Yes and No. Annie's fruit snacks are still sugar gummies, but use fruit and vegetable juices for coloring rather than artificial dyes. It's one of hundreds of things we switched to when working with our 4 year old on ADHD symptoms. Artificial dyes make her insane.
Yeah Kellogs FS =/= Annie's FS
While I was being mostly TIC about fruit snacks and goldfish, I did also say the brands are probably better and more health conscious regarding things other than nutrients. I mean, speaking just about calories and macronutrients, the first two ingredients are sugar and they have the same caloric content. (Eta I just googled Annie's and Kelloggs FS, mixed berry)
Post by leroybrown on Jan 26, 2015 13:48:42 GMT -5
Annie's: 70 calories per pouch: Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Tapioca Syrup Solids, Organic White Grape Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Color (Black Carrot Juice Concentrate), Natural Flavors, Sodium Citrate, Organic Sunflower Oil, Carnauba Wax (From Palm Leaves).
Welch's fruit snacks: 80 calories per serving: juice from concentrates (grape, pear, peach and pineapple), corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, fruit purees (strawberry, raspberry, orange and grape), gelatin, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavors, ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol acetate, vitamin a palmitate, sodium citrate, coconut oil, carnauba wax, red 40, yellow 5 and blue 1.
This thread is making me feel like I need to up my life game.
IKR? I had the organic thing on lock when DS ate baby food.
But now that I'm making lunches for daycare and feeding him dinner at 6pm before a 6:30 bedtime? I'm tossing chicken nuggets and canned fruit at him, praying that he'll learn how to eat healthy on his own.
Post by monkeytoes15 on Jan 26, 2015 13:52:31 GMT -5
We have our own free range chickens, so those are organic and we'll treated chicken eggs. We have quit a bit of veggies from our garden, that we compost for. We get our meat as organic as I can afford. Trying to step out up, but I really don't go out of my way.
Annie's: 70 calories per pouch: Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Tapioca Syrup Solids, Organic White Grape Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Color (Black Carrot Juice Concentrate), Natural Flavors, Sodium Citrate, Organic Sunflower Oil, Carnauba Wax (From Palm Leaves).
Welch's fruit snacks: 80 calories per serving: juice from concentrates (grape, pear, peach and pineapple), corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, fruit purees (strawberry, raspberry, orange and grape), gelatin, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavors, ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol acetate, vitamin a palmitate, sodium citrate, coconut oil, carnauba wax, red 40, yellow 5 and blue 1.
I don't get it. I'm not arguing that there are other benefits and this doesn't dispute what I said. The first ingredients are sugar, the calories are the same. Welch's is a slightly bigger bag which is why it's 80 vs 70.
I don't get it. I'm not arguing that there are other benefits and this doesn't dispute what I said. The first ingredients are sugar, the calories are the same. Welch's is a slightly bigger bag which is why it's 80 vs 70.
Isn't the point just that organic doesn't necessarily make a food healthy. Like yes, there may be things that make it a healthier option, but the mere fact that it has organic on the box doesn't mean it's healthy?
And I think most of us here understand this, but I know people who do think that the organic makes it much healthier even if the non organic version isn't necessary less healthy. Or like here lots of the farmers at the market follow organic methods but aren't certified organic because they don't have the volume to justify the cost of getting certified, I know people who will not buy from those farmers and will instead by the more expensive option from a huge organic farm hundreds of miles away at the grocery store because of the organic label.
Post by atomiccounty on Jan 26, 2015 14:14:29 GMT -5
I try to buy organic when it's both somewhat affordable and looks decent for produce. Our nearest Whole Foods is about 40 mins way and it's not worth the drive.
We have a fresh market and I like their meat counter, but there isn't much organic.
I always buy organic milk. Our local heavy cream is better though, so I don't buy that organic. Some things are just so expensive and I'm too cheap. For example, I passed up the organic cheese sticks yesterday because it came out to $1 each. That's too much for a little cheese stick.
