How Far Can It Go? Very Far

I felt like I might be able to have some level of control over the quality of my food, and then I found out many (if not most?) of the food packaging in our country is made from GMO products. Companies enlisted in the Non-GMO project are trying to find or develop alternative packaging materials, so the current packaging is either not good for us, or many people are worried it might not be. And then you have the polymer coating issues.

Merrick/Castor and Pollux affirm that their dog food bags are not polymer coated.
I have not heard back from Arcana/Origen, a wonderful company that makes dog food with very fresh ingredients: here's hoping.

As for the humans, on that wonderful 365 Pacific Rim coffee, the bag is not polymer coated (although it could be made from GMO material, I don't know). Or so they say. Whole Foods employees do not seem to  know much about the real situation with food or packaging, but this was their specific reply to my inquiry.

I have known for a long time that cellophane is the best packaging material, without knowing why exactly. But I believe a lot of cellophane is now being made from GMO products. Don't quote me on that. I wouldn't buy cellophane from Walmart to put food in, but a product made in Europe and packaged in cellophane is likely a good product, if that country is still non-GMO.

I am eating so much better because I am now trying not to eat packaged foods, and I am giving the dog nearly all real food.... But the packaging issue was a shock to me and discouraging.

At least some manufacturers are really trying to provide a healthy product in all aspects...

What's in Your Coffee and your Candy Wrapper?

I have been researching chemical coatings on food packaging because I have been trying to find a non-harmful dog food (which I have just about given up on…but I will update you later).

A Teflon coating, Zonyl, is widely used in the paper industry and is used to line all types of cartons, paper containers, bags, fast food wrappers. Look out for that shiny lining (often an indictator). This is the same chemical used in Stainmaster (scotchguard) which you should avoid on carpets and fabrics. The EPA has found that Teflon chemicals used in food packaging and other paper products are “ubiquitous in the bloodstream of the general population.” They are found at levels 5 times higher in our pets. Some companies-- oh, like our favorite, Dupont!--have recently switched to the use of Capstone, which is essentially a smaller PFC (perfluorinated chemical), likely just as harmful.

What I most want to warn you about is (1) do not, of course, microwave food in plastic or in any sort of container, even paper, that has a waxy coating, but (2) MORE IMPORTANTLY, every time you drink a cup of coffee at work or from a coffee shop, you are likely ingesting your coffee along with super-heated PFCs. I have avoided those “new” cardboard cups for years because I simply couldn’t figure out (until now)  WHAT that coating was; I knew it wasn’t the old “wax” coating that used to be on our cups. So please, have your coffee in either glass or ceramic. You can bring a glass mug to Starbucks and they will put your coffee in that. And avoid those quick little instant coffee makers at work and elsewhere, you are putting boiling water through a very thin plastic container, not only ingesting some of the plastic but the plastic coating as well! 

Most people both microwave and drink some sort of hot drink every day (if not all day long). So, here are two ways you can make your daily life a little healthier.  

Food is Tricky

Way too tricky these days, but I'm trying to educate myself. I used to think that I just needed to buy organic fruits and vegetables. Now I am going "all organic" across the board. Also, I'm ordering 100% free range meats from local suppliers (who deliver to local farmer’s markets). And trying to get pet food that has fresh ingredients and free range meat.

Some Food Tips:

Cookies Made with  Fresh Ingredients: I tell you, if you are a cookie monster, you will no longer think about cookies if you buy these. Somehow a "real" cookie appeases your cookie desire. (I recommended some fresh-ingredient cookies in a prior post).

Baking Soda: I found that some baking soda is no longer natural (it is not mined), but is somehow derived from corn. However Bob’s Red Mill  baking soda  is mined and all-natural. Bob’s Red Mill also makes wonderful whole grain flour.

Baking Powder: Often has additives in it and usually contains cornstarch. Rumford is claiming that their baking powder contains food grade cornstarch made from non-genetically modified corn.

Salt: If you are trying to avoid GMOs, go for things with sea salt not table salt. Table salt is corn-derived.

Whole Food Vitamins: Garden of Life (recommended by many doctors) is in the process of certifying all their products as “Non-GMO.”  They are participating in the Non-GMO Project. 

