sugnim
I'm building on the prior thread about reading food labels.
According to this article, the labels on foods regarding ingredients are not always correct. The article cites juices as being a product with oft-inaccurate labeling, but also the products listed below. The article further states that lying on food labels is up by 60%. Any thoughts? Do you trust food labels? Do you grow or otherwise produce or catch any of your own foods?
"USP tells ABC News that liquids and ground foods in general are the easiest to tamper with:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/exclusive-group-finds-fake-ingredients-popular-foods/story?id=18281941
Fitness Jogger
I'm building on the prior thread about reading food labels. According to this article, the labels on foods regarding ingredients are not always correct. The article cites juices as being a product with oft-inaccurate labeling, but also the products listed below. The article further states that lying on food labels is up by 60%. Any thoughts? Do you trust food labels? Do you grow or otherwise produce or catch any of your own foods? "USP tells ABC News that liquids and ground foods in general are the easiest to tamper with: Olive oil: often diluted with cheaper oils Lemon juice: cheapened with water and sugar Tea: diluted with fillers like lawn grass or fern leaves Spices: like paprika or saffron adulterated with dangerous food colorings that mimic the colors Milk, honey, coffee and syrup are also listed by the USP as being highly adulterated products. Also high on the list: seafood." http://abcnews.go.com/US/exclusive-group-finds-fake-ingredients-popular-foods/story?id=18281941
I read that; bastards.
Re: oil-I guess unless we send the brand we purchase to a lab, how do we know?
Lemon juice-squeeze your own.
Tea-again, I use Lipton green so I wouldn't know if they have been using grass all these years. It tastes pretty good!
Spices-I purchase McCormick since I know the name. I wouldn't know if it weren't paprika. D'oh!
Milk, honey, etc-WTF?! I'm ready to give up and eat cat food. Use dry milk maybe like when I was a kid?
Seafood-I've been on a sardine kick lately, they are hard to mimic.
These stories just make me want to raise a chicken and a cow.
Shakedown Street
I grow a ton of fruit and veggies. I generally do not buy pre-made stuff in boxes. If there is more than about 5 items in the ingredient label, I generally avoid it. Store bought juices pre-made...avoid those as well. I hunt and process most of my kill. I buy meats from 3 sources-two are local farms (less than 30 minutes away), the other is a roommate from undergrads family farm. I don't eat out much unless I am traveling. Fish are bought as whole fish-heads and all.
I grew up rural on the water-and my family generally has a 'don't waste shit' attitude when it comes to food. I did not eat at a McDonald's or know what the heck it was until high school (moved to a larger city for HS). It is funny, because a lot of stuff we eat or buy freaks people out-like making sausage, or processing other meats. People think I am either 'farm-fresh' or just crazy. I generally have about 150# of peaches a year from 2 small trees on the side of my house. I share them with my 80 year old neighbors from Germany. Most everyone else thinks I am crazy for eating them-people in my neighborhood ask me "if they are safe", "do you eat those", "what are they", "are they organic".
Corn Syrup is a no-go. Dairy comes from a family farm by my office (good stuff!-although I don't do a lot of milk/cheese).
It does take time, but it helps when the whole family (cousins, etc) are into it. You can go "halves on calfs"
Started-5/12, RWOL refugee,5k-24:23 (1/12/13),10K-55:37(9/15/12),HM-1:52:59(3/24/13)
Smaller By The Day
I don't count calories, but I know that a carrot is a carrot. A potato is potato. Beef is beef. Apples are apples. What do they all have in common? They're on the outer edges of the supermarket. The less time you spend in isles, the better off you are.
Improvements
Weight 100 pounds lost
5K 31:02 Sept. 2012 / 23:36 Sept. 2013 (Same Course)
10K 48:59 April 2013
HM 2:03:56 Nov. 2012 / 1:46:50 March 2013
MARATHON 3:57:33 Nov. 2013
Sloooow.
I grow a ton of fruit and veggies. I generally do not buy pre-made stuff in boxes. If there is more than about 5 items in the ingredient label, I generally avoid it. Store bought juices pre-made...avoid those as well. I hunt and process most of my kill. I buy meats from 3 sources-two are local farms (less than 30 minutes away), the other is a roommate from undergrads family farm. I don't eat out much unless I am traveling. Fish are bought as whole fish-heads and all. I grew up rural on the water-and my family generally has a 'don't waste shit' attitude when it comes to food. I did not eat at a McDonald's or know what the heck it was until high school (moved to a larger city for HS). It is funny, because a lot of stuff we eat or buy freaks people out-like making sausage, or processing other meats. People think I am either 'farm-fresh' or just crazy. I generally have about 150# of peaches a year from 2 small trees on the side of my house. I share them with my 80 year old neighbors from Germany. Most everyone else thinks I am crazy for eating them-people in my neighborhood ask me "if they are safe", "do you eat those", "what are they", "are they organic". Corn Syrup is a no-go. Dairy comes from a family farm by my office (good stuff!-although I don't do a lot of milk/cheese). It does take time, but it helps when the whole family (cousins, etc) are into it. You can go "halves on calfs"
It sounds like you have lots of options in your area, that's amazing. I'm pretty jealous.