Annie's: 70 calories per pouch: Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Tapioca Syrup Solids, Organic White Grape Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Color (Black Carrot Juice Concentrate), Natural Flavors, Sodium Citrate, Organic Sunflower Oil, Carnauba Wax (From Palm Leaves).
Welch's fruit snacks: 80 calories per serving: juice from concentrates (grape, pear, peach and pineapple), corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, fruit purees (strawberry, raspberry, orange and grape), gelatin, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavors, ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol acetate, vitamin a palmitate, sodium citrate, coconut oil, carnauba wax, red 40, yellow 5 and blue 1.
I don't get it. I'm not arguing that there are other benefits and this doesn't dispute what I said. The first ingredients are sugar, the calories are the same. Welch's is a slightly bigger bag which is why it's 80 vs 70.
Makes a difference in my house when it comes to snacking. DD can't have corn so she could have the Annie's snacks whereas the Welchs ones give her the shits and hives.
Post by lildevil968 on Jan 26, 2015 14:17:21 GMT -5
I live in a small town. The 2 grocery stores we do have do not carry a ton of organic stuff, so I buy what they carry. Overall, I would say about 30% of my cart is organic. I'm not into driving 30 miles to the nearest big city to go grocery shopping.
I don't get it. I'm not arguing that there are other benefits and this doesn't dispute what I said. The first ingredients are sugar, the calories are the same. Welch's is a slightly bigger bag which is why it's 80 vs 70.
Makes a difference in my house when it comes to snacking. DD can't have corn so she could have the Annie's snacks whereas the Welchs ones give her the shits and hives.
omg that is not at all related to what I'm saying. That's a food allergy, of course you have to find an alternative!
I am literally only saying they have the same amount of calories and macronutrients aka sugar. The things that make them healthier, or a better alternative, are not those. That's it.
I'm much more ok with using natural sugars to sweeten something than HFCS.
This may be a really dumb question, but is all corn syrup actually high fructose corn syrup?
Corn syrup is slightly better because HFCS takes the corn syrup and processes it further to make the ratio of glucose to fructose different, thus making it sweeter.
Definitely not 100% organic. I try to buy organic milk, grass-fed beef and butter and free range eggs. I try to do most of my shopping along the perimeter of the store regardless of where I shop.
I think we strike a pretty healthy balance. We CD, we compost, we grow some of our own produce (as much as we can with a postage-stamp for a yard). I use homemade cleaning products which I like bc not only are they safer to use around my kids, and better for the environment, I am also not burning through a bunch of plastic packaging all the time when I buy a new bottle of Windex or whatever. We have HE appliances and I try to line-dry when I can. Buuuuuuut, I use regular deodorant. Like I know the aluminum is terrible for me but I don't feel that the non-aluminum ones work very well for me and, I'm a runner. I sweat. A lot. I make our body washes and moisturizers and shaving foam from castille soap and coconut oil, jojoba oil, etc but I don't use the crunchy conditioners bc they don't work. I keep the parabens away from my family, though, and no toothpaste with SLS.
As far as food, we have a total ban on HFCS and artificial food dyes in our household. We try not to buy a lot of packaged foods in general, but those that we do buy we look for simple, natural ingredients and buy organic when it seems cost-effective. Antibiotic free chicken is a must. Occasionally DH and DS1 will eat beef or lamb and we always go with organic and grass-fed for that. And I'm picky about the sourcing of my seafood. I *try* to buy organic in terms of the dirty dozen but I don't do it 100% of the time. I'd rather eat conventional spinach than no spinach.
I'm pretty crunchy though. And I can get a little health nutty at times. So probably don't listen to me.
Do you have a link/recipes for homemade cleaners? My other new year's resolution is keeping the house cleaner and I've started to go through a ton of cleaners.
TBH, this is an overwhelming amount of things that I'd have to change, which is why sometimes I end up doing nothing, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure I could give up my Neutrogena Rainbath. I'm very impressed with your dedication!
