Freaked out about added sugar in everything and American standard diet

[Anonymous]

OP, just worry about one thing at a time. There is not added sugar in everything, so don't worry about that. Finding milk with no added rBGH is easy, so no need to worry about that either. There's arsenic in rice, true, also apples, apple juice, and other fruits and vegetables. It's unavoidable, almost, as it's in water and in the soil. Decide what you're going to do about arsenic, and then you can stop worrying about that, too.

[Anonymous]

thrive market is an online market for primal/paleo folks

marksdailyapple.com is a great resource and my favorite website.

Whole 30 is a paleo concept/book that can guide you (it's too strict for me)

[Anonymous]

Regular pasta doesn't have added sugar. Neither does regular milk. Are you worried about too many carbs OP? I think you need to explain what your issue is, again, from the beginning.

The easy answer would be not to carb-load your baby. They don't need a mound of rice or pasta for dinner. Baby can have the roasted veggies, whatever protein you're offering, fruit, cheese, lots of stuff. It doesn't have to be from a package.

If it's overwhelming you, then roast a mega batch of sweet potato slices, carrots, brussel sprouts, and mushrooms over the weekend. Keep them and reheat during the week as an easy go-to.

[Anonymous]

What do you eat, OP? There are limitless foods without added sugar. First, if you eat healthy, you should be eating one ingredient foods: proteins from fish, meat or poultry, veggies, fruits, nuts, beans, potatoes & whole grains. Sure, it'll be hard to avoid added sugar or carbs that convert to sugar if you're eating processed crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regular pasta doesn't have added sugar. Neither does regular milk. Are you worried about too many carbs OP? I think you need to explain what your issue is, again, from the beginning.

The easy answer would be not to carb-load your baby. They don't need a mound of rice or pasta for dinner. Baby can have the roasted veggies, whatever protein you're offering, fruit, cheese, lots of stuff. It doesn't have to be from a package.

If it's overwhelming you, then roast a mega batch of sweet potato slices, carrots, brussel sprouts, and mushrooms over the weekend. Keep them and reheat during the week as an easy go-to.

It's fine to feed baby carbs. Babies and children can easily process carbs, and use the energy to grow. Unless a child is overweight/obese, there is no reason to reduce or restrict carbs, and good reason to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will eat what you eat. For better or for worse. The notion many people have that they need to keep their child as a tiny pure cherub subsisting only on the most innocuous organic foods is rubbish. Let them eat what you eat. Or the closest approximation of it you can find that's suitable for their teeth/digestive abilities.

Release your child of the burden of needing to be "pure" and unspoiled by sugar. He's a modern American. he needn't eat like an Amish farmboy.

That's the problem...modern Americans are nutrient deficient, obese, sick, sugar addicted, etc

Are you nutrient deficient and obese OP? Are you drinking Diet Coke while you write this? Or have you figured out things to eat for yourself? Can you feed those to the baby? Why does the baby have to be more pure than you? Are you raising the next Messiah?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah crap I'm sorry. I'm mixing my sugar woes with my woes about the food supply. For milk, I'm freaked about about growth hormones in cows. For rice, I'm freaked out about arsenic content. I'm sorry ya'll.

I get your concerns. DH and I work full time and have two kids. We make our own tomato sauce, bread and yogurts. You can buy milk with no growth hormones. All my meat and poultry is organic and has no antibiotics or hormones, plus free range. Any produce that doesn't come in a "shell" (banana, orange) is bought organic. Food is important to us, so we're willing to spend. When we use rice, it's white basmati rice from CA, Pakistan or India. We don't worry about the pasta - they don't eat much of it anyway. Plus, when I see the kids are eating something with a higher sugar content, I make sure to balance it out with a big dose of protein and that the other meals that day are lower in sugar.

There are people who will read this and will give the following counterpoints:

1. "I grew up eating McDonalds two to three times a week and having some candy every day after school and I'm fine" To that, I say, that's great for you.
2. "Just wait until your kids go to school and trade or throw out their organic plums for Oreos from the kid sitting next to them." To that, I say, I know that's a possibility (maybe even a probability) and while I have my kids under my control I'll do everything I can to give them the healthiest start in life possible.