Petfood: As far as I can tell Arcana/Origen is the best. But we now have an issue of some petfood bags being coated with teflon. I don't want my dog's petfood in contact with telfon. I don't cook with teflon, she doesn't "cook" with teflon. Sadly, more and more pet food companies are being bought up by DuPont and DuPont is the maker of the teflon coating. I have an inquiry in with Arcana to see what's up with their bags. Innova uses the teflon coating. Merrick and Castor and Pollux say they do not use teflon, but do they use some other chemical coating? Companies are wiley. (Once it was the music that never stopped, now it's the research). 

Toothpaste: Plain old Baking Soda the Best?

 Isn't this amazing? I may try some Tom's sensitive toothpaste. But I am also thinking of going back to plain, old, unadulaterated and inexpensive baking soda! 

This list is from Dr. Scott Frey's website: http://www.freysmiles.com/blog/view/toothpaste-abrasiveness-low-abrasive-toothpastes

04      Toothbrush with plain water	91      Aquafresh Sensitive
07      Plain baking soda	93      Tom’s of Maine
15      Weleda Salt Toothpaste	94      Rembrandt Plus
30      Elmex Sensitive Plus	95      Oxyfresh with Fluoride
30      Weleda Plant Tooth Gel	95      Crest Regular
35      Arm & Hammer Dental Care	97      Oxyfresh Powder
40      Weleda Children’s Tooth Gel	101     Natural White
42      Arm &Hammer Advance Whitening	103     Mentadent
44      Squiggle Enamel Saver	103     Arm & Hammer Sensation
45      Weleda Calendula Toothpaste	104     Sensodyne Extra Whitening
45      Weleda Pink Toothpaste with Ratanhia	106     Colgate Platinum
45      Oxyfresh	106     Arm & Hammer Advance White
48      Arm & Hammer Dental Care Sensitive	107     Crest Sensitivity Protection
49      Tom’s of Maine Sensitive	110     Colgate Herbal
52      Arm & Hammer Peroxicare Regular	110     Amway Glister
53      Rembrandt Original	113     Aquafresh Whitening
53      Closys	117     Arm & Hammer Advance White Gel
54      Arm & Hammer Dental Care PM Bold Mint	117     Arm & Hammer Sensation Tartar Control
57      Tom’s of Maine Childrens	120     Close Up with Baking Soda
62      Supersmile	124     Colgate Whitening
63      Rembrandt Mint	130     Crest Extra Whitening
68      Colgate Regular	133     Ultra Brite
70      Colgate Total	144     Crest Multicare Whitening
70      Arm & Hammer Advance White Sensitive	145     Ultra Brite Advanced Whitening Formula
70      Colgate 2-in-1 Fresh Mint	150     Pepsodent
78      Biotene	65     Colgate Tartar Control
79      Sensodyne	168     Arm & Hammer Dental Care PM Fresh Mint
80      AIM	176     Nature’s Gate Paste
80      Close Up	200     Colgate 2-in-1TartarControl/Whitening
82      Under the Gum
83      Colgate Sensitive Max Strength	200     FDA recommended upper limit
87      Nature’s Gate	250     ADA recommended upper limit

Naturally, the formulations of the toothpastes listed are subject to change, but what you see here is the most current information I could find.

Healthy Pet Food

Pet food is almost more complex than human food to research. I have been emailing companies for weeks about their products. These are the brands I have so far identified as being healthy, but I suggest only buying the products within these brands that do not contain soy or corn, as soy going out of the US labeled "organic" has been found (by the Japanese) to contain 25% GMO. Also, I only look at the dry food, so I am not sure about the wet food, although these manufacturers are very responsible.

ORIGEN/ARCANA: Likely the best
PETGAURD: Vegan or Vegetarian - and NOT the USDA certified one as that has soy
CASTOR and POLLUX - the organic line of "Merrick"

Also, I HIGHLY encourage you to understand what human foods you can and cannot feed your pet and to feed him or her as much fresh, organic food as possible. Do you really think a living being can be healthy eating any form of dry cereal all day long every day? I knew someone whose dog was dying of cancer and the vet said, "Feed him, feed him, as much fresh food as possible." What does that tell you? I give my dog lots of apple bits with some skin on it, baby carrots (she has large teeth, she can handle these, but you can also cut them into fine pieces), raw and cooked broccoli (raw broccoli is bitter; you have to break it up into tiny bits and mix it in), quinoa, brown rice, wild salmon, turkey, cooked swiss chard (yum! and so much easier than spinach), pears, peas, hard boiled eggs, and sometimes a little spaghetti sauce (but no whole tomatoes cooked or uncooked!). Basically, what I eat, she eats, except for the food that is poisonous to dogs, of course. Boiled chicken is her staple. I freeze it in small chunks and then just pull out one chunk per day for her.

