Back to Basics: Choosing Homemade

Over the past year I've made a concerted effort to do a lot more baking and cooking than I have in the past.  Why?  Well, the catalyst was my daughter being diagnosed with some food allergies, specifically soy.  You can read about that HERE.

This allergy forced me to start analyzing every package label in the food store....a true learning experience.

Aside from learning that almost any processed food has soy in it, I was forced to realize that the majority of packaged food could barely classify as food.  Let me give you an example....

Sandwich Rounds.  We survived on these things.  I always bought the whole-wheat or multi-grain ones thinking I was offering my family a healthy alternative to white bread.  Then I actually took the time to read the label:  

• Whole Wheat Flour
• Water
• Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour (flour, malted barley flour, reduced iron, niacin, thamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflvin (vitmin B2), folic acid)  (this is not a good thing...enriched means nutrients were "added" back in because they were stripped during the original processing)
• Cellulose Fiber
• Wheat Gluten
• Yeast
• Sugar
• Rye
• Polydextrose  (an indigestible synthetic polymer of glucose)
• Salt
• Soybean and/or Canola Oil  (Soy and Canola are primarily made from GMO crops - if you aren't familiar with this, please google - it's kind of scary)
• Cracked Wheat
• Ground Corn
• Oats
• Preservatives (calcium propionate, sorbic acid)
• Corn Grits
• Grain Vinegar
• Guar Gum
• Monoglycerides
• Brown Rice
• Triticale
• Barley Flaxseed
• Millet
• Citric Acid
• Stevia Extract
• Soy Lecithin  (not necessarily BAD, but my daughter has a soy allergy, so this is now off limits...you will find soy lecithin in almost all processed food products - it is used as an emulsifier.)

So, what's the problem with this?  Well, aside from a few questionable ingredients and the preservatives this is probably one of the better choices for packaged foods...BUT, let's compare it to the ingredients of homemade wheat bread:

• Whole Wheat Flour
• Water
• Vegetable Oil
• Honey
• Yeast
• Dry Milk
• Salt

Which would you prefer to eat?

To prove my point, let's look at a "healthier snack", like those popular cheddar mini crackers...those must be better than cookies, right?  Look at the ingredients:

• Unbleached Enriched Flour (see above)
• Riboflavin
• Soybean Oil (There's that nasty GMO oil again)
• Cheddar Cheese
• Tapioca Dextrin (A MODIFIED starch used as a thickening agent produced through hydrolosis)  
• Partially Hydrogenated Cottenseed Oil (Hydrogonated Oils are cheap processed alternatives to butter that contain trans-fats and are known to increase the risk of coronary heart disease)
• Salt
• Autolyzed Yeast Extract (enhances the flavor of food by chemically altering the consumer's taste buds...yes, ALTERS THE CONSUMER'S TASTE BUDS.  Derived from MSG.)
• Calcium Carbonate
• Leavening
• Annatto Extract
• Natural Flavor (Flavors that are ADDED into the food, these flavors are made by a "flavorist" in a laboratory by blending "Natural" Chemicals.)

And just as a comparison, here are the ingredients for some homemade cheddar crackers:

• Cheddar Cheese
• Butter
• Flour
• Salt, Pepper
• Water

If interested, check out this awesome recipe by Joy the Baker.

You see, processed foods need to add a whole lot of "stuff" in to try and gain back the vitamins and nutrients that are lost in the manufacturing process.  They also need to add those preservatives to extend the product's shelf-life.  And worse than anything, a whole bunch of weird, lab produced chemicals are thrown in to get stuff to taste good to us, some which even alter our taste buds  (Do a google search on Autolyzed Yeast Extract).   If you start researching food ingredients, you will be shocked and probably disgusted.  I was.  I honestly don't understand how the Government allows this...oh, $$wait....yes $$$ I do, $$ but I'm $$ not going $$ there.  

Once I started reading labels, I could not get past the fact that I was feeding my family a whole lot of un-natural, chemically altered, WEIRD STUFF.

I couldn't help but think about my Grandmother and Great Aunts who lived a 90% homemade diet, and all who lived a super healthy life well into their late 90s.  Then I look around me and see SO MANY people battling awful diseases and dehabilitating allergies that were much less prominent 30 years ago.  I can't help but make an association with the increase of convenient processed foods, and a decline in the health of the American population.  Sure, our environment may have something to do with it also, but I have minimal control over that....Food, I can control.

For me, this was a no brainer.  Our family has made the move to a more natural, home-made, real food diet.  And while we still enjoy the occasional Oreo or handful of potato chips, and heck, yes, on occasion I will give in and even let the girls enjoy a kids meal from Wendy's....MOST of the time we  choose to snack on fresh fruit, air-popped popcorn and crisp vegetable sticks.  We make our sandwiches using homemade bread (made in the breadmaker which makes this super easy) and enjoy home-baked treats for desserts.  If we want ice-cream we stick with brands that have less than 5 ingredients (all of which we know).  We make a huge batch of waffles every couple of months and freeze them for our quick morning breakfasts.  We do the same for hot dog/hamburger buns.  We make our own pizza dough and enjoy the activity of topping the pizza ourselves.  Our freezer is stuffed to the rim with our own homemade "packaged goods".  

And even though it takes some more time to make these things, it balances out because our time shopping in the grocery store has diminished significantly.  We stick to the outer asiles where all the fresh foods and produce can be found.  If it comes pre-packaged in a box or plastic bag we pretty much avoid it.  And now cooking and baking have become a family event.  The kids love mixing batters, learning ingredients and watching basic ingredients become delicious foods.  "I helped make that!" is an awesome thing to hear from your child!

Am I crazy?  Am I being dumb?  I'm I too cautious?  I don't know.  Maybe I am,  maybe you disagree with me...but what I do know is that I feel good providing my family with foods that contain ingredients which I can pronounce and understand.  I feel good knowing that my family is eating things that were meant to be eaten....things that grow naturally, are not hybrids, are not manufactured in a lab and are not altered or tampered with by some person with a PhD in chemistry.

Food should be made in the kitchen, not a laboratory!

Just a little food for thought.

Now...back to sewing!