You are so thoughtful and amazing Christine.

I too am often apt to make knee-jerk purchasing decisions, selecting "organic" Crunchy-Os (or whatever) for the kids, despite the fact that it's all loaded with sugar and super processed. I need to be a better consumer for sure.

One day we'll have an expensive cheese discussion and debate whether Mahon is best served with fig spread or quince paste. But for now, I'm just bowing to your sensibility and passion.

I have SO much love for this post.

Thank you. Thank you.

Brilliant. Kudos, good lady. xoxo

Fantastic! Thanks for a thoughtful post. Seems you know how to own your words, too! Glad I found you via Mom-101.

Great post Christine! I love all of your thoughts on both journalistic integrity and healthy living! It really is incredible how Big Food tries to buy off public opinion. The "corn sugar" ploy is one of the more ridiculous ones I have seen lately - but as I describe in my book The Coke Machine (excuse the plug!) soda companies have long tried to pay off officials and experts in order to sell more soda, including sponsoring "consulting" trips to tropical locations for parent-teacher councils to get soda in schools and funding the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry for research showing HFCS doesn't rot teeth. As very you very aptly point out, it's even more important that consumers question the source of the information they receive, and that we journalists are ever more vigilant not to blur the line between editorial and propaganda.

I need to read the Coke Machine! I'm trying to get my hubs to get off the diet soda kick.

And thanks for this whole post. I wish more people would educate themselves on whole foods and truly healthy eating. I'm not saying we are perfect here, at our house, but we've made great strides in the last year or so...

Ugh. Corn sugar is a topic I'm so annoyed about I don't know where to begin. As an ex-advertising career gal, nothing pisses me off more than marketing ploys that create poor public health.

Recently someone asked me to be a spokesperson/blogger for Gatorade, which I flatly declined. I'm thrilled to no longer be making a living by lying about products, but instead making a living by sharing how to eat real food.

Great post.

I need to give a plug for Stillman's Farms. We have been getting 100% of our beef, lamb, and chicken from them for about 4 years. (They also have pork we just don't eat pork) During farmers markets season they are around and selling locally. During the winter you can join their CSA, attend a meat meet http://www.enlocale.com/wp002/meat-meets/, or they will deliver orders over $100. Everything is traditionally raised, pasture graised super yummy!

I am right in the middle of reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and based on the facts laid out here, we should just stop the corn-growing subsidy madness, period. Industrial-scale monoculture farming, especially corn, exhausts our soil, poisons our water (it needs lots of chemical fertilizer and pesticided), and kills beneficial insects that we have relied upon for many generations to pollinate our crops. Read this book, it will change the way you think about food forever (like watching "Food, Inc." indeed).

I am surprised at how this all played out. Shocked, really, after I read Stacy's post.

On the other hand, I thought Liz made excellent points about a blogger's role and responsibilities. Thanks for adding your perspective and green living tips.

I absolutely adore this post and everything you've said. From one green mother to another, kudos!

Such a great post, Christine! You're right, the issues are so much bigger than sugar and name-calling. Unfortunately, that's what everyone will remember including those who don't know/understand our community, but were watching intently from the sidelines.

Very thoughtful post. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

I love to see you using your considerable powers for the common good! Thanks so much for this. At present, I'm down to about four diet Cokes a week and slowly dropping...

Excellent post!

You will love Omnivore's Dilemma -- it's a really fascinating book. You can even borrow my copy if you want.

As always, You rock! You know my eco-geeky self was so happy to see your wise words. It is soooo sad that bloggers were lured by gift cards for ... Walmart. I mean seriously, that's just sad. I'm not surprised, just saddened. When I worked for a marketing agency, we monitored direct marketing for a client (I won't say which telecom behemoth it was) and we were tasked with trying to raise morale and scores for their call centers. Which are essentially concrete bunkers in middle America. Seriously depressing places to work. We offered these telemarketers extra days off to incentivize them, cash - you name it. What was the number one thing that galvanized them to work harder? McDonalds Gift Certificates. Yup, better than cash or extra holidays. That's the sad truth. Yikes!

