Well, I did it. I officially became known by teachers as that ‘crazy’ mom and my son is only 3. Perhaps crazy is too strong a word, one that’s a bit overused these days. I prefer to think of myself as well informed, choosing to make sure my son eats only things that will benefit his overall well being, instead of making him susceptible to illness from toxic preservatives such as TBHQ.
I was at work one day when I first learned of it. I was pregnant and I had that cliché craving for ice cream. The only ice cream available in the school I teach at can be found in a vending machine in the cafeteria. After making my selection, I quickly devoured it without looking at the label because I already felt guilty enough about putting it into my body knowing it wasn’t healthy! Once it was gone though, I got curious and looked. It was then that I first saw the letters TBHQ, with the word antioxidant next to it in parenthesis, and I thought, if the makers have to say it’s an antioxidant, it certainly can’t be a natural one; so I looked it up. What I found made me wish I had never even taken one bite of it, especially since a fetus is what his/her mother eats!
So, when my son started preschool and the teachers were giving him school provided snacks, I figured I would just go with the flow. All I knew from Lee was that he was getting goldfish and crackers. Not my favorites, but it was only two days a week and it could be worse. It was when I volunteered to be the class mom for a day that I found out that the “crackers” were Cheez-Its. No big deal, right? WRONG.
TBHQ – Say What?
Included on the list of ingredients is TBHQ, and when I saw it listed, I freaked. TBHQ is a form of petroleum (butane), and is used as a stabilizer in oil fields among other things. The FDA says that TBHQ must not exceed 0.02 percent of its oil and fat content. Death has occurred from the ingestion of as little as 5 grams (Winter). Ingestion of a single gram (a thirtieth of an ounce) has caused nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse (Winter). Thus, this is not something I want my children eating.
The next time I took Lee to school, I asked the teachers not to give him any food containing TBHQ or artificial food dyes. I provided them with the same information about TBHQ that I stated in the previous paragraph. I was met with a question that, sadly, I think many other people might also ask,
“well, how many grams of TBHQ is in Cheez-Its anyway?”
There is no percentage or numbers on the box and I didn’t say it, but I was thinking, “why on earth would anyone put it in their body, much less the body of a three-year-old after learning that it can be deadly?” and “So putting even .02 grams into his body is ok, because he won’t die from that?” The teachers then asked me to go through the ingredient list of everything else they sometimes give the kids: Items such as Oreos and Teddy Grahams.
The look on my face must have shown my dissatisfaction with these foods being given to the kids, if not for the sugar content alone. I was also shocked because almost all of the snacks on their list contain TBHQ; I don’t buy those foods for my family, so I had no idea that it is in so many products targeted at kids.
Why Are Parents Buying Food Products with TBHQ in Them?
Unfortunately, so many parents don’t know that the majority of the non-organic, mainstream snack foods contain harmful chemicals such as cancer-causing food dyes and TBHQ. I often feel like people’s first response to this is, ‘well it’s FDA approved and on the shelves so it can’t be that bad.’ BUT the FDA’s first interest is NOT you or your child, it’s money and politics.
Just look at cigarettes. Back in the day, no one thought them to be a health detriment, yet look how many people have died from the effects of smoking. (I don’t know how many grams of tobacco it takes to kill a person, but we do know that inhaling the approximately 0.7 grams in one cigarette per hour or per day, does kill people over a period of time!)
People believe that if these snacks and cereals are on the shelves and other parents are feeding them to their kids, then they must be ok. Because parents often do not see their child reacting to the chemicals in the products right away, they think that their child can tolerate them and they must not be a problem. But, some of these additives take years of accumulation to create a problem – quite like tobacco buildup causing cancer!
Make a Wiser Choice
I am well aware that Lee’s school isn’t the only one feeding kids these types of foods. I know that even the local YMCA provides snacks like these, and worse. I just can’t fathom not changing what kids are fed after doing just a little research, or even after reading an article like this and seeing the possible long-term effects these foods can have. After all, don’t we owe our kids, who can’t yet make educated choices about food for themselves, the best possible foundation to healthy eating and, thus, a healthy lifestyle? When you know better, you can do better. So go ahead, help your family make wiser food choices now that you know!
