DOES THE PREFIX “ECO-“ MEAN ECOLOGICAL OR ECONOMICAL? Take a look at these products. Which ones are organic or environmentally friendly? Unless you read the fine print, you could be fooled. I sure was – and so was the Home…
Author Archive for cat
Worst Food of the Week: Pop-Tarts
by cat • • Comments Off
YOU HAVE TO GIVE KELLOGG’S CREDIT. Through some sort of marketing magic, they’ve convinced everyone Pop-Tarts are a breakfast food. Now, if only we could get them to use that marketing magic for good and not junk food, we might…
Everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten
by cat • • Comments Off
Consume This First is excited to have another guest post from The Non-Toxic Mom. Be sure to visit her blog, where she blogs often and with enthusiasm about living a non-toxic lifestyle. AHH, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO…
Five Ingredients to Avoid
by cat • • 3 Comments
BRACE YOURSELF. I’m about to go after some of your favorite foods – sodas, snacks, treats, and more. These ingredients can also be found in foods like pasta sauces, cereals, and side dishes – things you eat at meals every…
Worst Food of the Week: Motts for Tots juice boxes
by cat • • 5 Comments
AS A MARKETING GIMMICK, MOTTS FOR TOTS CLAIMS “40% less sugar†than other fruit juices. The idea is, since many people cut their kid’s apple juice with water, those people could just buy it already cut with water in a…
Capri Sun Sunrise and 100% Juice Exposed
by cat • • 8 Comments
THIS POST ISN’T ABOUT WHETHER CAPRI SUN IS A HEALTHY OPTION. It is about advertisers bending the truth, food production and marketing tricks and, most of all, knowing what you’re really ingesting. Capri Sun has been advertising heavily for its…
Organics: the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15
by cat • • 5 Comments
LIKE MOST SHOPPERS, I PREFER TO BUY ORGANIC PRODUCE when I can. But, also like most shoppers, I have to make choices based on budgetary concerns. The answer: the Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 list which is based on data from the…
Worst Food of the Week: Country Time Lemonade
by cat • • 2 Comments
THE IDEA OF LEMONADE IN THE SUMMER CALLS TO MIND kids with lemonade stands, sitting on the porch with friends, and backyard barbeques. Ice cold lemonade on a hot day is delicious and a real treat. Country Time lemonade…
Buy This, Not That: Popcorn
by cat • • Comments Off
In a grocery rut? Don’t have time to read the ingredients? Don’t worry, CTF has you covered with Buy This, Not That. BUY THIS: Popcorn kernels, preferable organic. NOT THAT: Microwave popcorn, no matter how many “I’m healthy” messages are…
The State of Meat: USDA report on contaminants in meat
by cat • • 1 Comment
THE WELLNESS BITCH SHARED THIS ARTICLE ABOUT a recent USDA Inspector General’s report on the quality of our meat supply. For those of you who don’t have time to read the article or report, here are the highlights (or maybe I…
Six front-of-label claims you can disregard
by cat • • Comments Off
FRONT OF LABEL CLAIMS ARE MARKETING TOOLS. Food company marketing departments use these claims to convince us to buy things. The FDA has regulations companies have to adhere to, but it’s still important to remember that anything stated on the…
Worst Food of the Week: Suddenly Salad
by cat • • 4 Comments
FOOD COMPANIES LIKE BETTY CROCKER WOULD LIKE NOTHING MORE than to perpetuate the myth that cooking is hard and time consuming. Without that myth, they couldn’t sell “food†products like Suddenly Salad. Suddenly Salad is a boxed pasta salad mix…
Buy This Not That: Jam and Jelly
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In a grocery rut? Don’t have time to read the ingredients? Don’t worry, CTF has you covered with Buy This, Not That. BUY THIS: Organic jams, jellies, and preserves (like Cascadian Farms Organic Fruit Spread) NOT THAT: Conventional jams jellies…
Ignorance is bliss but awareness is power
by cat • • 3 Comments
This is a guest post from The Non-Toxic Mom, who blogs often and with enthusiasm about living a non-toxic lifestyle. I REMEMBER ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO when I lived in a place called la-la land. La-la land was fun;…
Save Money and Eat Healthier by Getting Back to Basics
by cat • • 2 Comments
Just how much will you save? Drink Price Sugars Calories Per Serving OLD SHOPPING LIST 2 liter Diet Coke $1.50 (on sale) 0 0 2 liter Coke Classic $1.50 (on sale) 27 100 8 pack Gatorade $5.99 (on sale) 14…
Sports Drinks, Kids, and Electrolytes
by cat • • 3 Comments
RECENTLY AT MY THREE YEAR OLD SON’S SOCCER PRACTICE I noticed something that, quite frankly, made me cringe: parents giving their kids sports drinks. The sports drink industry has done a great job of making us all think that if…
Booklist: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual
by cat • • 3 Comments
By Michael Pollan In Food Rules, Michael Pollan boils down the lessons from Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food into a series of easy to digest and remember rules. A quick and easy read, this book provides invaluable advice…
Pre-made lunch vs. homemade lunch
by cat • • 5 Comments
SO, WHY DO PEOPLE BUY Lunchables and Uncrustables? Maybe to save time? Well, if you look at ingredient highlights for each below, it’s clear any time saved in making and packing a lunch is completely negated by the sugars, hydrogentaed…
Does flavored milk have as much sugar as soda?
by cat • • 7 Comments
IF YOU WATCHEDÂ JAMIE OLIVER’S FOOD REVOLUTION, you know one of his biggest beefs with school lunches is the flavored milk. Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla milks have as much sugar as the same amount of soda. Jamie was told that if…
Just Say NO to Canned Frosting and Box Cake
by cat • • Comments Off
Originally published as a guest blog post on Fooducate.com BIRTHDAYS ROCK. ASK ANY KID what their favorite day of the year is and chances are, the answer is “My birthday!†And birthdays almost always mean birthday cake. It may seem…