Christine, This is a wonderful and thoughtful post. Too bad we can't continue this conversation over a Diet Coke... I mean some home-baked cookies.

What a fantastic post. The simple reminder to think and be responsible for ourselves...none of us are too busy for that.

Thoughtful post. Another confirmation of why I adore you and your brilliant mind. Great call to action and thanks for encouraging us all to start small and to not take things at face value -without judging right or wrong. And I admit, I'm one of those people that generally makes the green decision for my children, but often neglect to take care of myself due to convenience, cost, and bad old habits.

I know first hand how diet affects the brain- there is a TRUE undeniable connection between the gut and the brain (diet= cured my son's seizures)... so just think about what you put in your stomach and what it will do to your BRAIN.

I can't add another thing to your post, just that I agree wholeheartedly and am excited for people to "wake up" from their sleep of all of this.

Steph

Awesome post! I'd also like to add to resources to your excellent list:

1. King Corn. If you haven't seen this movie, please do. Esp if you haven't made up your mind about HFCS. What are we made of? Corn. It's in practically everything we consume, even if we think we are bring diligent about avoiding HFCS.

2. The Pennywise Eat-Local Challenge. You can google it. It's a program that shows that eating local isn't as expensive as people think. You are aloted the same budget as you would get if you were on food stamps. I took the challenge and managed fine. (You can read about it on CityMama.) It drives me NUTS when people say they'd like to eat healthier but can't afford it. I'm on a budget, too, and I love to cook and eat good food. If I can do it, anyone can.

Loved this so much! You are preaching to the choir with me, but so love your passion and will spread this post near and far!

I am so not surprised about the AAP and Nestle, because I've a long history of being profoundly unhappy with their conflicts of interests regarding vaccines. If you ever get a wild hair to read "Evidence of Harm" by David Kirby, you'll love it.

Anyway to the topic - I think it's a good to point out that label reading even at Whole Foods is important. We do exclusively shop there and Earth Fare (a store possibly only in the South? We have no TJ's here, sigh) but just yesterday we were scouring the Halloween table at Whole Foods to see if there was anything good, and about 75% of the treats and sweets on the well decorated table had corn syrup. I've noticed that Whole Foods still does carry quite a bit of products with questionable ingredients, so the "read your labels!" advice stays true all the way around.

Arianne

I love everything about this post. I will say that I live in an area where there are no Whole Foods or Trader Joes stores. There is no food co-op. There is a market a couple cities away with a decent selection of natural/organic foods, but the prices come at a premium. Most of the time I don't have the time or budget to shop there, but I still manage to create a diet that is made up of mostly whole foods.

I shop the edges of the store. The produce section is first, and I look for what's in season, and what's local first. Then I go to the (admittedly small) organic section, see what's on sale, and think of ways I can use it. You have to be willing to work with what's available when you live in an area where organics are limited.

After the produce section I hit the (again, small) natural-foods section for cereal (if it's on sale, I stock up!) and granola. I cruise through the first few aisles quickly--they're the ones that house canned veggies, soups, pasta, peanut butter and jelly, and non-organic/natural cereals and crackers. Don't get me wrong: as you can tell from my latest blog post (complete with pictures of my pantry and its contents!) we DO buy processed foods. But that Chef Boyardee is a treat, not a meal, and the proportion of time I spend shopping for it reflects that. I basically breeze through these aisles, scouting for sales and grabbing necessities like rice, beans, and pasta.

I hit the meat section and see if there are any specials on the few trusted brands there. Then I skip the next five or six aisles--seriously just don't go down them, because they're mostly junk. I finish up in the dairy section by scouting out the organic yogurt, milk and free-range eggs--and the HFCS-free whole-wheat bread (there are two or three brands available. I like Nature's Pride and Aunt Millie's.)

We live in the upper Midwest but during the late summer and early fall months, local produce is abundant. I find it's better to go straight to the source and buy produce at the farm rather than go to the farmer's market. The rest of the time, I try to eat in season as much as possible. There's a reason there are no organic, local blueberries available in November!