You have a voice and you have a choice: Choose healthy snacks for your kids and insist that their school and daycares do too!
SOURCES AND RESOURCES
Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
FOOD INTOLERANCE NETWORK FACT SHEET
7 Other Chemicals In Your Food (CNN)
HEAL BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS: REMOVE THESE INGREDIENTS FROM YOUR CHILD’S DIET NOW
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Your son is only 3 and is already exposed to “teachers?”
🙂 At the time (10 years ago now) he was in a 2 day a week program for 2 hours each of those mornings. Now, at age 13, he is homeschooled.
My son is a picky eater. he won’t eat any fruits or vegetables. He also has texture issues. What foods/snacks have you found that do not contain tbhq?
I have a list of snacks here: https://raisingnaturalkids.com/better-healthier-snack-choices-kids/
My son is 12. I used to buy healthy snacks like sliced apples, cheese sticks, fruit, ect. Over the last three years I had transitioned into allowing the common packaged snacks like popcorn, chips, crackers, ect. He also loves Ramen noodles and pot pies. He started having stomach issues about 1 year ago. After daily complaining every night about his stomach, I took him to the doctor and his recommendation was to remove those items he may be having an allergic reaction too. I just read an article about TBHQ and I am mortified to say the least. I will be removing those junk food items from his diet and replacing with the natural that I removed 3 years ago. Thanks for the article.
i will tell my Daughter about this.
Keep strong; great information!! Thank you.
I’m a grandma and I’m horrified too.I’d like to have a listof food products that contain these items
dont understand why lots of articles, maybe not this one, state that teddy grahams contain Tbhq cause i dont see it in the box
I found this article trying to research exactly that. I am a big ingredient reader and have been buying Teddy Grahams, but keep seeing it come up on lists of bad kids snacks. It’s not listed on the ingredients so I don’t know if it’s really in there, or maybe it used to be and people haven’t gone back to check?
I am not against eating healthy, just be smart, dont think just because it says organic that is is super healthy. remember, anthrax is organic and all natural. as is salmonella. Instead of looking that everything is organic or whatnot, i try to serve food as it was intended. oats look like oats, fruits look like themselves. honey should not be filtered. if by looking at a food you can not tell what ingredients are in it, dont eat it. i dont ban anything in my house. we still eat junk food on occasion, but only on occasion and we dont buy it in bulk, just what we plan that day. we dont have snacks really, we eat meals. i try to grow my own herbs and some veggies as well. nowadays, even the air we breath, the sunlight we need to live in, and the earth around us can cause us some sort of malady. be smart, know that organic doesnt mean disease free. i mean, the electricity running in our home is dangerous, but no one here is talking about moving to the middle of no where (polution free), to live in their homemade cabin electricity free of course where they grow and hunt their own food. im just saying, be smart, pay attention.
Well said
Extremely well said (other than the typos and grammatical errors) and the position I take on pretty much everything.
So, do you still let them have a cupcake? We’re planning on going this route as well. I was already wanting to, but after perusing just a few of your articles & a few other resources I am determined to clean up my eating. Especially since I’m breast feeding.
No – now I make their – I make a whole batch and freeze them to pull out when I need. My reason is I learned just how sensitive my son is to food dyes – he goes crazy for days, if not more depending on the dyes.
That’s the smart thkiinng we could all benefit from.
I am that dad now also. After reading a couple of articles including yours I decided to start paying attention to what me and my son eat. This stuff is horrible and its everywhere! What are some good yet inexpensive alternatives for us?
I am 21…just getting in to my health craze for a natural, whole foods, plant-based diet. So much so that I will be double majoring in business and nutrition to hopefully open up my own practice one day.