I had a similar experience this summer with my sister-in-law. There are couple of small apple trees on my FIL's farm, and my son was out picking the apples and eating them. My SIL asked if they were OK to eat, because she thought they were poisonous. Granted, these weren't braeburns, fujis or any other "named" apple, but they were apples. Just small ones. DS ate about 4 a day while we were at the farm and we picked what we could reach to bring home for applesauce, apple muffins and just eating.
Re: the original post, that is scary. We try to limit how much processed food we buy, though I don't normally lump things like olive oil, tea and spices with what I think of as "processed food." For honey, I try to buy from local producers; the same with maple syrup.
20,000 miles behind me, the world still to see.
jneilt, you are flippin' awesome! We grow a ton of fruit & veggies & also raise chickens for meat & eggs. But I don't have the guts to process my own meat or hunt.
You live in Montana? Get with it.
Coralie. I live on a normal sized lot in one of the largest metro-clusters in the US. You have options...you just don't know it. Your options will not be as close and easy as the grocery, but they are cheaper. There is a dairy farm near you, more than likely someone has cattle near you, or lamb, or goat or poultry. To be honest, the pigeons you see are generally better for you than most non-organic grocery poultry.
My dogs don't even eat store bought food.
I grew up in southern louisiana.
I don't brew beer or make wine.
Haha. I should. However, I've made a ton of progress. I grew up in CA & was a vegetarian for 13 years living off of processed soy crap. I totally love that you mentioned pigeons. Plenty of historical cook books contain articles & recipes for squab, and I think this was once a very common food.
I am still tooking for the pop tart tree
those things dont last long in the house....but they are not on the outer edges. Our grocer is getting smart. They have a table set up in front of the milk that has cakes and doughnuts. Those cheaters.
”Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
Tomas
Well, cat food for the most part has chicken meal which is also a bad thing.
I read that; bastards. Re: oil-I guess unless we send the brand we purchase to a lab, how do we know? Lemon juice-squeeze your own. Tea-again, I use Lipton green so I wouldn't know if they have been using grass all these years. It tastes pretty good! Spices-I purchase McCormick since I know the name. I wouldn't know if it weren't paprika. D'oh! Milk, honey, etc-WTF?! I'm ready to give up and eat cat food. Use dry milk maybe like when I was a kid? Seafood-I've been on a sardine kick lately, they are hard to mimic. These stories just make me want to raise a chicken and a cow.
Damaris
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Jess runs for bacon
That's terrifying.
Most of these don't apply to me at least. I hate fish, I buy my olive oil and honey from the farmer's market, if I actually use lemon juice I squeeze my own, etc.
BUT I'm not perfect, and if I check the label and something says 100% real lemon juice, I'm going to assume it is. That's sue-worthy.
kween
I am still looking for the pop tart tree those things dont last long in the house....but they are not on the outer edges. Our grocer is getting smart. They have a table set up in front of the milk that has cakes and doughnuts. Those cheaters.
I am still looking for the pop tart tree
Bahahahaha! I think we have a lot in common!
Nolite te bastardes carborundum.
I generally eat a very small variety of foods. Probably 90 percent of my diet is grilled chicken, raw/steamed green vegetables, fruit and nuts. I don't eat a lot of canned or packaged foods, so there are not a lot of labels to read.
But yeah, sugnim, the food industry in general and at all levels needs some major reform and regulation.Being fooled by corporations that produce and sell food products is not freedom.
Resident Historian
sugnim mentioned fish as often on the "fake" list.
Restaurants will often substitute a cheaper or more available fish for what's advertised (like Tilapia for "grouper sandwich"). In Florida a couple of years ago, a knowledgeable friend started putting samples of his dinner in a plastic bag, photoed and labeled, and getting the DNA read for type of fish. That set the cat loose among the pigeons -- the state jumped on it and started checking too, restaurants and suppliers.Charges filed, some against very high-end restaurants and chains. Lots of "But 'they' told us it was grouper..." pointing round in circles - but then big changes in menus.
BTW, for years people have claimed that "scallops" may be cookie-cuttered stingray wings... may or may not be true.
Neil
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Some people will tell you that slow is good – but I'm here to tell you that fast is better. I've always believed this, in spite of the trouble it's caused me. - Hunter S. Thompson