I would like to call Giant Eagle, Giant Bullshitters. Their premium “organic” line of food dubbed Nature’s Basket is by no means a viable alternative given the price. I set out to contact them and they did not return phone calls or emails. I had simple questions such as: “do you use pesticides on your spinach?” Their unresponsiveness leads me to believe they do in fact use pesticides and don’t give a damn about customer service. I loathe Giant Eagle, yet it’s one of the only options in this nutrition depleted town

Bird’s Eye frozen food, good people. Given my lack of healthy options around here I decided to go the frozen veggie route. I called around and sent out emails in regards to manufacturing processes. Very simple questions. Birds Eye is the only company that responded, and despite the fact that their products are most likely mass produced garbage, I still buy them, simply because they responded. Here is the email:

Birds Eye Letter about Frozen Food

My business partner Tony said “Hey, this person has a blog like yours, @summertomato”. So I check it out, looks good, contact the owner, build a relationship. Darya Pino runs www.summertomato.com, lives in San Francisco, takes beautiful pictures of food at the farmers market, and hangs out with cool people like Kevin Rose and Tim Ferriss. When I asked her about Kevin Rose, she said yea, one of the perks of living in SF. I cried, shoveled my driveway and went to Giant Eagle to score some eco-obscene beef and a Foster 24oz.

My good friend Philip Albrecht wrote a post about his recent slaughtering of a goat debacle. He lives in Panama and states “This is a place though where if you accidentally stick an indigenous twig in the ground you get a fruit tree” and “There is no reason living here in Bocas that you can’t eat high quality organic foods”. I asked him how much it would cost to eat there. He responds, plenty of free seafood and plantains, but the beer isn’t free. Again, I cried, scraped the ice off my car and went to Subway.

30 pounds later, here I am in Ohio, surrounded by fat white people and no desire to seek out organic food. If you surround yourself with garbage, you begin to stink. As for the fate of this website, to be determined.

1. Canned Food – Canned goods contain a nasty chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA) within their lining.¹ Several studies have linked it to different diseases and cancer. It is certainly something that should be avoided. Even some self proclaimed healthy and ‘organic ‘ food suppliers use packaging produced with BPA.² However, companies such as Nalgene³ and Eden Organics⁴ have recognized the health risks of BPA and have made special efforts to eliminate its use in their packaging and products.
   
2. All Natural – anything with this vague statement on their package puts their integrity in jeopardy. This term might be the most overused and under-regulated marketing tactic in the food industry. An example of recent deception would be a lawsuit against Snapple regarding the use of high fructose corn syrup.⁵ I do not want to make a blanket statement regarding all products with All Natural labels. Most all natural foods lay a simple foundation for healthy alternatives. I feel it is not enough. What’s more is the premium cost associated with their falsely advertised health product. There have been numerous requests for the FDA to tighten up their regulations on these types of labels.⁶
   
3. Prepackaged Spices – spices are cheap in the absence of expensive containers. Do we really need to buy a disposable pepper grinder every time we want ground pepper? Ordering spices bulk can translate into 1/5 the cost of fancy packaged spices. What I do is get 4oz mason jars and label them appropriately. Yes this is not detrimental to your health, only your bank account. However you can fine tune the quality and types of spices you purchase.
   
4. Mediocre Sit-down Restaurants - not only does the food cost more than fast food but the taste, ingredients, and nutritional content are highly questionable. The worst example is Romano’s Macaroni Grill – Chicken Portobella which contains around 7,000mg of sodium (300% daily allowance).⁷ Do your homework before you drop fifty bones on dinner for two.
   
5. Non-organic produce - the amount of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemicals that conventional produce are allowed to be exposed to is astonishing. There are certain fruits and vegetables with higher concentrations of these toxins which allows you to substitute with their non-organic counterpart.⁸ Of course eating strictly organic is not practical, in fact some regions do not even have this option. Pick your battles and go for the safest conventional fruits or vegetables.
   

Education is key. Take the time to learn about the products you consume. A lot of the guidelines I suggest could potentially be the answer to your weight loss and fitness goals. If the toxins and negative nutritional items are removed, I guarantee you will see positive results in your health and general well being.