Currently I was sitting at work, bored with my hummus and homemade sweet potato chips. I rummaged through our snack drawer to find Cheese – Its. Hmmph. Why not? Everyone needs to live a little. I then began to read the ingredients and saw TBHQ. I’ve learned to recognize that when something is not explained in an ingredient list, there’s usually a reason. A year ago I would have glanced at this package and thought, “oils and cheese can’t be all that bad.” My where we can be at in a year’s time. After an intense google search and then dabbing in to Ebscohost and google docs, I have quiet a bit of knowledge for my office mates on Monday ;p
Anyhow, as I was googling I came across your article. Fantastic. I will be continuing to follow you from here on out. One thing in particular stood out to me: your in law’s use of the word crazy. I feel extremely fortunate that my boyfriend’s parents are very knowledgeable on the subject too. I just bring my own items over to a bbq.
Have a wonderful day!
Thanks for this article. I am 21 years old and I have a 4 year old. After finding so many findings on the TBHQ being used in so many different products and fast food restaurants like mcdonalds, Wendy’s, KFC, etc and other snack products I was astounded. I am still young so people already judge me being a mom but I convinced my family and we have banned the fast food joints and certain products. Thanks for this article because I learned a lot more. I don’t understand why the FDA allows any at all even if it’s 0.02, who cares, it should not be consumed at all! I read that 5 grams of it is like 11 pounds and people think that eating just a little bit won’t add up but it does. It stunts your growth, increases diabetes, high cholesterol, damages DNA, etc. I am not a crazy mom because I watch why my son and family consume in put in their body.
Well said. I dont buy anything with TBHQ in it. Keep up the good work.
Fantastic information! I fear I may become “that mom” too when my two year old is ready for preschool. I hope that by sending him to a Waldorf school there will be more awareness by the teachers and administrators of the health concerns surrounding conventional cleaners, food, clothing, etc. versus in a public school. I’m so glad I found your blog on a “linky party” list on the blog I follow Teaching 2and 3 year olds.
What snacks that don’t have bthq? Thanks
You really just have to read the labels – anything organic does not. Some better snack choices are Beanitos bean chips, organic blue corn chips, brown rice bars, etc… Newman’s Own makes the more modern snacks, like Oreo type cookies without the chemicals, though they still have a lot of sugar…
It’s funny I came across this article because I am currently fighting this fight with my daughters school she is 2! It’s been time consuming and exhausting. I have had to get a note from my doctor in order for me to provide her snacks…how ridiculous! I think I have won but still not satisfied that so many parents are uninformed. Do you have any suggestions on what else to do? Any other information you could share?
My son is 3, the preschool he attends is cooperative, so we all have time in the classroom. We bring snacks for the class (the school provides the list of peanut/tree nut free snacks) The list is full of JUNK! There are plenty or organic snacks that are peanut/tree nut safe. I addressed the board and had them add Organic snacks to the list and they did! you must advocate for your children and educate other mothers. I always say, I’m not a crazy Mom, I’m just well informed about ingredients/chemicals in our foods and that others should pay attention!
I get the same thing. I’m crazy because I don’t want to eat the bad junk.. And we,only eatnitmoncema year, or youmworkoutmso you can afford to eat it. No, people don’t seem to get it.. That it builds up,like you say over time and will eventually lead to cancer. Well we’re all going to die from cancer anyway. It drives me nuts. Great article, I wish I could surround myself with people who think like us, but they are still hard to come by. Until then I plan to do my part to help educate people on how to eat healthier.