These are changes I have made over YEARS, though. When I was pregnant with DS1, I was really uncomfortable with using a bunch of synthetic chemicals to clean, so I started making my own (I was also trying to save money bc I wanted to SAH after he was born). It took a little bit of getting used to (I had to learn to ignore the smell of vinegar, which didn't actually take very long), but I stuck with it and now I find that it's easier. And I flipped out about bath products and food when DS1 was a baby and went total crunchy hippie for a while and actually got really anxious about it, so I had to gradually learn to dial it back. Like, occasional use of Desitin wasn't going to harm him, KWIM?
You said that you'll start looking for antibiotic free dairy and meat products, which I think is a perfect start. Maybe just try making one change at a time. So start with some of your foods, and maybe switch out your window and glass cleaner for straight vinegar. Buy a dollar store spray bottle, fill it with vinegar, spray it on your mirrors and buff clean with a dry microfiber cloth. That's all there is to it. If you just try to make one small change at a time, it won't feel so overwhelming. And you can page me or PM me any time if I can help.
most of my cleaning recipes I have found on Pinterest, actually. For my all-purpose cleaner I use 1 part castille soap (I like Dr. Bronner's--it's cheapest at Whole Foods but Target and Amazon have it) to 3 parts water. Spray, wipe, clean. I also use a solution of equal parts vinegar and water for disinfecting. I keep spray bottles of each of these things in the kitchen and each bathroom, plus a basket of rags, so it's super easy to quickly clean things.
Another thing I use a lot is baking soda and vinegar. I use this for cleaning sinks, tubs, toilets, etc.
And I don't buy pledge anymore either. I steep orange peels in a mason jar of vinegar, then I add it to a spray bottle with a drizzle of olive oil and use that for damp-cloth dusting.
I just like being able to understand the labels I'm reading. Like with the Annie's label, I know what 99% of the stuff is and where it came from.
The Welches label looks like a bad science experiment.
I also don't buy fruit snacks because I'm a mean mom.
That's how I felt about the stuff at TJ's. It may not be "healthy", but at least I know what those ingredients are.
H is my real problem. He knows a ton about food production and storage, so he can usually explain to me why some chemical is necessary for something or other. I still don't know what those things end up doing to your body long term, though.
I make a cleaner out of distilled vinegar and orange peels.
I just peel the oranges (and then eat them or juice them) and put the peels in jar, cover with vinegar and let sit for a week. Then you drain the liquid and it's just good smelling vinegar, but vinegar is a great natural disinfectant.
This is what I do as well for my all purpose cleaner.
I omit the oranges for my floor cleaner (I have a rubbermade mop that's like a swiffer wet jet, but I supply the cleaner and the pads go in the washing machine, it's the best) because of the volume needed.
That's the mop I have. H does the floors, and I have no idea what he puts in it. I should probably find out. I do know we use some kind of Murphy's oil polisher every so often (we have hardwood).
I just like being able to understand the labels I'm reading. Like with the Annie's label, I know what 99% of the stuff is and where it came from.
The Welches label looks like a bad science experiment.
I also don't buy fruit snacks because I'm a mean mom.
That's how I felt about the stuff at TJ's. It may not be "healthy", but at least I know what those ingredients are.
H is my real problem. He knows a ton about food production and storage, so he can usually explain to me why some chemical is necessary for something or other. I still don't know what those things end up doing to your body long term, though.
I guess this is where I am. That label doesn't read like a bad science experiment because I know what those ingredients are for and am familiar with the use of chemical terminology in general. But not everyone is and I know that. I guess my point is just not getting across well.
I will try to do the dirty dozen with organic produce, preferably local/seasonal (Farmers Market). I will cut cost elsewhere to buy meat without antibiotics/hormones. It really depends when it comes to boxed food. I mean, a pop tart isn't any healthier because it used organic strawberries (allergies/intolerances are different).
But I have the availability to buy this way. So much of the country doesn't have that option.
I will try to do the dirty dozen with organic produce, preferably local/seasonal (Farmers Market). I will cut cost elsewhere to buy meat without antibiotics/hormones. It really depends when it comes to boxed food. I mean, a pop tart isn't any healthier because it used organic strawberries (allergies/intolerances are different).
