"People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are healed by the health industry, which pays no attention to food."
--Wendell Berry, Kentucky poet and farmer
A key lessons in Growing Healthy Kids’ programs for children and parents is about knowing what you are eating.
In hands-on workshops, our volunteers introduce children to farmers and walk through fields and
greenhouses with them to teach about growing foods without chemicals. We take kids shopping at farmers
markets. We teach kids how to read food
labels on their favorite breakfast cereals. We do food tastings and cooking classes so kids can
learn what they like.
Here are 4 simple
tips you can use to find out what’s in your food:
- Only buy it if you can pronounce all the ingredients.
- Count the number of ingredients. If something has more than 5 ingredients, use it sparingly, or not at all.
- Read the food ingredients lists and look for food dyes, such as “red #3”, "red #40", “blue #2” and "yellow #6". Avoid food dyes at all costs, as consumption of them is related to ADHD and certain cancers.
- Watch out for ingredients ending in “-ose”. This suffix indicates the ingredient is a sugar. Added sugars have no nutritional value.
Follow these
simple tips to greatly improve the quality of what you eat.
With love,
Nancy
Heinrich, MPH
Founder and
Wellness Architect
Growing
Healthy Kids, Inc.