As far as teeth, you should be brushing your pet's teeth at least once a month with an enzymatic toothpaste and a dog can have a dental chew once a day at least. (True, I don't exactly know what could be in that dental chew, but it's European so I trust it more, and healthy teeth are a big key to a dog's health long term). I think apple and carrot really help clean my dog's teeth. I feed my dog a lot of fresh food and her teeth are still a beautiful, unstained white. (I also use Dentacetic occasionally to remove any tough stain). You can train your dog to accept a toothbrush (see the web for how, it just takes patience).

More Food to Feel Good About and One Health Tip

So, wow, this 369 (Whole Foods) brand coffee -- Pacific Rim Blend-- is the best coffee I have ever had (with NJ diner coffee as the only exception and nothing beats that). I have been searching for a great coffee for a few years now and this is it!

I recently bought 369 organic cheese. This cheese has only 3 ingredients in it, nothing artificial, and NO RENNET. Rennet is GMO-derived and is in most commercial cheese.

Then there are the Kettle chips I picked up while feeling hungry at Walmart. Yes, I do shop at Walmart, I have no choice really. If I pay this much for food, I have to get other products on the cheap. I am not a big chip person, but the Kettle chips (I have had them before of course), oh my God are they good...the bag says they are non-GMO. I accept this even though they are not Non-GMO "verified."

Now here is your health tip: Always have "fruit with a meal" or with some sort of added carbohydrate or protein. This is the nutrition lesson they teach women after they get breast cancer. So we need this knowledge so we don't GET cancer. Sugar stokes cancer (of all types), so when you take in those simple sugars in fruit, you need to slow them down by eating something that is more difficult to digest at the same time.

Things You Can Eat and Feel Good About

I have been trying to find the purest, non-genetically engineered food I can. It sometimes feels like trying to find needles in a haystack. Well, you say, that’s exactly what it is.

Here are some great tasting products that are part of the “Non-GMO Project.”  These foods are certified as having no GMO ingredients, including no GMO soy, corn, or related oils.  See the Non-GMO Project website for a growing list of certified products. These are not however organic products, so I’m not quite sure where that leaves us. I guess if they are using something commercial that is sprayed when grown, then there could be some residual pesticides in the products (I will follow up).. But I pretty much trust these companies:

            Annie’s Homegrown Snickerdoodle Bunny Cookies

            Garden of Eden Blue Chips

            Maria and Ricardo’s tortillas

The following tasty tidbits are not part of the Non-GMO project, but they appear to be non-GMO from what they say on their labels:

Amy B’s Peanut Butter Cookies. The peanut butter is made from fresh peanuts, expeller pressed. No commercial oils. Farm fresh organic ingredients only.

Sha Sha Ginger Snaps – Spelt. The regular ones are better tasting, but contain soy lecithin. The spelt version is still tasty and these cookies have no soy or commercial oils, no preservatives, and are made of all organic ingredients.

 *I’m telling you if you can afford to open an organic bakery (I love to bake, but it’s too late for me to do something that intensive), you will have it made as far as your financial future. AmyB's charges a pretty penny for those farm-fresh, organic cookies.*

I recently found out that Applegate Farms has an organic line of lunch meats. (Commercial lunch meats not only contain nitrites, they are known to contain fire-retardents!) If a product is organic it cannot contain any GMO ingredients, although I don’t know if that yet extends to vitamins (some products have added Vit C, Vit E etc, especially the dog foods, and as it turns out, most vitamins are GMO derived).. The problem with the "natural" (non-organic) lunch meats is that the animals have likely been fed GMO grain (corn etc) in at least 25% of their diet. I bought some of the organic lunch meat today but generally it is too expensive to use. 

All of the products mentioned are available at Whole Foods market.

Don’t get overwhelmed. Focus on getting the highest quality of the things you are eating most of the time. And either don’t eat the other foods, or eat them only in small amounts.