It’s been my goal to find out things about food and write about it

But that’s the key: thinking about food choices. Not just purchasing by habit or impulse, but eating with intention.

Why? Two reasons:

1. Only you can make the best food decisions for your family.

Don’t let a grocery store, no matter which store it is, make the decision about which foods are best for your family. Being stocked in a grocery store doesn’t automatically mean a product is good, healthy, or safe. You need to make that determination.

Because, while I’m not conspiracy theorist, I do believe some organizations have too much influence over FDA and USDA decisions and those organizations don’t always have your health as their top consideration.

Because the U.S. does not follow the precautionary principle. The precautionary principle states if something might be harmful to people or the environment, the people who want to do said thing have to prove it’s safe first. Europe does follow this principle, which is why food dyes and GMOs are treated differently there.

Because marketers get paid to sell food. Front of package claims, clever marketing gimmicks, and fancy packaging are all designed to get you to buy a product based on impulse.

2. “Healthy” is subjective and only you know what it means to you.

My health club has a big sign in the cafe that says “If it’s here, it’s healthy.” And they serve Baked Cheetos, gummy fruits, juice in which the first ingredient is sugar, and fried chicken tenders.

I follow many other food bloggers. Some say I can only be healthy if I’m vegan. Others say wheat is poisoning me. Still others say no dairy or no sugar. Homemade cookies are healthy. No, they are poison. Does healthy mean low-fat? Supplements? Raw foods? No meat?

I don’t know.

That is, I don’t know what the answer is for you or anyone else, but I do have a pretty good idea about what healthy means to me – and that is probably very different than it means to you (and certainly different than it means to my health club).

So here’s the bottom line to my Bottom Line blog post:

Take some time to think about your food.

Think about how you feel about organics, GMOs, dyes, HFCS, processed foods, sugar, meat, how animals are raised for consumption, and everything else. Create a policy for yourself and your family, and follow it.  Change it when you get new information.

Have beliefs about how and what your family should eat. Those beliefs won’t be the same as mine, or anyone else’s. And that’s okay. What’s important is that you have them and that you use them to eat with intention.

Although I’m usually against food products specifically geared towards kids,

First Impressions

We received the sweet potato oatmeal raisin flavor to try out. The box is small (2.125 oz = 2 servings), about the size of a box of animal crackers, which I found slightly disappointing. The snack itself is, in shape, texture, and crunchiness, similar to Earth’s Best Organic letter cookies or Trader Joe’s Cat Cookies (for people).

The Specifics:

Bitsy’s Brain Food ingredients are:

• Organic
• Contain no GMO ingredients
• Contain vitamins (from a vitamin premix so not as good as eating real fruits and veggies – obviously)
• Contain fruits and veggies (although not necessarily in amounts that matter)
• Contain Omega-3, calcium, iron, fiber

Taste Test

• Kid 1 (age 8): Thought it tasted too sweet-potatoey and didn’t want more after the first taste (he doesn’t like sweet potatoes).

• Kid 2 (age 6): Liked it. He enjoyed the flavor (“Yum”) and the crunchiness. He also doesn’t like sweet potatoes, but apparently the flavor didn’t impede his enjoyment of the snack as he asked for seconds.

• Mom: Overall, I thought they were fairly tasty. Although I could taste sweet potato, I thought it had more of an oatmeal raisin cookie flavor but not as sweet as a cookie and a bit drier.

We still have some of our small box left and no one (not even me) has been tempted to have more, but with all the leftover holiday baking around, maybe that’s not a surprise.

The Bottom Line
I’m not taken in by the idea that this snack will up my kids’ fruit or vegetable consumption – I don’t think there’s enough in there to count (and, more importantly, I think kids need to be exposed to and eat real fruits and vegetables), nor am I concerned with the additional vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 content because I think, in general, kids get enough.

That said, because of those nutritional components, I would much rather have my kids eating Bitsy’s Brain Food as a snack than Goldfish crackers.

