What the Heck Are People Thinking?! {What Goes Through My Head When I Shop}

You've probably figured out by now that one of my soapboxes in life is in regards to food and making wise decisions in what I choose to put in my body.  I used to be self conscious about it because I wasn't raised with this acute awareness nor are many of my friends passionate about it.  I know at the end of the day it isn't a matter worthy of division in relationships, however the more I learn, I just can't shake my convictions about it.  I think it started in culinary school when we watched videos about the current food system in America, how food gets from farm to table, and how corporations have come in control over what is available in the aisles of our grocery stores.  It was such an eye-opening experience for me and since then, I have read a lot and watched more mind-infiltrating documentaries about what we eat.  It is not my goal to judge others on what they eat.  That is their prerogative and I can leave it be.  But when it comes to the diet of my family, I prefer to be as educated as I can be and make choices I believe in.  Call me crazy, but I'd rather be in control of our nutrition, not just trust production companies on what they do to create "food."  I'm not saying I am a health-nazi, because let's be honest, I majored in cream and butter and it's not like I've never enjoyed an Oreo (or gasp! fed my kid hot dogs and mac n cheese), but more times than not, I just want to eat real food.

Okay, now that we know that I love you and you love me despite all this, allow me to take you through some thought processes in my weird brain.

About a month ago I was checking out the jams.  Though this is my absolute favorite brand in the whole wide world and I swore my faithfulness to her years ago, every now and then I find my eye a-wandering and considering other brands to try.  What catches my eye but CALORIE FREE jars of jams and preservatives.  My first thought?  Holla!  Alas I can eat as much jam as I can hold and it not count against me in the love-handle department!  Tires screech.  Whoa, Nelly.  I know better.  Nothing that I want to eat is calorie-free.  That would make it a synthetic, laboratory-created product.  My second thought then was to check out the ingredient list.  Fake, fake, fake.  Of course, the marketing technique of bold and enlarged letters on the label will get some people's attention and might make a sale, but I'm not a believer.

 

With skepticism, I continue my shopping.  In the baking aisle, I come upon this fellow.  To some, a first impression might be:  Awesome!  All I have to do is add water, shake, and I've got muffins.  #winning  But really, friends?  Moreso, what appeals to me is real butter, granulated sugar cane, unbleached, un-enriched flour, eggs hatched from chickens that cluck, and blueberries that I myself can look over and wash before folding into my batter.  Add a little turbinado sugar on top before baking for that extra crunch of sweetness.  For me, there is satisfaction in knowing what is in the food that I put into my body.

Here's a napkin that made me scoff.  "Real Food.  Simply Delicious."  I know this is just me speaking, but I disagree with both statements here.

For example, from their website, here's the ingredient list for the pumpkin scone which is quite the rave these days:

unbleached, enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), icing (sugar, water, corn syrup, fructose, contains less than 2% of the following: gum arabic, agar, potassium sorbate [preservative], citric acid, natural flavor, mono- and diglycerides, locust bean gum, cinnamon), unsalted butter (cream [from milk]), pumpkin puree, sugar, whole eggs, honey, buttermilk (from milk), soybean oil, leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), soy lecithin, salt, invert syrup, vanilla extract, spices.

I don't know about you, but I don't have monocalcium phosphate or guar gum in my pantry.

All this to say, it's everywhere you look and not hard to find.  I have to give voice to the fact that I know it would be incredibly expensive to eat all natural, all organic, all the time.  We don't even do it in our household, but I can't help but wonder what kind of movement would occur in Washington if people would make healthier choices in the supermarkets.  Don't even get me started on kids that qualify for free school lunches that come with cash-galore to spend on candy, sodas, fried "chicken" sandwiches, gelatinous-cardboard pizza, and processed cheesy fries in the lunch rooms across America.

(Okay, I'm done.  Can we be friends again?)