Semi-Homemade Crap

Your friends, Pinterest, and FoodNetwork are trying to kill you.

There is a trend in cooking called "semi-homemade". Not originated by, but made popular by Sandra Lee, I use the word cooking in a very loose way, because I would, in no way, consider this cooking... it's basically where you dump a bunch of packaged food stuffs (not food) into a pot or crockpot or oven and then say you've "made" something.

Sure you opened a can, ripped open a box or package and gave it a stir but you did not cook.

I know why these so-called recipes are shared on Facebook and Pinterest and via email so often these days.  You can go to the store, grab some stuff off the shelves, use a bunch of coupons and feel you've actually made some real food for the people you like and love.

 Sorry to say it... but you didn't.

Acutally, you've done them more harm than good.  These recipes aren't good.  They aren't fun and they certainly aren't healthy.  They're not even a step above any fast food place.

The image below is the one that set me off today.  A "Croc-Pot Hot Chocolate" which consists of:

Use two bags of chopped up Ande's mints chips, one bottle of Rum Chata, two small cans of sweetened condensed milk, one small carton of heavy whipping cream, and 4 cups of milk! Double to make a large pot. Just mix everything together, set on high for 2 hours stirring occasionally and then enjoy.

Yep.  Flavored baking chips, alcohol, sweetened condensed milk AND heavy cream AND milk.

Did the math on this one, even using skim milk, 1 6oz serving (less than 1 cup) is about 500 cal, 24g of fat (18 of which is saturated) and 44g of cholesterol. One small serving is about 1/3 of your daily calories and almost all of a day's fat target.

Pinterest is a great source of inspiration but be wise and don't fall of the trap of "easy".  Instead focus on whole and healthy.

Milk Sucks

If these images aren't enough to convince you that dairy (all forms) is evil...

Maybe this will help...

For years, we’ve been told that milk does a body good. But does it really? Though touted as the healthier option at home and in restaurants, milk has roughly the same calorie count as soda and 2% milk contains the same amount of saturated fat as french fries. Given these two facts, the correlation between high milk consumption and high rates of Type 1 diabetes and heart disease makes sense. Even though one-third of Americans are lactose intolerant, the U.S. still consumes nearly 9 times the amount of milk that China does. So why do we drink so much milk? Because cows are making more of it. With the introduction of growth hormones like rBST, milk cows are producing nearly twice as much as they did in 1970.

Milk – bad for us, bad for cows.

View larger here.

Killing for Convenience

McDonald's Mighty Kids Happy Meals

I just watched Super Size Me, again, and it compelled me to go and look at some of the actual nutritional information online. I never eat in fast food places like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's or Taco Bell, etc., so I wasn't really sure what they even served any more.

I started by looking at the ingredients for fries. It should be potatoes, oil and salt. Maybe some spices, right?

Nope. It was:

Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.

Yikes!

Then I thought about all the kids eating this crap. But they have "healthy options" now, right? Like Apple Dippers with Caramel Dip. But what is possibly in that...

Well the so-called low fat caramel dip is made of: Corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk (milk, sugar), high fructose corn syrup, water, butter (cream, salt), sugar, salt, disodium phosphate, artificial flavors (vanillin, ethyl vanillin), caramel color, pectin, potassium sorbate (preservative).

That's a lot of sugar.

In looking at the two "meals" featured and targeted at kids, they seem pretty crappy.

If you feed your kid the McNuggets/Milk/Apple dippers option they are eating:

390 Calories, 15g of Fat & ZERO fiber

If you feed them the double cheeseburger/Milk/Apple dippers option they get:

640 Calories, 26g of Fat & only 2g of fiber

That is appalling. And I don't just mean the food and lack of anything decent nutrion-wise. I mean the fact that parents feed this garbage to their kids on a regular basis. I know plenty of parents, some stay-at-home moms, that choose to get this for their kids for lunch at least once a week. And this is in spite of the fact that nutritionists say you should never eat this stuff. Not to mention that the flesh of 100+ animals can be in your 1 burger patty. (um, gross!)

Children are more susceptible to absorbing toxins than adults. Why would any parent think that this is a good thing to give their kids?

But don't just listen to me...