April 2, 2013 at 5:53 am , by Nick Shell

2 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

Yesterday I played an April Fool’s prank, pretending like our family was going to stop being vegetarians.

While it’s easy to put a label on people who don’t eat meat (vegetarians) or those don’t eat dairy or eggs either (vegans), there isn’t really a word for people who don’t eatpetroleum.

I know that sounds weird, but a lot of people eat petroleum everyday in their food and absorb it into their skin through their personal care products. The easiest way to spot it is on the back of the label of product, in the form of Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and/or Red 40.

These food dyes have been linked to causing allergic reactions, cancer and hyperactivity in children; though many people deny this, saying there is not substantial evidence to support that claim.

Last month a petition went viral, which pleaded with Kraft to stop using petroleum-derived yellow food dyes in their mac and cheese.

I’m not too worried about what Kraft chooses to do, since we buy Annie’s Homegrown products, including Organic Mac and Cheese, Cheddar Bunnies crackers, and Organic Fruit snacks; none of which ever contain artificial dyes.

This is a free market, so I say let America decide: Does America want to wait around for a big name company to stop feeding people petroleum or will America just start buying the products of a company like Annie’s who respect their customers enough not to put Yellow 5 or Yellow 6 in it in the first place?

But it’s not just food, it’s personal products as well. Finding soap, shampoo, and lotion without Yellow 5 or 6 is not an easy thing to do. Our family learned we basically have to shop at either Whole Foods Market or Harris Teeter for those items.

Especially with you being prone to eczema, we learned from the very beginning that Yellow 5 & 6 dyes are bad news for your skin.

So while there really isn’t a name for people who don’t eat or absorb petroleum-derived products containing Yellow 5 & 6, as well as Red 40, once a label for us is born, I’ll start identifying our family as… whatever that is.

Love,

Daddy

February 3, 2013 at 11:42 pm , by Nick Shell

2 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

I have trust issues with major yogurt brands. They have a nasty habit of throwing in mysterious ingredients that I can’t feel good about you consuming, as your health freak dad.

Like I mentioned yesterday in “Buying The Family’s Groceries Based On Ingredients, Not Calories,” I’m a stickler for finding out what’s in food, then researching the ingredients I’m unsure of:

“When we’re buying groceries, the first thing we look for on the front of the package is ‘No artificial flavors, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup.’”

This past weekend I did my homework. I went to different grocery stores comparing their yogurt brands.

Here’s what I learned:

Even aside from all the fake red food dye which is derived from their petroleum or bugs, the well-known yogurt brands put gelatin in their product.

That means that their yogurt contains a mixture of the skin, cartilage, horns, and bones from animals like pigs and cows; or fish, if it’s labeled “kosher gelatin.”

Interestingly, the more expensive organic brands of yogurt, often aimed at babies and young children, do not contain gelatin.

It’s not just because we’re vegetarians that we avoid ground up animal bi-products in our foods. The way I see it, a hundred years ago when people ate yogurt, they probably didn’t go through the efforts to sprinkle their yogurt with gelatin.

Since I’m very deliberate that our family avoids processed foods as much as possible, I feel that a non-meat food product that requires ground up animal bi-products to taste or look right is too processed for us.

What is the alternative to gelatin in yogurt? Locust bean gum, which is derived from the seeds of trees; I assume they cost more than the animal bi-products that gelatin comes from.

However, there was one brand of yogurt that met all my strict qualifications: It had to be all natural, healthy, vegetarian, kosher, and yet still as affordable as the competition.

The winner… Chobani Greek Yogurt!

So I bought you an 8 pack of their Champions Tubes, which are portable pouches of their Greek Yogurt.

You had no hesitation in trying it. In fact, your immediate response after your first taste was, “I can like it!”

Then I grabbed a tube myself and realized just how good it was. I’ve never tasted yogurt that was so pure and “unchemically,” which is a word I just made up.

You immediately got upset that I ate one of yourChobani Champions Tubes.

Jack, just realize how epic that is. You got upset with me because I took from you the only all natural, vegetarian, kosher, and yet still affordable yogurt on the mainstream market.

We both win.

My congrats to Chobani Greek Yogurt, who I’m sure have no idea who I am, for earning my trust and becoming the only yogurt brand that shares my same high standard and beliefs in what good food should be.

I can like it.

Love,

Daddy

September 13, 2012 at 11:48 pm , by Nick Shell

21 months. 

Here’s how you know if, in your heart, you secretly are a Democrat: You approve of New York City’s ban on “sugary drinks” in containers of 16 ounces or more.

It’s beyond ironic that many of the same people who are pro-choice when it comes to abortion are totally cool with the government restricting the amount of sugar a person puts in their own body.

This ridiculous “soda ban” easily sums up why I’m a Libertarian: I believe in the right to be stupid, as long as it doesn’t hurt other people.

There’s no way around it; drinking soda on a regular (daily or even just weekly) basis, especially in quantities of 16 ounces or more, is a horrible (!) idea.

It’s detrimental to a person’s health. Doing so puts a person on the fast track to Diabetes, if not obesity.

Consider this, even in a just a typical 12 ounce can of cola, you’re consuming about 10 teaspoons of sugar.

I’ll say that again: 10 teaspoons of sugar! 

In fact, as a health nut and vegetarian, if I had to choose between smoking a half a pack of cigarettes a day versus drinking a 16 ounce soda, I would have a very difficult time in deciding which way to wreck my health.

Drinking “sugary drinks” like soda, chocolate milk, sweet tea, and even fruit juice, as compared to actually eating the fruit itself, is not good.

However, regularly drinking sugary drinks and soda is definitely more socially accepted than smoking cigarettes. (That makes it okay, right?)

We’re so culturally aware of the long-term health risks of tobacco use, but when it comes to junk food andprocessed foods, sometimes we need a reminder that it’s more than just that those things “make us get fat.”

Either way, I want to live in country where people have the freedom to make those bad decisions for themselves. Not just in New York City, but in every city.

It shouldn’t be the government’s job to “ban” junk food.

That’s my job:

I choose to ban “sugary drinks” in my own life, and just as important, in my young son’s life as well. I take responsibility for myself and my family.

Sure, I agree that America is experiencing an obesity epidemic and we need to do something about it.

But the “we” I’m referring to is not the government. The “we” is us.

For more intriguing pictures showing how much sugar is in drinks and food, go the awesome website they came from:

SugarStacks.com