I am disappointed to find so many (such as this man) who follow blogs or like FB pages just to monitor and disagree. This is a natural page. I can’t do everything suggested. I don’t agree with every opinion. But I completely wholeheartedly agree that food should not have chemicals added. In addition I really pretty tired of hearing “everything causes cancer now so….” Today there are so many harmful foods readily available simply because someday not too long ago we turned a blind eye to that one little thing because it wasn’t so bad and the FDA lost its mind. When my grandmother had my mother, there was no organic because there was no grocery store. She or her neighbor grew the safe food they ate. Or occasionally a farmers market had a sale. I say ALL that to say, as little as 63 years ago much of what people consumed was naturally healthy and the worse thing that happened was people cooked it in an unhealthy way. Now a days most processed food is bad for you and has chemicals added. When you know better you do better (within your means). I know that whole foods that come from the earth are better. I know that free range chicken is more expensive. But I know that the cost of unhealthy eating is way more expensive than the cost of healthy food. My daughters don’t know what a cheezit is. I’m going to keep teaching them how to take care of their bodies with healthy digestible chemical free food choices and pray that when they finally encounter a cheezit it will have no appeal.
Kim, contrary to the notion that you present (this man’s name is Greg by the way) I do not follow blogs nor do I wish to rain on this natural living way of life. It is your choice. I was simply doing a google search on TBQH to obtain factual data and found this blog in the search. When I saw some of the reactions on this blog I did the simple calculations presented above for my OWN analysis and shared their meaning with the group. Whether your choose to use that data in your decision making is your choice. This is a PUBLIC blog, why would you be so defensive about data that does not support your own preconceived notions? That is the very basis of the scentific method, to study data to see if our concepts match reality. Are your notions so fragile that we have completely lost touch with science and decided to base our lives on belief? Is belief beyond critical review? If so, why should belief be treated differently then any other theory, concept or idea?
But Greg, it isn’t *just* in the Cheez-its. The idea that people eat 329 packaged foods in a year is not far fetched – this builds up! It has an affect on the liver, and why would you add toxins when you don’t have to. It’s like flouride – if we were only exposed to it in a bit of drinking water it would be one thing but we’re absorbing it through our skin when we bathe, boiling our spaghetti in it, washing our hands in it, drinking it, then brushing our teeth with it – every day. I live in Canada,TBQH- it isn’t in our food. Why add an unnecessary toxin into your life when there are inert safe options available?
I somehow doubt that any adult, child or even my 16 y/o son would eat 329 BOXES (16 oz)of any snack cracker in a year or even their life. That is the point I was trying to make. It’s an irrational proposition. Short of constantly eating that product for ever meal as the main component of your meal, you simply can’t eat that quantity.
As a preface to my response, I do not work for the food industry. I am a social scientist working in the water industry who is quit familiar with water quality, parts per million, statistical analysis and regulation. Being a health conscious eater and fitness advocate, I read this blog with much alarm. Why? Because it feeds the basic ignorance and paranoia of people (mainly mothers for their children) about food additives and contains no statistical or scientific reference as to how much TBHQ is in a cracker (or an entire box). Analyzing a box of Cheez-Its per the label, there are 455 total grams of product in a box (flour, oil, additives, etc.). Doing the math per the serving size, the product is 16.67% fat or 75.83 grams of total oil in a BOX (5g of fat per 30 g serving = 16.67% or 75.83 grams of fat per 455 gram box). Using the FDA guidlines listed above (2% of total oil), that would allow for a total of 0.01567 grams of TBHQ in the ENTIRE box and an average of 0.000045 grams of TBHQ per cracker. The Winter study cited above shows potential mortality from TBHQ at 5 grams of consumption. Using the math developed here, 5 grams of TBHQ would be equal to consuming 329 boxes of Cheez-Its in one siting! Hence this entire blog’s “alarm” is meaningless. The average consumer might ingest that many boxes of Chezz-Its in a lifetime but never in a siting, a week or year, even if this was their main snack everyday. We have so many other more grave food supply concerns such as food born illness that deserve much more scrutiny by all consumers then this irrational fear based drama based on hyperbole rather then statistical analysis or data. Please stop the fear mongering.
I am quite aware of the numbers you are referring to and guess what – like many parents, if something is even a little toxic, I would not give it to my children because I love them and want what’s best for them. Over time, these toxins accumulate as certain ones cannot be easily eliminated by the body. That’s what I choose for my kids, what do you choose for yours?