RECENTLY, I RECEIVED AN INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE LETTER

Like this reader, I don’t often think about the inactive ingredients in the medications I give my kids – I’m usually too preoccupied by the illness. But I think it’s important to know what we are ingesting in order to make informed decisions. The ingredients list below contains substances that I prefer to avoid (dyes) and at least one substance that I wouldn’t typically let my kids ingest (saccharin).  Like the people say “The More You Know…” [insert shooting star here].

I ran across your site today while looking for the ingredients in Uncrustables.  I was at my kids school having lunch with them today and really noticed how many kids get these packages of junk.  Maybe today was just an unusual day.  I can’t say.  Anyway, I came home to search and ran across your channel on YouTube.  After watching a few, and noticing you had a website, I thought I’d forward something I put together about 4 years ago.  My wife and I purchased some Mucinex expectorant for one of my kids.  For some reason I decided to read the ingredients.  Now, I have always been diligent about quality of food, however, I have never read ingredients in medicines.  I don’t know why.  Well, I guess I was a mindless zombie.  I read the box and could only identify a few items on their list.  I began to search the net and was pretty appalled at what I found, as I know you can understand.  So, I’m forwarding on to you, what I had emailed out to all my friends and families several years ago.  I thought, maybe, you could start broadening your website to include some non-food items as well.

Today, more than ever, we have some of the worst food in our supermarkets.  I often look into other peoples carts and can’t seem to find a single item that isn’t predominately sugar or HF corn syrup.  Try to find a fruit juice that actually contains ONLY juice, at a mega-mart.  Sad.  If we’re so advanced here in the US, why do Bushmen in Africa all have straight white teeth and kids here are crooked and can’t seem to keep them in their mouths with dentists on every corner and a hundred different toothbrushes and toothpastes to choose?

MUCINEX FOR KIDS INGREDIENTS:
(NOTE: All information and comments below are straight from the submitter.)

Citric Acid Anhydrous: Citric acid anhydrous is mainly used as an acidulating, Flavoring and preservative in foods and beverages; it is also used as an antioxidant plasticizer and detergent builder

Dextrose:  Also known as corn sugar, is a simple carbohydrate. It is 70 – 80% as sweet as sucrose (table sugar) and is absorbed and
utilized quickly, providing a rapid source of energy.

FD&C Blue No. 1:  Is a coloring agent used in food and in vitamin supplements since 1929. The color is commonly used in beverages, drink
powders, baked goods, jams, jellies, candy, and liqueurs.

FD&C Red No. 40: Is a coloring agent used in food and in vitamin supplements.

Flavor: God only know what this means.

Glycerin: Also called glycerol, is a moistening agent used as a food additive. Colorless and odorless, it is also used in medicines.

Methylparaben: Is an antifungal that is widely used as a preservative for food, drugs, and cosmetics. The compound is often found in
carpules of local anesthetic, acting as a bacteriostatic agent and preservative.

Potassium Sorbate: Is a preservative used to prevent mold in wines, margarine, and sausage casings.

Propylene Glycol: Known also by the systematic name propane-1,2-diol, is an organic compound (a diol alcohol), usually a faintly sweet,
odorless, and colorless clear viscous liquid that is hygroscopic and miscible with water, acetone, and chloroform. AKA
coolant/antifreeze

Propylparaben: An antifungal agent used as a preservative in pharmaceuticals.

Purified Water: At least they’re looking out for the kid’s health.

Saccharin Sodium: It is an artificial sweetener. The basic substance, benzoic sulfinide, has effectively no food energy and is about 300 times as sweet as sucrose, but has an unpleasant bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. In countries where saccharin is allowed as a food additive, it is used to sweeten products such as drinks, candies, medicines, and toothpaste.

