Update time

Thought I would do a little update on a few of the changes I have made. Right now I am working on just a few ingredients at a time. The ones that are being omitted from my & my family’s diets are artificial sweeteners, MSG & High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). As we read labels if there are other questionable ingredients in the label they tend to not get purchased either. It is taking more time to shop but it has been an eye opening experience to what is in our food. So what have I changed?

Ketchup. I’ve looked at store brands & name brands. They all contain HFCS. My options? Buy organic or make my own. For the time being I have bought one bottle of organic until I see just how expensive making my own will be. My dad’s wife (Neva) has a recipe so I know they are pretty easy to come by.

Mayo. Well, the switch was actually to mayo, from Miracle Whip. That was simple & saves me money since I can get mayo cheaper a lot of the time. I’ll admit the true test will be when I make my potato salad this summer. Or any pasta type salad I was using MW in. But on a sandwich or toast with cheese, it’s no big deal.

Soda. Oh the stuff that’s on some of the labels. . . I was buying whatever was on sale for the hubby to take to work each day. I was buying generic ginger ale for me. I have switched to Natural Brew Outrageous Ginger Ale. More expensive but the taste alone is enough to keep me buying it. I started when it was on sale & fell in love with it. IT worked because I continue to buy it at regular price now. For hubby & daughter, they have discovered making their own soda with seltzer water & DaVinci flavors. The flavors are not totally natural, but contain less crap than regular soda … & no HFCS. Cost? Probably about the same as name brand soda.

OJ. I was buying the half gallons from the refrigerated section. Until I read the label. Now I buy the frozen concentrate. The taste is better & the cost is less at regular prices. If the ½ gallons go on sale, they are cheaper. But I wont buy them.

Granola Bars. All I had to do was switch brands. With all the coupons I get, it doesn’t cost me much more at all. I stock up when they go on sale & it’s all good. The Kashi TLC bars & the Quaker Simple Harvest All Natural are what we buy right now.

Salad Dressings. Wow, this was amazing. I couldn’t believe how many brands & flavors have HFCS. But you can’t go by brand alone. You have to look at the flavors. Not a tough switch to make, just a bit more reading of labels. There are plenty out there that don’t have as much added stuff.

Spaghetti Sauces. The cheaper brands I was buying all have HFCS. Prego & Ragu don’t. Several of the better brands don’t either. So switching here is just a matter of watching for different brands to go on sale & saving coupons for them. I was buying Hunts & Del Monte in the cans which didn’t have coupons much anyways. The house brand can sauces are also off the list.

Cookies. Well, good bye cheap cookies. For the most part. My switch? I just make them from scratch at home or read some of the cookie dough labels & packaged cookie labels. Not a big deal except for the money. But it’s a price hubby & I are willing to pay. So far, we’ve just eaten a lot less cookies.

So there is a sampling of some of the items I’ve changed. I will continue to go thru everything we eat by reading labels. Once we have omitted these things, we’ll look into what all the other ingredients really are & work on omitting more.

Now I need to say something that might sound odd. I’m beginning to feel different. Is it in my head? I guess it could be. But I choose to believe. One of the side effects of the HFCS is that when it is consumed, the body does not know when it is full, & therefore when to stop eating. Well, it’s been out of probably 98% of my diet for over a month now. I don’t seem to be eating as much. I’m full at dinner without going back for seconds. And no, I’m not having bigger portions. I still snack, but they are good snacks now. I drink better juices, herbs, natural soda & water. Are my baby steps beginning to show? I’d like to think so. It makes me happy to have omitted some artificial things from my diet. I’m happy eating better food. I think I like these changes.