Eat Clean, Eat SIMPLE: Making the Right Food Choices with Good Food Made Simple #EatClean

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Good Food Made Simple through The Motherhood.  Opinions are my own.

Eat Clean, Eat SIMPLE: Making the Right Food Choices with Good Food Made Simple

Do you ever stop to think what you are putting into your mouth when you sit down to a meal with your family?  How much of the ingredient label can you pronounce? Do you know what each of the ingredients are?  These are questions that most of us never take the time to really think about when we eat.  I’ll admit the majority of the labels that I’ve read in my lifetime were those of products in my bathroom, not the kitchen.  However, I continue to put things like sodium nitrite, Castoreum, and Hydrolyzed vegetable protein in my body.  Well, that is until now.

Good Food Made Simple recently launched “Eat Clean, Eat Simple,” a national call to action that challenges consumers to take control over what they are putting in their bodies simply by reading ingredient lists on packaged foods.  Like I mentioned earlier, reading what is in your food is sure to be an eye opener for many of you just like it was for me.  Many of us do not even know how to read our food labels and that’s why Eat Clean, Eat Simple is so important.  Not only can you learn more about what these ingredients are you will also find:

• Unacceptable Ingredient glossary – a resource for consumers as they read labels

• Eat Clean, Eat Simple food myth of the week

• An ingredient quiz

• Coupons and a chance to win a “Clean Supermarket Sweep” – a grocery-shopping spree with a food expert to guide label reading and clean food purchasing.

Our family got to sample what CLEAN food tastes like when we recently tried the Good Food Made Simple line including the Egg Patties (perfect for Egg Muffin sandwiches), Oatmeal (really filled your belly because they are 100% Steel Cut Oats), Breakfast Burritos (great grab-n-go food for my youngest son), and Mac & Cheese dishes for kids and adults.  It was nice to see my family grabbing healthy, clean, and simple foods.  It makes me feel like I’m doing my job right!

Here are some interesting facts:

REAL FACT: Words like Potassium Bromate and Monosodium Glutamate are hard to pronounce and understand.

• REAL STAT: Forty-one percent of people say they only sometimes read ingredient lists because they don’t have time and just over one in five say it’s because they don’t understand most of the ingredients.
• REAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT: You might be rushed or you might lack the appropriate food knowledge base, however, when it comes to your overall health, there’s no good reason to purchase products without understanding the ingredients. A simple solution? Look for foods like Good Food Made Simple that only have ingredients you can pronounce and trust. Also, visit goodfoodmadesimple.com/eatclean for a dictionary of ingredients and some food myths to consider when food shopping.

REAL FACT: People don’t always understand what’s in their food.

• REAL STAT: Despite 87% of respondents stating that clean food products are important to them, 57% of these same respondents report having purchased a leading macaroni and cheese product in the past 2 years, which is filled with preservatives and additives.
• REAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT: While you may think you’re eating clean ingredients, if you turn the box over and read the ingredient list – not just the nutrition label – you may be disappointed and confused. Carry a cheat sheet, which can be found on www.goodfoodmadesimple.com/eatclean, in your wallet to further educate yourself on unacceptable ingredients.

REAL FACT: Artificial coloring (specifically Yellow #5) is currently undergoing testing for links to hyperactivity, anxiety, migraines and cancer. In fact, the color has already been banned in many European Countries.

• REAL STAT: Unfortunately, widely reported health scares are not affecting purchasing behaviors. Over 40% of Americans believe that artificial colors can be linked to cancer, yet almost 60% of respondents are buying the leading brand of macaroni and cheese – which has artificial coloring #5 – in the past two years.

• REAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Not enough is known about the long-term effects of artificial coloring in our foods, and many times we find out too late. For example, after Halloween 1950, the government banned Orange #1 when many children became ill after consumption. In the seventies, testing showed Red #2’s carcinogenic properties and it was banned. Since then, Yellow #1, #2, #3 and #4 are also now illegal. If you aren’t sure about the effects of an artificial coloring, it’s best you stay away from consuming it.

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