Sodium Hydroxide: (NaOH), also known as lye, caustic soda and (incorrectly, according to IUPAC nomenclature) as sodium hydrate, is a caustic metallic base. Sodium hydroxide forms a strong alkaline solution when dissolved in a solvent such as water. It is used in many
industries, mostly as a strong chemical base in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents and
as a drain cleaner. Worldwide production in 1998 was around 45 million tonnes. Sodium hydroxide is the most used base in chemical
laboratories.

Sucralose: Is an artificial sweetener originally sold under the trade name Splenda, and now also supplied as SucraPlus. In the European Union, it  is also known under the E number (additive code) E955. Sucralose is approximately 600 times as sweet as sucrose (table sugar), twice as sweet as saccharin, and four times as sweet as aspartame. Unlike aspartame, it is stable under heat and over a broad range of pH
conditions and can be used in baking or in products that require a longer shelf life.

Xanthan Gum: Is a polysaccharide used as a food additive and rheology modifier. It is produced by a process involving fermentation of
glucose or sucrose by the Xanthomonas campestris bacterium. Xanthan gum is used as a thickener in sauces, as an
agent in ice cream that prevents ice crystals from forming, and as a fat substitute that adds the “mouth feel” of fat without
the calories. It is used in canned pet food to add “cling”.

THE BOTTOM LINE: It’s hard to remember to check the ingredients on everything we consume, but it’s an important thing to do. We’re in this together, folks! If you have some food intelligence to share, send it along and I’ll post it.

RECENTLY, KRAFT FOODS SENT ME FREE PRODUCT SAMPLES

THE SET UP

For comparison, I bought two granola bars my kids have enjoyed in the past: Annie’s Organic Chocolate Chipper and and Clif Crunch Granola Bar (not “organic” but “made with organic whole grains.”) The Kraft products we were comparing to were: Kraft Milk Bite Milk and Granola Bars strawberry and chocolate flavors.

I served samples to Nate (age 8), Van (age 5), and myself (age of a mommy). Nate and Van, while not blindfolded, didn’t know what we were tasting other than they were granola bars. Since we don’t often have granola bars in the house, they didn’t identify which was the “new” bar. I, of course, knew which bars I was sampling since I coordinated the test, so you might want to take that into consideration.

THE TASTING

Here are the results of the taste test. Results are based solely on our experiences and beliefs about Kraft products. Further product details, along with my thoughts about the product content beyond just taste, are below.

Nate: Nate loved both Milk Bites, ate all the taste test samples and asked for more. He liked the flavor, sweetness, and smoother texture. He liked the Annie’s as a distant second to the Milk Bites, but wasn’t all that interested in the Clif. His favorite: Strawberry Milk Bite.

Van: Didn’t like the Milk Bites at all and didn’t eat any more after the test bites. He didn’t like the texture or the flavor. Nor did he really like the Clif. His favorite, and the only one he would eat, was the Annie’s.

Me: I don’t really enjoy granola bars in general, but if pressed would pick the Annie’s as my favorite. While I liked the smooth texture of the Milk Bites, they were too sweet for me; the chocolate didn’t taste chocolatey and the strawberry had that über-strawberry taste of a Nutri-Grain bar. I enjoyed the crunch of the Clif, but it seemed salty and, to paraphrase Kramer, “These granola bars are making me thirsty.“ The Annie’s was chewy and not too sweet.

One thing I did appreciate about the Milk Bites was the size and density. The Annie’s bar is .98 ounces; the Milk Bite 1.23 ounces and a 2-bar serving of Clif is 1.5 ounces. The Annie’s bar isn’t a decent snack for an 8-year-old, even the 5-year-old was still hungry after. The Milk Bite was the most filling (and has the most protein per serving, probably not coincidentally.)

THE PRODUCTS

Annie’s:
Ingredients: Organic toasted whole oats (Organic whole oats, Organic cane syrup, Organic expeller pressed sunflower oil), Organic brown rice syrup, Organic fair trade chocolate chips (Organic cane sugar, Organic chocolate liquor, Organic cocoa butter, Organic vanilla), Organic rice crisp (Organic flour, Organic cane sugar), Organic palm oil, Organic tapioca starch, Natural vanilla flavor.