I have chosen to give my children the most powerful tool a parent can give their children; I have shared with them the tools of rational, critical decision making based on logic, reason, the scientific method and the analysis of data as oppossed to basing their decisions on tradition, faith, belief, hearsay and ignorance. I have given them the tools necessary to be independent critical thinkers and reach fact-based conclusions on their own, whether I agree with those conclusions or not. I have given them independence of thought and not slavery to misguided irrational ideas based on superstition, fear and ignorance. I have given them the tools to be successful and explore/enjoy life, not be fearful of it. I have given my children their chance to build their own lives, not relive my concept of life.
Your reply insinuates (based on ASSumption) that I raise my children in fear, which is far from the case. You assume that I am ignorant and uneducated, when in fact, I have 1 Masters degree and am 6 credits away from a second and my husband has his Doctorate. We are both well versed in research and science. Our children are consistently taught to explore life and to come to their own conclusions. What we provide are the tools they need to be successful and to make healthy choices to be able to enjoy life more fully.
I suppose that the Chicago Tribune and the JAMA Internal Medicine are alarmists as well? After all, it’s about junk in our food that we shouldn’t be eating… “All of the notices U.S. regulators received to vouch for the safety of common food additives between 1997 and 2012 were submitted by people who had a vested interest in the outcome of those assessments, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Wednesday.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-influence-food-additive-20130807,0,5201593.story
This post is absurd. Are you really saying that feeding our children a known poison is ok because it’s just a tiny bit? And you are absolutely correct that food borne illnesses are worthy of scrutiny but why does that mean that we shouldn’t be scrutinizing the crap that is put into our children’s snacks. Seriously ridiculous.
i would be curious to know your “opinion” about the chemicals that fracking releases into our groundwater and their bioaccumulative effect on the human body. the amount of a substance or ingredient does not necessarily correlate to its effect on the human body. a single invading cancer cell can, in time, kill its host organism. an enzyme sets off a reaction much larger than itself. the problem with many of these kinds of things – tbhq, GMOs, etc – is that we don’t know how they will manifest over time in an individual. look at agent orange. deet. the list is long. the US hasn’t invested in enough research to certify their safety over time. our government is more concerned about preserving the FDA’s revolving door with big pharma and Monsanto than they are about policing these companies and their products. so long as there are choices that can be made to avoid these unnatural and potentially dangerous ingredients, why not avoid as much as possible?
it may be only a small amount in each box of cheez-its, however, when our bodies, especially our liver and kidneys, become taxed because of ALL of the chemical additives in foods that our bodies can’t process as well as hormones we produce, their functioning diminishes. when that functioning diminishes, something as small as the tbhq in cheez-its can become detrimental to our health.
i don’t honestly understand why a person would want to eat something that was made from something lethal anyway. or something that doesn’t grow out of the ground. that wasn’t given to us by spirit/god/whatever your higher source is. though we’ve been trained to think these things taste good, they often end up making us feel bloated and uncomfortable later. are you aware that in nature, nature mind you, that the antidote is often growing near the poison? nature does this for us, what is the antidote for burdened livers and then kidneys due to the build up of chemicals – is it a transplant, medicine for the rest of our lives, detoxes so that we can toxify them again? i would much rather invest in healthy non toxic choices like fresh organic fruit and veggies where i can, and avoid the doctors bills later.
while i understand you statement greg, i think the point is the accumulation and why, when you know it’s toxic, would you choose to feed it to yourself or your child…why take that risk of you or them having a problem eliminating it when it’s easy and often cheaper in the end to make healthy snacks including crackers at home?
