Just in case you were wondering... side-by-side comparison of Skippy (or as I call it imitation peanut butter spread) and Peanut Butter (in this case, the Organic Creamy Peanut Butter from Trader Joe's.)
SKIPPY
190 calories (140 calories from fat), 16 grams fat, 150 milligrams sodium, 7grams carbohydrate, 7 grams protein.
Ingredients: Rosted Peanuts, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean, and Rapeseed), Salt.
PEANUT BUTTER
200 calories (140 calories from fat), 15 grams fat, 45 mg sodium, 7 grams carbohydrate, 9 grams protein.
Ingredients: Organic Peanuts, Salt.
Let's just say all calories aren't created equal. Neither are peanut butters. But you already knew that.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Vegan before 6pm and no processed foods ever - Can our family survive?
For numerous reasons - which will soon be discussed - I am a lapsed vegan on the comeback trail and I'm bringing my family with me. I don't know if we'll ever get to a pure vegan lifestyle, but the journey will be well worth the effort on the road to being a mindful family.
Food Matters, by Mark Bittman, outlines such a common, non-dogmatic approach to eating more mindfully that I'm taking it on and rooting for my family to join me. No animal products before 6pm and no processed foods. Sounds easy enough, right?
Roadblock #1 - Breakfast. Both my children (ages 1 and 5) eat goat's milk yogurt for breakfast every morning. To say they are obsessed would be an understatement. Both will consume it to the point of, well, I need go no further, do I? And they have both done it. More than once. What should I swap in to at least start us on the road to decreasing this dairy food? It is now obvious to me that I will need to do some research which will be followed by much trial and error.
Roadblock #2 - It turns out that I am addicted to junk food. This was a little shocking to me to realize and humbling to admit to myself (and now you.) I think of myself as being a "healthy eater." However it turns out that upon closer examination, in spite of being a lover and connoisseour of fruits and veggies, I have a wicked junk food jag which is usually satisfied with something highly processed on a daily basis. I wouldn't call myself a "heavy user." However processed foods do seem to occupy a very important roll as emotional crutch for me. Today I managed to partially satiate this craving with 1/2 roasted sweet potato with a teaspoon of organic brown sugar. I'm assuming that the cravings will decrease over time. In the meantime I keep reminding myself one of the major reasons I'm making this shift. Quite simply, sugar and processed foods are killing all of us and I don't want me or my children (which have a 1:3 chance of developing type 2 diabetes in their lifetime if they follow the conventional American diet and lifestyle) to be a statistic.
Off to check my kombucha which is brewing on my counter ... natural carbonated beverage!
Food Matters, by Mark Bittman, outlines such a common, non-dogmatic approach to eating more mindfully that I'm taking it on and rooting for my family to join me. No animal products before 6pm and no processed foods. Sounds easy enough, right?
Roadblock #1 - Breakfast. Both my children (ages 1 and 5) eat goat's milk yogurt for breakfast every morning. To say they are obsessed would be an understatement. Both will consume it to the point of, well, I need go no further, do I? And they have both done it. More than once. What should I swap in to at least start us on the road to decreasing this dairy food? It is now obvious to me that I will need to do some research which will be followed by much trial and error.
Roadblock #2 - It turns out that I am addicted to junk food. This was a little shocking to me to realize and humbling to admit to myself (and now you.) I think of myself as being a "healthy eater." However it turns out that upon closer examination, in spite of being a lover and connoisseour of fruits and veggies, I have a wicked junk food jag which is usually satisfied with something highly processed on a daily basis. I wouldn't call myself a "heavy user." However processed foods do seem to occupy a very important roll as emotional crutch for me. Today I managed to partially satiate this craving with 1/2 roasted sweet potato with a teaspoon of organic brown sugar. I'm assuming that the cravings will decrease over time. In the meantime I keep reminding myself one of the major reasons I'm making this shift. Quite simply, sugar and processed foods are killing all of us and I don't want me or my children (which have a 1:3 chance of developing type 2 diabetes in their lifetime if they follow the conventional American diet and lifestyle) to be a statistic.
Off to check my kombucha which is brewing on my counter ... natural carbonated beverage!
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