But I have the availability to buy this way. So much of the country doesn't have that option.
I almost said poptarts! I should have known fruit snacks would cause an uproar.
Do you have a link/recipes for homemade cleaners? My other new year's resolution is keeping the house cleaner and I've started to go through a ton of cleaners.
TBH, this is an overwhelming amount of things that I'd have to change, which is why sometimes I end up doing nothing, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure I could give up my Neutrogena Rainbath. I'm very impressed with your dedication!
These are changes I have made over YEARS, though. When I was pregnant with DS1, I was really uncomfortable with using a bunch of synthetic chemicals to clean, so I started making my own (I was also trying to save money bc I wanted to SAH after he was born). It took a little bit of getting used to (I had to learn to ignore the smell of vinegar, which didn't actually take very long), but I stuck with it and now I find that it's easier. And I flipped out about bath products and food when DS1 was a baby and went total crunchy hippie for a while and actually got really anxious about it, so I had to gradually learn to dial it back. Like, occasional use of Desitin wasn't going to harm him, KWIM?
You said that you'll start looking for antibiotic free dairy and meat products, which I think is a perfect start. Maybe just try making one change at a time. So start with some of your foods, and maybe switch out your window and glass cleaner for straight vinegar. Buy a dollar store spray bottle, fill it with vinegar, spray it on your mirrors and buff clean with a dry microfiber cloth. That's all there is to it. If you just try to make one small change at a time, it won't feel so overwhelming. And you can page me or PM me any time if I can help.
most of my cleaning recipes I have found on Pinterest, actually. For my all-purpose cleaner I use 1 part castille soap (I like Dr. Bronner's--it's cheapest at Whole Foods but Target and Amazon have it) to 3 parts water. Spray, wipe, clean. I also use a solution of equal parts vinegar and water for disinfecting. I keep spray bottles of each of these things in the kitchen and each bathroom, plus a basket of rags, so it's super easy to quickly clean things.
Another thing I use a lot is baking soda and vinegar. I use this for cleaning sinks, tubs, toilets, etc.
And I don't buy pledge anymore either. I steep orange peels in a mason jar of vinegar, then I add it to a spray bottle with a drizzle of olive oil and use that for damp-cloth dusting.
Thank you! DS2 turned 1 recently, and I feel like I can finally relax a little bit and move away from strictly survival mode. I want to make some positive life changes, but I can be an all or nothing kind of person. I have a tendency to research All The Things forever and then spend a million dollars trying to get absolutely everything I need, and then I only follow through for about a month because it's too overwhelming trying to change everything at once.
I'm trying to be a little bit more patient and change things slowly so they're more likely to become habits.
That's the mop I have. H does the floors, and I have no idea what he puts in it. I should probably find out. I do know we use some kind of Murphy's oil polisher every so often (we have hardwood).
I have hardwood too.
If you have pets, please don't use the stuff in the swiffer bottles. It's horrible for them to absorb through their pads (and probably not that great for the rest of us either).
Thanks for that info, I didn't know that. I do have pets.
I *think* we're using the diluted greenworks stuff. We pretty much use that for everything. I've never actually looked to see if the greenworks stuff is technically "green", I just like the way it smells.
Post by BostonKisses on Jan 26, 2015 14:45:56 GMT -5
I try to buy as much local produce as possible, but I'm not really sure how organic a lot of it is. Some of it is better than what you get at the grocery store, but overall I don't buy a lot of organic stuff because it gets really expensive.
The one cleaner I cannot give up is bleach in the bathroom. Like...I love vinegar and I really do use it all over my house (and Method granite cleaner in the kitchen because vinegar is bad for the stone).
But when it comes to the pooper, I want the bleach. All the bleach. Gimme the bleach.
I use Lysol all over the bathroom because I'm convinced it's going to keep us from getting sick. I Lysol all the toilet/sink fixtures and light switches like a million times a day in the winter.
Then Comes Family, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.