i would also venture to guess that most of the readers of this blog are also health conscious mothers, fathers, grandparents, etc who have begun to do their own research and use it as a tool for additional information. i’ve been well educated and there are still many things i don’t know. so when someone else has done the research, it benefits me and allows me to add this information to my tool box of knowledge and research it myself. i don’t honestly see how this article could be fear mongering….she’s sharing her perspective and choices and offering up information that others may not be aware of. it makes me think you took it as a direct attack on choices you may be making. it’s not that. she admits to letting lee have a cupcake at a birthday party etc. so as a life coach, i must ask, where did this feel like such an attack on you or your choices? what created your inability to read it objectively and see she is simply sharing information easily available on the web. i looked, everything you’ve both stated is there minus your math break down…easily searchable and understandable by anyone willing to do the research…i’m not attacking you with my questions, i’m simply asking you to see if it’s possible that your comments on fear mongering may have been a bit misplaced because you reacted instead of responded to the article…just some thoughts…
Thank you greg, for saying what needed to be said
How can we change peoples minds. It is just as you said, The FDA approved it so it must be ok! Sooooo far from the truth. Is it really too much to comprehend that this world revolves around money?? People look at me crazy for trying to tell them that diet soda is worse or that gum has cancerous chemicals in it. I have been researching for 7 years now going on 8. The things I have found are astonishing! But its so much easier for people to just go with the flow and not stand up against the current and use their voice. Shouldn’t we who eat have a say in how our foods are produced. Or grown! Not made by some scientist in a lab!! ugh makes me so heated lol
I have started classes locally, seems to be a big hit, because people WANT to know. Some want to remain blind, but the ones who don’t, I am right there ready to share my knowledge! LOL I am with you… I get heated too!! 🙂
Thanks for this great article Dawn! My kids have started coming home and questioning what I serve because the school tells them they are serving health meals. Mmmmmm…. High fructose corn syrup filled fruit cup. Sounds delightful. Blech!! We avoid chemicals in house (food and cleaning) and you can TASTE them when you don’t eat at home or buy processed garbage.
I have been feeling SICK to my stomach every time I’ve had a few (or MORE) Cheez-It snack crackers lately…then I looked at the ingredients. TBHQ – I did a little research online, and also found your article while roaming around, looking for WHY my stomach had so much pain after eating those crackers. It might be the TBHQ, which I didn’t even know was in them.
Thanks for your caution – the bag went into the garbage can, after about the third time of my stomach feeling pain. I didn’t make the connection until today. We had received the crackers, along with some other food items…but we won’t be eating those anymore. I’m not sure what to do to feel better…am drinking water and eating a raw apple now, hoping to ‘counter-act’ whatever caused this pain. ick.
This is why I had to quit working in the daycare system- it drove me batty seeing the foods they fed kids; knowing that their parents didn’t even care. My son might start preschool in a couple of years and I will be proud to soon be known as ‘that mommy.’ 🙂
Could this be a link to the childhood obesity epidemic?? Thanks for writing this and making me more aware. I definitely need to get more educated on this topic!
Make your kid exercise. That’s the main link.
There is no secret. Get them outside.
Kids, my “crazy” mother in law started educating me back in 1973 when our first son was born. I was drinking diet Coke and pretty much starving myself to maintain my figure. I was sick all the time. She sounded so off the wall then, but we LOVE our babies, right? I wanted to do whatever was best for them. My kids got oatmeal cookies with raisins and sesame snacks for treats, my daughter told her kindergarten teacher that white bread “makes you “atarded” according to G-ma! That son is now a Naturopathic physician, and he attributes it to the old adage at our dinner table: “You can be excused when you have eaten all the green stuff”. Grandma was ahead of her time. I think it gets harder all the time to feed your kids ‘right’ but the behavioral difference will blow you away. Artificial coloring, artificial sweeteners of all kinds, and sugar in any form but organic honey are going to cause problems, now and in the future. And put them to bed at 8:00, people! If it makes you unpopular, tough. Your job as a parent is to do what is best for your babies. Little people need a LOT of sleep to refresh and renew, they are growing an an enormous rate! Okay, this Nana is finished now…
Oxygen is essential for life. But it can kill you too….if you inhale 100% oxygen for too long. Same is true for millions of chemicals presents naturally or unnaturally in food, drugs, cosmetics. I have seen, lay people making a din on similar issues. “Lay” can be an author in “Nature” or “Science” , activists, to someone sleeping on a park bench night after night (or it is like a top mathematician believing in God) and there is nothing unnatural about that too. Diversity in human response in natural.