Serving size: 1 bar, .98 ounces
Sodium: 0g
Fiber: 1g
Sugar: 6g
Protein: 2g

This bar has by far the best quality ingredients with a list that’s all organic and recognizable, fair trade chocolate, and expeller pressed oil. Nutritionally, though, it’s really just a sugar bar that might give a burst of energy but doesn’t provide much else and certainly won’t be a bridge between meals.

Clif:
Ingredients: Organic rolled oats, Organic dried cane sugar, Organic sunflower oil, Chocolate chips (Dried cane sugar, Unsweetened chocolate, Cocoa butter, Soy lecithin, Vanilla extract), Rice crisp (Rice flour, Barley malt extract, Dried cane syrup, Salt, Calcium carbonate), Honey, Natural flavors, Organic barley flakes, Organic rye flakes, Oat bran, Oat fiber, Sea salt, Inulin (chicory extract).

Serving size: 2 bars, 1.5 ounces
Sodium: 105mg
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 12g
Protein: 3g

When I look at the sodium content it’s no wonder this made me thirsty, although I certainly wouldn’t call it a high sodium food – the sodium is only a fraction the amount in a ¼ tsp serving of salt and less than a serving of potato chips, but on the other hand, it is 105% more than what’s in an Annie’s bar. This is higher in sugar, too, so nutritionally not so much better than an Annie’s bar plus it has some ingredients that take me back to Chemistry class, which, no offense high school chemistry teacher who’s name I can’t remember because I really didn’t enjoy chemistry, I try to avoid in my foods.

Milk Bites Strawberry
Ingredients: Rolled oats, Cream (from milk), Sugar, Skim milk, Inulin (Chicory root fiber), Soy protein crisp (Soy protein isolate, Tapioca starch, Soybean fiber, Salt), Dried strawberries, Canola oil, Calcium phosphate, Brown rice syrup, Dried cranberries, Oat flour, Molasses, Fractionated palm kernal oil, Honey, Calcium caseinate, Salt, Soy lecithin, Natural flavor, Strawberry juice concentrate, Vitamin D3.

Serving size: 1 bars, 1.23 ounces
Sodium: 65mg
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 10g
Protein: 5g

The addition of milk to this bar means that it packs the most nutritional punch. Punch may be overstating – maybe more like shove. At 5 grams, it has the most protein plus it has 30% daily value of calcium, and provides some vitamins D, A, and C where the other bars are just sporting goose eggs. The ingredients aren’t on par with Annie’s – some chemistry-speak, fractionated oil, no organics, which means GMOs are likely, and the addition of “natural flavors” which accounts for that super-sweet “strawberry” flavor.

Milk Bites Chocolate
Ingredients: Rolled oats, Sugar, Cream (from milk), Skim milk, Inulin (Chicory root fiber), Soy protein crisp (Soy protein isolate, tapioca starch, soybean fiber, salt), Chocolate, Canola oil, Calcium phosphate, Brown rice syrup, Oat flour, Molasses, Cocoa butter, Palm kernel oil, Honey, Salt, Cocoa powder, Soy lecithin, Natural flavor, Palm oil, Vitamin D3.

Serving size: 1 bars, 1.23 ounces
Sodium: 75mg
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 10g
Protein: 5g

The chocolate version is nutritionally almost identical to the strawberry. The ingredients are also similar, including some of the usual suspects that show up at the processed food party including soy lecithin, palm oil, and natural flavors. This version doesn’t have the fractionated oil, unless that’s just a typo on the label.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Let’s all take a moment to remember that a granola bar is a glorified cookie that we all rationalize as a better snack because it has the word “granola” in the name.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, think about what is important to you in your granola bar – if it’s quality of ingredients, Annie’s was the hands down winner here. If organics and avoiding GMOs/additives aren’t top on your list for snack foods, and you’re on the run and can’t give your kid a glass of milk (or your kid doesn’t enjoy a glass of milk), then you might want to try out the Milk Bites.

