Snacks-R-Us

http://www.sfa.org/

I just want something else to eat before I stop eating for a few hours. I could use an apple (don't have one) or a banana (ate it hours ago), but there's no fruit to be had. I'm almost considering going to the vending machine (no!), but I open my desk drawer and find... fruit snacks.   That's how it's spelled, all lower case. And it's "snacks" even though I'm pretty sure it's just one snack. 

The subtitle on this package is a veritable cornucopia of "mixed fruit": grape, peach, strawberry, orange & raspberry. Flavors. But there is 100% of your daily vitamin C and no fat, i.e. and no cholesterol.   

All right, so this will do. And then the appetite killer - I check out the ingredients list on the back of the package.   

Here goes: 

1) Fruit (yay!) juice (ok) from concentrate (apple, pear) (This probably means China, because I have never seen concentrated fruit juice that came from America. I'm not able to explain this, but I've consistently read juice labels for 5 years - ever since reaching momdom. Never yet seen "from concentrate from the US" it's always "from concentrate from China" and you know, that just ain't right! 

2) Corn syrup (of course) 

3) Sugar (standard) 

4) Modified Corn Starch (not on my pantry shelf at home) 

5) Gelatin (made from horse hooves I think) 

6) Sorbitol (fresh out) 

7) Citric acid 

8) Natural and artifical flavors (also not in the pantry) 

9) Sodium citrate 

10) Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) 

11) Sodium ascorbate (vitamin C - Again? What about the sodium? Why did I have to fail Chemistry and drop it? Who knew I was going to need it to help my identify my afternoon snacks!) 

12) Mineral oil* 

13) Carnauba wax* 

14) Red 40 

15) Yellow 6 

16) Blue 1  

So the good news is that there is no fat. The asterisks are not mine on numbers 12 and 13, the manufacturer just put them there with a note that says these ingredients add a nominal amount of fat. Nothing to worry about. Still a fat free food! It has the word "food" on the front of the package. 

It's just that, I don't know, when you think about a snack, you don't think about the 16 things that make up the snack.  I think the less the number of ingredients, maybe the better for you. It's not my idea; I've heard this before, but don't ask me where. I've already eaten the daggone snack, but I'm just sitting here not really enjoying it. Not feeling satisfied. Well, OK, maybe a little. 

But I'm wondering if I had eaten a piece of fruit instead, how would I feel. For example, here is the ingredient list: 

1) Apple.   

It would also be fat free. Probably does not have car wax and mineral oil in it. The apple peel does not have Red 40 or Yellow 69. Honestly, I'm feeling totally grossed out.   

And here is my next revelation, which is not making me feel any better. These are my kids' snacks. I just grabbed one or had one in my purse or somehow it made its way into my desk drawer. One of the things that moms do is eat their kids' foods - chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, that kind of thing.   

It packs on weight and it's not healthy food. Why is it that you hear moms saying they should stop eating the leftover food from their kids' plates, when maybe what you should be hearing them say is that they shouldn't be feeding their kids that junk in the first place?   

Listen, I am guilty of this. I work and if I have to come home and throw something together, then it's not going to be gourmet. I usually try to heat something up and then I grab a bowl of cereal for myself.   

I just found out that I have high cholesterol. I never worried about my cholesterol before because I'm a vegetarian. That's right - I don't eat meat! And I still have high cholesterol.   

First of all, I'm not a vegan. I still eat cheese and I think I'm addicted to cow's milk. But this cholesterol has to be coming from somewhere - dairy? For certain, there is too much sat fat in my diet.   

Changes:  

1) Reading the ingredients list on foods 

2) Eating whole grains  

3) Avoid fat and processed foods 

4) Exercise  

How I'm doing: 

1) Done! To my chagrin. Reading ingredients sucks. I found out I don't eat any cholesterol. Seriously, everything I eat has 0 (zero) cholesterol. That leaves only dairy and eating out. I don't eat out that much since I have small children. So that leaves another possibility... genetics. This is really scary. Also, I need to eat better when I do eat out... or maybe french fries are going to fill up my arteries? No more french fries you bastards!  

2) Just finished my first box of Cheerios and bought 2 more. They're delicious. If I skip b-fast at home, then I have instant oatmeal at work. I switched to soy milk for cereal. I'm not crazy about it, and I accidentally bought vanilla, but I'm "belly happy" when I'm finished. I know that I've done something good for my body.  

3) I used to eat those frozen foods for lunch at work all the time. But these are processed. They have  lot more fat than if you made them yourself. Here's my solution: I bought a loaf of sugar-free, whole grain bread, some natural peanut butter and "simply" jelly (no gelatin or HF corn syrup). I make a mean PBJ at lunch at my desk. Or... veggie bacon BLT. Those are my 2 office sandwiches, and they're great!  

4) I'm still working on this one. I missed yoga class. I almost got on the treadmill last night, but the kids were struggling w/ going to sleep. That's my excuse for yesterday!