Thank you for the article. I am just starting to research this because we are having unexplained behavioral issues with our five year old daughter and we found ONE connection to when the problems occur … she had Eggo Waffles that morning. The problems were only occasional and random, but then intensified. Since we eat very well for the most part and something like an instant waffle is only an occasional “treat” we were able to pinpoint it. When researching we discovered the TBHQ link. Now after reading through these comments I will be reasearching the Feingold Program!
I’m not sure if we have TBHQ in food products in Australia because I’ve never heard of it or seen it on an ingredient listing. But I will look out for it now. My solution would be to bake for the class on those days and bring in simple yummy baked treats. That way, some kids learn that snacks can come from *gasp* a home kitchen and they can taste good too.
Hear, hear! I am also THAT MOM 🙂
I worekd in a daycare center for 7 years and the food (if you can call it that) that they serve is deplorable. The center I worekd for had to meet USDA guidelines and they still served a different variety of cracker and juice for every snack. I know work in an elementary school and the lunches are so deplorable that it has me considering homeschooling! People think I’m nuts but I don’t want my kids to a) be tempted with the crap or b) try to learn next to 20 other students loaded with sugar and various other chemicals. The chocolate milk carton alone sends me over the edge daily! Does no one care that, on the ingredient list, right after milk is listed sugar then high fructose corn syrup? And don’t get me started and sun chip’s “breakfast blend”.
I am so thankful for your posts. They are helping me to be better informed. Thankfully, my daughter’s preschool did not see it as a problem for me to provide her snacks. I would just prefer to control her access, rather than ask to see every label of what they are giving her. We aren’t perfect, but we do as much as we can with the resources that we have.
What a great post! My hbasund was the first to get on the no TBHQ bandwagon when a few years back he saw that his beloved Girl Scout cookies had it in their ingredients He quickly learned that the cookies sold two hours away (where his cousin lives) weren’t being made with it and started buying from them instead of the neighbor girls I love that I now have a post to reference for friends and family who start asking questions about TBHQ. Thanks!
Wow,
definitley something to think about. I strive to be a much more healthy conscience mother. But it is everywhere. How do you avoid it? I am thinking about going home and throwing away every snack food I have. Might as well begin with getting the kids out of the habit of eating these types of foods first, then start integrating more healthier options into our household. I think if I go cold turkey and then bring the healthier options in I might face resistence, but if they have to go a while with nothing maybe the healither options will seem more appealing. Any other suggestions on how to turn my family around?
Start a little bit at a time! Not sure how old your ids are, if younger make it so that they can’t have a snack before having some fruit or baby carrots or something, or snack can be cheese and cracker, apple dipped in organic peanut better, etc. If older, at least you can explain things to them. I find that many junk snacks have healthier versions made by different companies. What are some snacks you have that you want to replace? Maybe that will help me offer suggestions.
Well I have a 14 , 10, 3, and 9 month old. So I am across the board. My older boys love chips, and will pass up the fruit bowl every time and they basically go into the refrigerator at will. Now my 3 year old she obviously cannot get snack with out my help, but she loves yogurt (usually the sweet kind), muffins and gold fish.
Happy New Year! Wow I am so glad I blog hopped over here. This past year I have been working very hard to become a more natural and organic family (still working on hubby a little). I have no idea where to start and like most people figured that the food on the shelves was okay. I have never really read all the ingredients before so thank you for pointing it out. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
What a great post! My husband was the first to get on the no TBHQ bandwagon when a few years back he saw that his beloved Girl Scout cookies had it in their ingredients 🙁 He quickly learned that the cookies sold two hours away (where his cousin lives) weren’t being made with it and started buying from them instead of the neighbor girls 🙂 I love that I now have a post to reference for friends and family who start asking questions about TBHQ. Thanks!
