Nutrition for Empowered Women » Online resources

Daycare Dilemma: Food Coloring Crisis

Alexandra — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:10:59 +0000

My son Laken attends a wonderful daycare here in our Brooklyn neighborhood. The teachers are kind, fun, and attentive, the director is hands-on, creative, and energetic. I enjoy the other parents and kids, and I’ve even stopped by the 3/4′s classroom to give a little talk about healthy vegetables.

Sometimes our plant-based, natural food diet causes a wrinkle for the school, but I have found them to be very responsive and supportive of our food choices. (I guess I should say MY food choices – L would probably love to eat ice cream all day long!)

A few weeks ago the teachers posted a sign-up sheet for us parents to get involved in a fruit salad project. Parents signed up to bring in different fruits of different colors. Great! I thought – fruit salad! What a great cooking project!

And then I realized most of the foods on the list are on the Dirty Dozen list - the most sprayed, highest pesticide-residue foods available.

Gulp.

What’s a natural-leaning mom to do? I decided to take action. I printed off 30 copies of the Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 produce lists and put them in every kid’s mailbox so their parents would see which foods should be purchased organic. Then I posted one next to the sign-up sheet that parents saw as they reached the classroom.

The next issue at hand? The teachers also wanted a parent to bring in whipped cream and food coloring to top off the fruit salad! Ugh. My first thought was “why??!!!”

Why teach our kids to top off sweet fruit with sugary whipped cream, colored with man-made, possibly toxic food coloring?

Here’s my problem with artificial food colorings:

Many studies have determined a link between artificial food coloring and cancer, brain tumors, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and other behavior disorders, especially in children. It’s probably the tar and hydrocarbon derivatives as well as petrochemicals used to manufacture artificial food coloring.

I decided to take the middle road. I put my name down on the line for “whipped cream/food coloring” and rushed to the phone. I called the good people at www.naturalcandystore.com and asked them to send me their natural food coloring kit,

so I could give it to the school. Then I bought some

Soyatoo Rice Whip from www.veganessentials.com for the class to mix up with the food coloring – it’s not the healthiest thing on earth, but it’s a lot better than Cool Whip, and it’s dairy- and HFCS-free.

See…I can compromise! I thought it was better to bring in alternatives and show the other parents that there are alternative products for their families, too.

The coolest thing? The teachers loved what I brought in! Now they’re using the natural food coloring to make playdough with the kids, and the director is aware of the websites and alternative products. It’s all working out in the end.

We’ll eat extra broccoli to make up for the whipped rice-cream…

Intolerance is good for you – if you can’t eat gluten

Alexandra — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:03:09 +0000

I often get questions from women who are experiencing digestive problems. Not only do they have stomach problems, they also notice their energy isn’t as good as it used to be, as well as skin problems. The complaints range from gas and bloating, frequent stomach cramps, dry and itchy skin, rashes, fatigue, weight loss or gain, as well as every type of diarrhea and/or constipation. They often have mood swings, depression and an inability to concentrate.

The first thing I look at is their diet. What foods are they eating?

I have worked with many clients who discovered that they felt much better if they avoided gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and most oat products.

If you think you may have celiac disease, or gluten intolerance, talk to you doctor or an allergist about getting tested. You can experiment at home by removing all gluten from your diet for a few weeks to see if you feel better. To help you get started, consider subscribing to Living Without Magazine is an incredible resource for anyone who suffers from celiac disease. http://www.livingwithout.com/recipes.html

One easy way to make school lunches healthier!

Alexandra — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:20:04 +0000

I live in New York City. It’s an amazing, maddening place to live. There are more health food stores and vegan-friendly restaurants per square mile than anywhere else on earth. Still, we have our health problems, especially in the public schools.

It’s bad enough that public schools offer high-fat, over-salted, artificially sweetened food to kids every day. Did you know they also serve that junk on single-use Styrofoam trays?

I have 2 major issues with using Styrofoam food trays for kids:

1. Health Impact: Styrofoam is known to leach polystyrene and BPA into food. Why does this matter? According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), styrene was reported as having a “possible carcinogenic effect to humans.” BPA is a controversial chemical linked to hormone disruption and cancer.

2. Environmental: According to the New York City public school system, 850,000 of these Styrofoam trays are thrown away every day – after being used for about 30 minutes!

Sign the petition to Mayor Mike Bloomberg (“the green mayor?”) and the City Counsel to request that this crazy system be changed for our kids and the planet’s health: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SOSnyc/

Because Styrofoam is cheap, lightweight and easy to use, the school systems began buying them en masse in the early 1990s. According to SOSnyc.org, or Styrofoam Out of Schools NYC, NYC Council Member, Bill DeBlasio, has introduced legislation to ban Styrofoam in NYC restaurants and city agencies (this bill does not cover NYC schools). They are working with his staff on planning a City Hall rally for the fall, 2009.

The alternatives at this point are:

An immediate reduction in Styrofoam tray use. Every kid gets a tray even if they’re only buying a wrapped sandwich and a carton of juice. Why is this necessary? High school kids could handle a plate without a tray, and younger kids don’t all need a tray.
Reusable, washable trays are the best solution. Kids need to learn that living in a throwaway society is no longer an option, and they need to understand the impact of their actions.
Compostable single-use trays are available.
1. It is safer for the kids to eat off of Bagasse or sugar cane trays, which are available for an additional cost of about .03 each. However, if the trays are not composted, their disposal is similar to other single-use products. Sugar cane is a renewable resource. The fibers being used for the sugar cane trays would be burned, otherwise. Still, the Sunshine trays are shipped from Asia.
2. Power Tray, LLC is working on a new tray systems that would be made from locally sourced fibers from New York State. For more information, contact:

i. Jay Hilbish – Powertray Jayhilbish@power-tray.com

For more information, contact: http://www.SOSnyc.org/FullStory.html

Be well,

Keep up the good fight,

Alexandra

alex@nutritionforempoweredwomen.com

Mindful Menu Planning for Easy Healthy Meals

Alexandra — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:00:05 +0000

Nutrition for Empowered Women

June 22^nd E-Bite

Mindful Menu Planning 101

Want to save money, eat healthy and save time? Me too! Make your healthy eating goals a reality with a few simple planning tips:

Plan the meals you’re going to eat for the next week – as someone’s football coach once said, if you fail to plan, your planning to fail.

Use a grid printout to make your menu and shopping list. This simple practice will easily cut down on stressful, end of the day grocery store dashes, and will save you from relying on take-out or fast food.

Start with these two printable charts from Organizedhome.com: