create food allergies. This goes along with my thoughts that petroleum is not a food and our bodies can't process it well. If GMO foods are also hurting our processing abilities it goes on that this would be an accounting factor in the rise of autism and other brain disorders.

http://www.diefooddye.com/2012/09/11/why-synthetic-food-coloring-is-like-a-horror-flick/comment-page-1/#comment-881 I haven't posted on this blog for ages but looks like this is a great new blog to follow! Die, food dye!

2011 TEDxManhattan Fellow: Stefani Bardin

It's only a 4 minute video so I can't say how accurate it is but I do think it's really cool to watch and makes us think. It's a scientific study using processed and artificially colored foods vs. real foods PLUS a tiny swallowed camera. Love it.

5 things to never feed your kids

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-kirkpatrick-ms-rd-ld/5-things-never-to-feed-yo_b_1229682.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009#s644610&title=Anything_With_Extremely
I admit that we'll splurge on some of these so I can't personally say never but, I do agree that they are terrible food and it's always nice to hear others in agreement.

Look me in the eye

http://jerobison.blogspot.com
I know I have a lot of readers who have family with autism/aspergers. I just had to share this blog. It's by one of my very favorite authors who changed my life with my family. :) If you have people with autism in your life please read "Look me in the eye".

Merry Christmas from Ana

This is the picture that's in the little contest. Ana took it when I left the camera on the piano after an exchange student party. I found it when I uploaded pictures to my computer and had a nice laugh. hahaha.
The exchange students made some super yummy foods and most of them were very natural. We've gotten into some great foreign cooking and I'm going to be updating my blog with some of their fun recipes. We'll also have a South Korean exchange student here in a few weeks, maybe she'll help me learn some of the delicious foods.

Thanks so much guys! Ana's picture won the contest and she got a whole box of "Liken the Scriptures" DVDs for Christmas! YAY!

Artificial coloring in olive oil?

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/12/143154180/losing-virginity-olive-oils-scandalous-industry?sc=fb&cc=fp
Ahhh, the joys of labeling laws.

"Extra-virgin olive oil is a ubiquitous ingredient in Italian recipes, religious rituals and beauty products. But many of the bottles labeled "extra-virgin olive oil" on supermarket shelves have been adulterated and shouldn't be classified as extra-virgin, says New Yorker contributor Tom Mueller.

Mueller's new book, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, chronicles how resellers have added lower-priced, lower-grade oils and artificial coloring to extra-virgin olive oil, before passing the new adulterated substance along the supply chain. (One olive oil producer told Mueller that 50 percent of the olive oil sold in the United States is, in some ways, adulterated.)

The term "extra-virgin olive oil" means the olive oil has been made from crushed olives and is not refined in any way by chemical solvents or high heat.

"The legal definition simply says it has to pass certain chemical tests, and in a sensory way it has to taste and smell vaguely of fresh olives, because it's a fruit, and have no faults," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "But many of the extra-virgin olive oils on our shelves today in America don't clear [the legal definition]."

My mom ate all my halloween candy

This was too funny, especially the ending boys. My kids commented that the logical kids at the end said they only ate two pieces of candy. :)

US vs UK Kraft Mac and Cheese

read the full article here.

U.S. Version of Kraft Mac & Cheese:
Enriched Macaroni Product (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate [Iron], Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Cheese Sauce Mix (Whey, Modified Food Starch, Whey Protein Concentrate, Cheddar Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Contains Less Than 2% of Parmesan Cheese [Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes, Dried Buttermilk, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Blue Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Sodium Phosphate, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Cream, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Enzymes, Yellow 5, Yellow 6).

U.K. Version of Kraft Mac & Cheese:
Macaroni (Durum Wheat Semolina), Cheese (10%), Whey Powder (from milk), Lactose, Salt, Emulsifying Salts (E339, E341), Colours (Paprika Extract, Beta-Carotene)