The burning question on my mind at this moment, "Were the scrambled eggs my son had in middle school yesterday cracked from whole eggs, or made from a processed powder colored with yellow food dye?" In a perfect world the eggs came from a farm in which chickens roam about to feed off the land, and lay eggs to be collected. I would be shocked, and thrilled beyond belief if that were the case.
I can only hope that the eggs came from the cartons at the stores...not real fresh, probably laid by chickens fed hormones through their processed feed, but at least the hot lunch providers made attempts at providing a wholesome food. My son, however, overheard workers in the kitchen laughing about the source of the eggs, aka powder mixed with water. I hope he heard wrong, but can the lunch program afford dozens upon dozens of real eggs to feed our kids? Ha, with budget cuts I can only assume shortcuts will have to taken with our hot lunch program as well. Last week I learned something new, that blew my socks off!
For a year now I have been well aware of the chemicals in our skin care, essentially petroleum derivitives seeping excess estrogen into our bodies everytime we apply the lotions, oils, and creams to our skin. Lip gloss, lipstick, eye shadows... so yes, I know about petro chemicals in skin care and how excess estrogen can manifest itself into cancer. We took care of that, and switched to Swiss-formulated products in which use of such ingredients is banned.
I also became aware of growth hormones, which is estrogen, used to make our livestock grow faster, get to market and turn a profit. Feed with hormones is fed to more than beef, even chickens are unnaturally spurred towards getting full size for market. What do we do? We watch labels for hormone-free, BGH-free, etc. on our meats, eggs, dairy products.
Mostly because I wanted to lose weight, as a family we bought less and less processed foods and switch to whole foods...which really don't take any longer to prepare, although we do shop more often for freshness. I thought we were doing pretty good, until....
Friends of ours have a son with behavioral issues. That boy has no idea of the sacrifices his parents are making to learn more, take a natural approach, and avoid the drugs the doctors are pushing. They drive hours to a specialist, and subscribed to the "Feingold Newsletter" - a publication focused on the Feingold diet, which is a natural approach, avoiding chemicals, food colorings, dyes, etc. Last week my friend commented in bible study that they learned the food colorings and preservatives found in so many foods are derivitives of petroleum!! I was astounded. I knew processed foods contain MSG and chemicals to make us crave more food and make us fat, but I was not aware they were petro based, aka estrogen.
To say it plainly...too much estrogen in the body causes cancer.
Not only are our grocery stores laden with chemicals that tweak the brain and cause misbehaviors, but we could be contributing greatly to our cancer risk simply by consuming these products! Let me say, I am not afraid of dying. I look forward to the day I am reunited with my heavenly Father, but I have also seen what cancer does to families. I am making every effort not to put my family through it, and as a parent I never ever want to sit by my child's hospital bed while he/she gets chemo. (Not that we would take that approach either as I firmly believe the cure lies with natural approaches.)
Our family needs to have a serious discussion about food. I have no extra time in my life to take on the school hot lunch program regarding chemcals in the foods being served. Realistically, the school lunch program cannot afford to shop at Willy Street Co-Op (although I do believe the store, which offers organic and locally grown foods is working with the school to incorporate more locally harvested foods into the lunch program). I do feel, as parents, we need to consider the return to cold lunches, even if it means getting a cute lunch box that our daughter picks out. I know she would eat PBJs (whole grain bread and organic peanut butter) every day and would not mind. Processed lunch meats are out...indeed, we will need to put on our thinking caps to come up with creative lunches. I bet I can find a blog on that subject!
All I know is that eggs made from yellow powder are not an acceptable food source. If you work for the school lunch program and know for certain that this is not the source, comment and leave me peace of mind. None the less...I am finding food colors, "natural flavorings" (petroleum is natural don't forget!), etc. in many products in our cupboards, that I thought I had already looked over pretty well. It is in the taco seasoning mixes, and even a seasoning I like from a home show based company - which is a shame as I liked it in my salad dressing. I have been invited to a Wild Tree party, but a friend said the taco seasoning and some others they bought were not good and they can't eat them. So hey - tell me what brands of seasonings you have found that are dye and chemical free and taste good too! We have been making meals from whole foods for some time now, but I do rely on my spice cupboard to make food exciting. I would love to read your tips!
To your health!
Rita S.
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