I am glad you have a reference too! Can’t believe the cookies from two hours away don’t have it! That’s interesting… now I’m curious…
Wow… I actually thought dyes and all those number-y thingies were bad, but you can actually buy food containing petroleum in the US! Europe isn’t that bad after all. Good on you for setting them straight. I still can’t understand why schools etc give that kind of crap. You can give them delicious healthy stuff for the same price, and it’s not like they’ll be asking for it if they have something more yum to eat
I worked in a daycare center for 7 years and the food (if you can call it that) that they serve is deplorable. The center I worked for had to meet USDA guidelines and they still served a different variety of cracker and juice for every snack. I know work in an elementary school and the lunches are so deplorable that it has me considering homeschooling! People think I’m nuts but I don’t want my kids to a) be tempted with the crap or b) try to learn next to 20 other students loaded with sugar and various other chemicals. The chocolate milk carton alone sends me over the edge daily! Does no one care that, on the ingredient list, right after milk is listed sugar then high fructose corn syrup? And don’t get me started and sun chip’s “breakfast blend”.
Excellent post! BHT and BHA are other preservatives to be aware of as well. These 3 preservatives (TBHQ, BHT and BHA) are derived from petroleum and cause numerous side effects when ingested. My family follows the Feingold diet which eliminates all petroleum based preservatives as well as food dyes and artificial flavorings. We started this because of my daughters behavioral/neurological issues and it has brought amazing changes. I can’t imagine ever allowing these toxic additives back into our diet. Thanks for spreading the word! And don’t feel alone…I’m THAT mom too. =-)
Thanks for your comment. I am familiar with the basis of the Feingold diet. What I find ironic about it is the fact that it even has to exist! I mean we shouldn’t have food that we need to worry about avoiding due to there being harmful substances in them. The Feingold diet is the way people used to eat before all the junk was added to foods! It is good that has shows people what to avoid. Does he include a list of foods that contain these substances? I was thinking about making one and providing substitutes.
Yes, the Feingold Program has an extensive shopping guide that is continually updated with names of products that are “safe”. Unfortunately many times these preservatives are not even listed on the packages, so you can’t always tell by reading labels. Just one example, in most cheese sticks the inside of the individual packages are lined with chemical preservative which leaches into the cheese stick. Since it’s not technically in the food it doesn’t have to be disclosed, Preservatives are used to line/coat many commercial packages or used in the oils that are listed as an ingredient. The ingredient is listed, but not the additive it contains. =-(
The Feingold Program encompasses even more than preservatives in food and because of the constant product research they do, there is a fee to purchase their materials. It is well worth it in my opinion.
By the way…I don’t get any benefit or get paid to advertise for them. =-P I have just seen amazing results in my daughter from getting these poisons out of her body.
Excellent article Dawn! Are they actually going to stop feeding that to Lee and the other kids? I hope so. These foods are detrimental to everyone-young and old.
I am brought in organic snacks for Lee, something they don’t usually let people do unless they have a food allergy. I have told them numerous times that they can use the snacks I provide for the entire class. I am not sure if they have or not. It seems they don’t really get it, as they labeled his placemat with the word organic, quite like they label a food allergy. Shouldn’t all kids have the opportunity to be eating the chemical free foods? Shouldn’t they all have a no chemicals label? This has me thinking about how I can reach out to pre schools and daycares to get them to change the types of foods they are feeding the kids. I know that some school districts, starting from kindergarten, have changed their menus to be healthier, however, I am not sure what the extent of these changes are, so that’s something to look into as well.
Awesome article! My son is only 2 so I don’t have to deal with preschool yet, but trying to convince my husband and his family that “I’m not crazy, just well informed” seems impossible! We visit our families every other week or so and I’m always sure to pack at least one reusable grocery bag FULL of organic snacks and meals. I’m sure everyone thinks I’m nuts, and ya it’s only for a couple days, but those couple days, every other week, adds up fast! Just glad to see I’m not the only “crazy” one! 🙂
I’m a heart patient. I’m grateful for your work and thankful I found your article.
Thank you for standing tall.