[Anonymous]

Whew sorry, let me try again, I'm so incoherent! Ok, I have general anxiety with our food supply...
Meat- I read "skinny bitch" when I was younger, and though I never became a vegan, I'm always haunted by the descriptions of cruelty and the low health standards in American slaughterhouses. I've cut way back on meat because I always remember the author saying that the animals, before they die, are terrified and suffering, and you are consuming that terror and suffering. She also goes into the hormones fed to the animals, as well as the antibiotics. This protein issue of mine also crosses over into anything dairy.
Rice-I've noted the arsenic issue, and also read that bleached white rice is devoid of nutrition and just empty calories, and same with bread and pasta. And all these grains have gut irritants. And crap-gluten-gotta be honest, I don't know what gluten even is-but it's bad for me right?
Fruits-now I'm hearing FRUIT is bad for you because it has too much sugar? And pesticides of course.
Veggies-yay someting we all agree is ok! Except for the pesticides of course. And corn-bad bad genetically modified corn.
And of course everything "processed". The yogurt, pasta sauce, etc with the added sugar, chemical additives, shelf stabilizers...
All in all I feel like the baby and I should just be drinking kombacha all day. And eating veggies-organic-of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regular pasta doesn't have added sugar. Neither does regular milk. Are you worried about too many carbs OP? I think you need to explain what your issue is, again, from the beginning.

The easy answer would be not to carb-load your baby. They don't need a mound of rice or pasta for dinner. Baby can have the roasted veggies, whatever protein you're offering, fruit, cheese, lots of stuff. It doesn't have to be from a package.

If it's overwhelming you, then roast a mega batch of sweet potato slices, carrots, brussel sprouts, and mushrooms over the weekend. Keep them and reheat during the week as an easy go-to.

It's fine to feed baby carbs. Babies and children can easily process carbs, and use the energy to grow. Unless a child is overweight/obese, there is no reason to reduce or restrict carbs, and good reason to do so.

I didn't suggest restricting carbs. What I suggested included several carby-vegetables, but ones that have a higher nutrient density than rice. Rice is calories but not much else - sweet potato has carbs, as well as vitamins B and C. Carrots have carbs, potassium, and vitamin A. Fruits also offer plenty of carbohydrates and vitamins. You don't have to get your daily carb quota from rice & wheat.

Anyway, this is sort of a diversion from OP's post. I was just taking a guess at what her issue was and trying to suggest an healthy option that addressed her concern and is a healthy set of first foods for a baby. Still not clear what she's going for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MILK has sugar added? Cow's milk?

The Horizon milk at Barnes and Noble comes in chocolate or vanilla, both with sugar added. The only way to get plain milk is to ask for it in a cup, made by the barista.

That's the ONLY way? They expect you to ask for it? What is wrong with them? Why do they make it so hard? And what do you mean, "made by the barista"?

The milk they sell at Starbuck's is the barista's breast milk.

[Anonymous]

OP, we live in an area with lots of excellent stores carrying high quality conventional and organic food, lots of CSAs, lots of farms that treat their diary cows and other animals wonderfully. We have choice in the lives that animals lead, and even in how they are slaughtered. Or being vegetarian or vegan is common in this area.

If more research would ease your anxiety, I could point you toward books, websites, etc. to help. But maybe it would be better for you to let it all go and fous on feeding your baby, not on food anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whew sorry, let me try again, I'm so incoherent! Ok, I have general anxiety with our food supply...
Meat- I read "skinny bitch" when I was younger, and though I never became a vegan, I'm always haunted by the descriptions of cruelty and the low health standards in American slaughterhouses. I've cut way back on meat because I always remember the author saying that the animals, before they die, are terrified and suffering, and you are consuming that terror and suffering. She also goes into the hormones fed to the animals, as well as the antibiotics. This protein issue of mine also crosses over into anything dairy.
Rice-I've noted the arsenic issue, and also read that bleached white rice is devoid of nutrition and just empty calories, and same with bread and pasta. And all these grains have gut irritants. And crap-gluten-gotta be honest, I don't know what gluten even is-but it's bad for me right?
Fruits-now I'm hearing FRUIT is bad for you because it has too much sugar? And pesticides of course.
Veggies-yay someting we all agree is ok! Except for the pesticides of course. And corn-bad bad genetically modified corn.
And of course everything "processed". The yogurt, pasta sauce, etc with the added sugar, chemical additives, shelf stabilizers...
All in all I feel like the baby and I should just be drinking kombacha all day. And eating veggies-organic-of course.