In our house, I told Nate I’d buy the Milk Bites as a treat occasionally. But that probably isn’t true. In the end, I’d rather give my kids a good, hearty, homemade oatmeal cookie than any granola bar out there.

LIKE MANY OF YOU, I’M A COMPULSIVE READER OF INGREDIENTS LABELS.

Now I try to check every label every time. I might still buy the “salt free”canned tomatoes even though the ingredients say “sodium chloride” (a salt – I’m talking to you, Trader Joe’s) but at least I know what I’m eating.

Last time I was in the cereal aisle, I saw one of my (no longer) favorite cereals on sale: Quaker Oat Squares. “Oh,” I thought, “Lucky me. Maybe I’ll buy it.” But then I checked the ingredients….

QUAKER OAT SQUARES

What the label touts:

• “heart healthy”
• “96% of your minimum whole grain needs”
• “Good source of fiber and calcium”

What else you’ll find:

• Yellow 5
• BHT

Yellow dye? What the what? I decided to check some other “healthy”choices.

KELLOGG’S FIBERPLUS® BERRY YOGURT CRUNCH CEREAL

What the label touts:

• “Heart Healthy Selection”
• “Antioxidants”
• high in fiber
• whole grain

What else you’ll find:

• red 40
• blue 2
• green 3
• blue 1
• red 40 lake
• blue 2 lake
• BHT

KELLOGG’S SMARTSTART® STRONG HEART ANTIOXIDANTS CEREAL:

What the label touts:

• “Good source of fiber”
• “made with whole grain”
• “Strong Heart”
• “Antioxidants”

What else you’ll find:

• Yellow #5
• BHT

I’M NOT DISPUTING THE LABEL CLAIMS (although I personally think label claims are a bunch of hooey), but I do question whether the health benefits outweigh the negative impact of eating dyes and chemicals for breakfast each day.

The safety of food dyes has been in question for years. Great Britain has outlawed them and US manufacturers have found other ways to color foods for consumption there. Food producers in the U.S. are starting to get the picture, too, and have started to switch to fruit and vegetable based colorings – most notably, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.

BHT is used as a preservative and an antioxidant. When food producers use BHT as a preservative, they can also promote an antioxidant claim, even if the antioxidants come solely from the man-made BHT, not from any berries or other food ingredients. The FDA considers it safe, but I avoid it when I can because, from what I can find out (for example, here), it’s safety isn’t 100% clear. There are alternative preservatives for food producers to use, such as mixed tocopherols (vitamin E) — also an antioxidant. Many of the more “natural” brands of cereal contain it, as do all of the brands of dog food I have ever purchased for my dog over the past 13 years. Why wouldn’t I hold the food for my children to the same standard?

THE BOTTOM LINE: Read the ingredients. Even “healthy” foods can contain substances you might not want to consume. If you don’t know what it is, think hard about whether you want to eat it and feed it to your family.

Recently, I spent some time in my son’s preschool lunch program and while it’s been interesting on a number of levels, what’s in kids’ lunch boxes has completely intrigued me — mostly in a good way.

But in one case, not so good. One kid consistently had – there’s no delicate way to put this — a crappy lunch. One week it was two Nutrigrain bars, a box of raisins, and a Capri Sun fruit punch. The next it was a Nutrigrain bar, Keebler PB&J crackers, and a Capri Sun fruit punch. The next week… well, you get the idea.

Let me be clear: this is not a socio-economic issue — this family is upper-middle class with two working professional parents. Nor is this a “picky eater” issue — I’ve seen this child eat lots of other things for snack in class, like fruit, yogurt, cheese, and turkey.

So what happened after this child had this lunch? The rest of the afternoon in class, this child was whiny, weepy, uncooperative, and/or tired.