1. A Survey of Bisphenol A in U.S. Canned Foods
2. BPA In Cans
3. Bottle Maker to Stop Using Plastic Linked to Health Concerns
4. Eden Organic BPA Free Can
5. Snapple to Face Lawsuit Over ‘All Natural’ Claim
6. Food Label Makeovers Proposed by CSPI
7. Romano’s Macaroni Grill Chicken Portabella Nutrional Facts
8. Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides: The Full List

Ace K was approved by the FDA in 1988. Big deal. This stuff taste like crap and has undergone minimal testing, especially human testing. Given its bitterness it is typically combined with other artificial sweeteners such as sucralose which adds another layer of risk to the product. Ace K is typically found in baked goods, chewing gum and beverages. It is also very prominent in sports supplements such as protein powders and energy drinks. I once gave a $40 container of protein to my friend because it contained Ace K. His gym rat aspirations outweighed the potential health risks of consuming 30 different ingredients for 20 grams of protein.

There are several alternatives for obese sweet lovers with zero self control. Aside from turning off the Xbox and exploring your lower body motor skills, you may consider the following “natural” alternatives. And by “natural” I mean observing the beauty of a living plant and sacrificing that living plant directly into the food you are about to eat. Here are some:

Stevia: a low calorie plant that has significant sweetness. It can have a bitter aftertaste which really upsets me. Get it fresh or the green dried form. The white stuff is processed garbage. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia)

Honey: we all know what this is. It has a higher caloric content than Stevia but is less processed than refined sugar.

Some people prefer agave nectar over honey, especially the hippie vegans. Personally I am on the fence with agave nectar due to its outrageous amount of fructose (more than high fructose corn syrup) John Kohler has a great article on the subject: http://www.living-foods.com/articles/agave.html

Here is some further reading:

Wikipedia (for starters): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_K

Center for Science in the Public Interest: http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm

Remember, pick your battles. It’s hard to eat right all of the time. Follow basic principles and stick with it. Weight loss and maintaining health is much easier once you get your diet right. Read the ingredients and if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. Unless it’s ethnic.

Tiger Sauce typically consists of mayonnaise and horseradish. Its primary function is to be applied to rare roast beef sandwiches. Sweet baby Jesus it’s an enchanting culinary delight.

Dick’s Horseradish caught my attention for two reasons: Cost and Simplicity. Horseradish root, vinegar and salt are the contents of this product. Shame on all of the overpriced “horseradish” like substances charging twice as much for a mediocre product.

One method I use with minimal heartache is the three minute shower executed with Japanese sushi chef precision. My weapon of choice, homemade soap sans animal fat. The trick is to find a decent bar of soap that is manufactured with non-animal fat products and scrub vigorously for two minutes, rinse, and get out. This will limit your exposure to chemicals and minimize the absorption of steaming contaminated tap water.

Katiebug Soap are homemade products with minimal ingredients. She has several scents to choose from. I choose Lemon EO Soap. And yes, she has Patchouli for all you hippies that desperately need to bathe. You can find her products around North East Ohio farmers markets and health food stores. Krieger’s Health Foods Market is where I obtained mine. You can also order it from her online store.

Stay clean and healthy everyone. Remember, choose your battles and if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.

www.stadiummustard.com

This mustard is delicious, cheap, and has five well defined ingredients: Water, Vinegar, Mustard Seed, Salt, Red Pepper.

This mini-review is a sample of what types of products I will be reviewing. Future products will be researched more in-depth and include more information. I am currently searching for suppliers of any types of products. Stay tuned, the ball will be rolling soon. Thanks!

What this boils down to is the fact that every prospective food item for purchase must endure an on-site label analyzation. Thus resulting in a 30 minute visit yielding 2 items purchased — carrots and celery grown in fertilizer, pesticides, and travelling thousands of miles to get to my grocery store. Grocery shopping fail.

My goals are to inform the consumer whom are active organic consumers and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Maybe you are obese and struggle even to twist open a jar of mayonnaise. Whatever your reasons for reading this, let’s figure out what the hell is in the food you are eating and try to do something about it.