Please don't ferment something at home and serve your baby alcohol - I know you're just joking, but oy, "health" fads like those, just ugh, you know?

Okay, so practical tips -

Organic vegetables -easy, get those
Yogurt - get plain, whole milk organic yogurt. If you want the flavored kind, put berries + honey on top yourself (skip honey for baby's yogurt). It's also super easy to make yourself - I did it for the first time last month, made a huge batch, it was so easy.
Rice is just empty calories - that doesn't mean you have to ban it, but it something to eat in limited quantities, because just about any other food has more to offer your body for the same or fewer calories

You want stable blood sugar levels, so for that reason, fruit has a place in your diet and its place is not a stand alone meal. Think about the three major macronutrients - fat, protein, and carbs. Every snack and meal should have at least two of those. I don't eat fruit on an empty stomach - for the same reason I don't eat dessert before dinner. Fruit is fine, but have those apple slices with some almond butter, or have those strawberries with fresh whipped up cream (I whip it up by hand at home - takes 5 min, no sugar added), or serve it with a cheese stick as a side. The fat and/or protein will slow down the digestion of the snack, fruit included, and that will avoid the sugar rush you otherwise would get. Fruit is good - without citrus, we'd all have scurvy - but it has a role to play and I think people forget that sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Isn't it nice that you can worry about this first world bullshit instead of your child starving to death?

Get a grip. And a therapist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As I take LO into solid foods, I'm really freaked out by the basics-even rice, pasta, bread, and milk have so much EXTRA sugar added to them. It wasn't like that when I was growing up. I'm scouring labels trying to find stuff that has the least amounts of added sugar. I make things like marinara sauce from scratch but I'm a normal person and I don't bake my own bread or make my own pasta. Anyone have a website or resource or store recommendation for groceries that are less processed/have less sugar?

Which rice, dried pasta has sugar? Milk has always had lactose. What planet did you come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whew sorry, let me try again, I'm so incoherent! Ok, I have general anxiety with our food supply...
Meat- I read "skinny bitch" when I was younger, and though I never became a vegan, I'm always haunted by the descriptions of cruelty and the low health standards in American slaughterhouses. I've cut way back on meat because I always remember the author saying that the animals, before they die, are terrified and suffering, and you are consuming that terror and suffering. She also goes into the hormones fed to the animals, as well as the antibiotics. This protein issue of mine also crosses over into anything dairy.
Rice-I've noted the arsenic issue, and also read that bleached white rice is devoid of nutrition and just empty calories, and same with bread and pasta. And all these grains have gut irritants. And crap-gluten-gotta be honest, I don't know what gluten even is-but it's bad for me right?
Fruits-now I'm hearing FRUIT is bad for you because it has too much sugar? And pesticides of course.
Veggies-yay someting we all agree is ok! Except for the pesticides of course. And corn-bad bad genetically modified corn.
And of course everything "processed". The yogurt, pasta sauce, etc with the added sugar, chemical additives, shelf stabilizers...
All in all I feel like the baby and I should just be drinking kombacha all day. And eating veggies-organic-of course.

I get it, OP. I'm right there with you. But there's a line where you can worry about this and be sane/insane and where you let things go for awhile. Dial it back to a point where you're sane and healthy. Look at us... we're using the microwave (we hadn't in 5 years before DD), buying frozen dinners, and letting her eat that microwaveable mac and cheese. And we're attending dinner parties and potlucks without having anxiety attacks. It's not where we'd like to be, where we know how to be, but we're functioning and sane. And fed. Before DD, I could wipe myself out after 24 hours of not being near food I thought was acceptable to eat, because it took so damn long to prepare everything by hand.