Poor kid.

I experienced something similar with my own kid (a first-grader). He would ask for a bagel for breakfast and want the same thing in his lunch. Even though he was also eating lots of fresh fruit, he was having some rough days at school and coming home cranky. After a couple times I (finally) made the connection – no protein. Once I got some protein back in his lunch box, things straightened out.

There is a link between what kids eat and how they act. Every kid is different and as parents we can see how our kids react to different foods and ingredients then make adjustments. Some kids need more protein, some react more negatively to dyes or sugar. But one thing is true for all kids: a lunch full of additives, dyes, and refined sugars and carbs are a recipe for a bad day at school.

So, back to my preschool friend. Processed snack foods aren’t lunch. Kids need a healthy, balanced lunch that includes fruit and protein to make it through the day successfully. I’m 100% certain this child would have had a lot more fun at school after a healthier lunch.

THE BOTTOM LINE: A healthy lunch is very important for kids. Crappy food in, crappy behavior out.

SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, I FEEL LIKE I DON’T EVEN NEED A BLOG POST TO EXPLAIN THIS

Pepperidge Farm touts this bread as having “3g of fiber plus essential vitamins and minerals” and “No high fructose corn syrup.” Plus it lists a myriad of health benefit buzz words like “zero trans fat” and “cholesterol free.”

So with all these great health benefits, why am I labeling it as a Worst Food? I’m glad you asked.

Because it’s an overpriced luxury food that Pepperidge Farms would like us to believe is a pantry staple. Each pack contains 8 slices, which, if you are looking to make a sandwich that actually looks like a goldfish, is 4 sandwiches. Not even one week of school lunches. One pack costs around $2 – $3+ depending on where you shop. On the low end, that’s $.25 a slice, $.50 a sandwich. Whhhaaaaatttt?! Come on. Let’s save our money for true necessities (more fresh fruits and veggies, anyone?)

Because it’s just one more novelty food for your kids to nag you about. This product expands the Goldfish franchise. Kids love Goldfish crackers, and by expanding the brand to soup, bread, etc. Pepperidge Farms hopes we’ll keep buying to keep our kids happy. Ever hear of the nag factor? This is one way companies leverage it.

Because kids don’t need goldfish-shaped bread to eat lunch. Somewhere out there I know there’s a parent who is saying “Oh, but my child won’t eat a sandwich unless I make it in a shape!” Bummer. Then don’t try to get your kid to eat sandwiches. Or cut the bread into the shape of a fish. Or – did I say this? – don’t try to get your kid to eat sandwiches.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Someday, if you want to give your kid a special treat of a Goldfish-shaped sandwich, then own this purchase as a one-time treat. Otherwise, save yourself some money and save your sanity — skip the Goldfish bread.

Families who eat fast food on a regular basis do it as a part of their lifestyle and weekly meal plan. A family who eats McD’s or BK weekly or more probably isn’t eating the healthiest options the rest of the time. Even the home-cooked meals probably contain a lot of heat-and-eat and processed foods and few fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating fast food on a frequent basis sets a food culture for kids to follow. A few apple slices aren’t going to change the idea that it’s okay to include foods high in fat and sodium as a part of a regular diet.

Families who only rarely eat fast food set the example that it’s a special treat, not something to be consumed as a part of the weekly menu. These families likely have more fresh fruit and vegetables in their regular diet so while they might be happy to see apples and milk as options, it doesn’t make a huge impact since the meal was a treat.

A healthy option won’t offset all the other crap.

Offering some apple slices with fries and nuggets is like plugging a hole in a dam with your finger. Just like having a Diet Coke with your fries isn’t making you thinner, apples with your fries isn’t making you healthy. Sure, chocolate milk may be more wholesome than soda, depending on the ingredients, but there’s 29 grams of sugar in about 12 oz of Coke and 25 grams of sugar in one container of the McD’s chocolate milk, plus it has high fructose corn syrup, carrageenan, and artificial flavor. How much of a difference is it making?