Do we have a perfect organic diet? no way. I'm not sure it would be possible, where we live. And we do buy some processed stuff like crackers and breakfast cereals. But we buy way more "real" food than snacky, processed stuff. And when you avoid making those snacky, processed foods the bulk of your diet, you kind of naturally avoid HFCS and other questionable additives.

I think most people are so far from a real food diet that they can't even wrap their brains around looking for organics or "healthy" brands. And like me, there are a lot of people who really don't have access to a wide enough variety of organics to eat that way all the time. But when you're starting from the Standard American Diet there is a LOT of room for improvement without ever leaving your local grocery store.

Keep it simple. When your kid wants a snack, hand him an apple (it doesn't HAVE to be an organic apple. A conventional apple is better than an apple-flavored cereal bar or worse, a bag of "fruit" snacks.) For dinner, use...ingredients. You know: veggies, potatoes or grains, quality meat or eggs. For yogurt, dish out some yogurt. You can just buy a big container of the natural stuff and plop it out a few spoonfuls at a time: it doesn't have to be "kid" yogurt. (And keep in mind that a lot of yogurts have a ton of added crap.) If you can't afford Stonyfield Farms or other natural brands, I like the Dannon All Natural varieties. It's ingredients are: Cultured milk. That's it. Add a dollop of honey to sweeten it up and toss in some berries or Bear Naked granola. yes, Bear Naked is a bit pricey, but you aren't going to take it home and wolf it down in front of the TV in one sitting (I hope.) per serving, the cost is not that much more than a highly processed cereal or granola.

That brings me to my last point--we, as a group, have to be willing to invest more in our food. I have five kids, and I know what it's like to shop on a budget. And I know that sometimes there really are no extra dollars to spend. But sometimes I think we also fool ourselves. We tell ourselves we *need to buy X brand or shop at Y store to save money, because we *can't possibly spend the extra couple of dollars on the organic meat or the natural cereal. But then we spend a couple of bucks daily on sodas or high-end coffees. Or we spend $75 a month on the cable package, or the rarely-used gym membership.

Food's important. It doesn't have to be everything, and it doesn't have to break the bank, but it should be more than an afterthought.

I apologize that this message is soo long! I guess I got off on a tangent tonight :)

I am furiously cutting and pasting Megan's entire comment into my brain right now.

Meagan, thank you for these incredibly insightful thoughts. Indeed, after our stint in Canada (and one in a very seedy suburb of Maryland) I have become accustomed to the huge availability in the Boston area.

Your points are excellent -- yes, it's about prioritizing, making it work with what's available, and the most resonant to me... that if you don't have the means for organics, then simply go for real food (e.g., an apple instead of an apple flavored cereal bar, etc.).

Thanks so much for sharing.

Reading Fast Food nation several years ago made a huge impact on me. Although we are bringing our kids up as vegetarians and we try to go the eco route we are still working our way there. I have to admit though that with my kids I am more aware at what they put in their bodies. Esp with my daughter with autism, I am paranoid about food coloring etc, good thing she reads and reads labels herself.

I love your blog. It's as if you are taking the words right out of my head. I have been preaching to my extended family about organic foods and how Whole Foods/Trader Joe's really isn't that bad and I would bet that I spend the same amount on groceries per week as they do. The only down fall is that the coupons are more scarce but I will take it over the chemicals.

I am in the middle of reading a book you may be interested in, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. This book is so amazingly interesting and scary all at once. I am in no way a vegetarian, but I do want to know where my food comes from and what places to avoid.

It is horrifying to me to see how little people are concerned with the foods that they consume and feed their children. Or even what they wash their children's sheets in and let them sleep on at night. I have personally had to watch a very important person suffer and pass away from cancer and have no doubt in my mind that the chemicals that are are in our everyday items attributed to that.

It is so refreshing to read a blog like yours so I feel less crazy and know that I am doing what is best for myself and my family. Thank you!