When I think about it this way, the apples and milk are, well, kind of pointless. At least, that’s my opinion.

Give your opinion below.

Here’s what some other people are saying:

• Washington Post
• Fooducate
• Marion Nestle
• The Lunch Tray

The Worst

Any conventional ice pop from Popsicles to Fla-Vor-Ice fall into this category. They are all just water, sugar (or HFCS), artificial flavors, and dyes. The only thing these pops have going for them is honesty: they certainly don’t pretend to be anything they aren’t.

Don’t Fool Yourself – Part 1

Ever find yourself thinking “Oh look, it’s made with real fruit”as you put the pops in your cart? Time for a reality check. Edy’s, 365 Brand, and Breyer’s Pure Fruit all fall into this category. Yeah, yeah, they’re made with real fruit. But the fruit is so highly processed that flavors and colors have to be added back in to make the pops palatable. Vitamins and nutrients are long gone — processed out. The ingredients list is shorter than The Worst, but still includes the ubiquitous “gums” found in most processed foods. While you might feel better about your kids eating these because of the fruit and lack of dyes, don’t fool yourself into thinking they are remotely healthy.

Ingredients

Water, Strawberries, Sugar, Carob Bean Gum, Natural Flavors, Guar Gum, Citric Acid, Color (Beet Juice Extract, Turmeric Color), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

 

I shiver to think what these “all fruit” pops looked like before they added the color back, but now I know that beet juice mixed with turmeric makes a nice strawberry color, which will come in handy when I make this cake.

 

Don’t Fool Yourself – Part 2

I fell for this once and I bet I’m not alone. Sugar-free doesn’t mean sweetened with fruit juice; it’s just food industry code for artificial sweetener. Every brand now seems to have a sugar-free version and unless there’s have a dietary need, kids (or adults) shouldn’t be eating artificial sweeteners. Here’s a little food math: crappy thing about ice pop brand + crappy things about artificial sweeteners = a whole lotta crappy.

Ingredients:

 

Strawberry: Water, Strawberries, Sorbitol (Sensitive Individuals May Experience a Laxative Effect from Excess Consumption of This Ingredient), White Grape Juice from Concentrate (Water, White Grape Juice Concentrate), Maltodextrin, Glycerin, Polydextrose, Natural Flavors, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Beet Juice Concentrate (Color), Citric Acid, Sucralose (Splenda Brand), Acesulfame Potassium, Guar Gum, Turmeric Color, Carob Bean Gum.

 

Oh boy! It’s an ice pop AND a laxative!

Marginally Better

When it comes to store-bought ice pops, I like Smooze Pops. They have a short ingredients list that includes fruit juice, cane sugar, and coconut milk with minimal additives (and no gums). My kids love these – I only wish they offered a variety pack of flavors so I could hear my kids argue over who gets the last mango pop. I would love to find some other options in this category. If you know of anything, please share in the comments.

Ingredients: mango fruit juice 48%, coconut milk 40%, natural cane sugar, pectin, citric acid, natural fruit flavors, ascorbic acid.

Yes, it still has added flavors, which is why this is called “marginally better”and not “the best thing ever”.

The Best Ice Pops Ever

No surprise here: make your own. Before you get your panties in a bunch over not having time to make ice pops, take a breath. It doesn’t have to be time consuming or complicated. I detest pulling out my food processor and I don’t even own a blender. My kids love yogurt pops and orange juice pops. I bought ice pop molds, but you can make pops in paper cups or any freezable container. If you do enjoy a blender experience, you can make pops from blended fruit with honey. Or Google to find one of the thousands of ice pop recipes out there.

The Bottom Line

Summer brings lots of ice pop opportunities, and most store bought ice pops are less than healthy. Having some homemade pops on hand for more frequent consumption means your kids will eat less crap and more good stuff like fruit. Then that (truly) occasional conventional pop won’t seem so bad.