Gerber loves their GMOs

Earlier today, GMO Free USA posted this image on their facebook page:

Photo Source: GMO Free USA

Curious, I had to check out Gerber's facebook page and see what, if anything, people are saying to Gerber after seeing this image.  I found this post where another GMO Free USA fan posted their disappointment with Gerber's use of GMOs and Gerber defended their use of GMOs, as well as their stance on fighting the labeling of GMOs, and deleting comments they disagree with. 

In speaking with the original poster, I was informed that the comment Gerber deleted said, "We both know that GMO contains pesticides. Are you saying giving pesticides to babies is healthy?" I think this conversation demonstrates Gerber's intentional ignorance of the facts. As a mother, I think it's very alarming to see a huge entity in the world of baby and children's products to choose profits over the health of our children, and this conversation is worth sharing with any and all parents that will listen!

Food Phobia

Twice, this week, I've had full blown anxiety attacks in the grocery store.

Heavy breathing, lightheadedness, nausea.  I'm talking, the real deal.

I've been reading and scrutinizing food labels for a little over three years now, and when you are forced to look, every single day, at what is in every single food you offer to your family, you can't help but acknowledge and face the fact that there is very little food in most of our food.

Let's be honest.  We're feeding our pets better than we feed ourselves!

Source: Zamzows.com

I worked a short time at a pet food store, and my husband also currently works in the pet business, and one of the first things you learn, in the pet business, is how to read a food label to know the difference between a premium food (a balanced diet for your animal) and a grocery store food (garbage).

(Bear with me, I know this seems like a tangent, but I promise, there's a point to all this)

First, a premium food has no corn or grains listed in the ingredients, and mid grade food, may have some corn in it, but not in the first five ingredients, and a grocery store brand likely has corn in all of the first three ingredient.

The next factor you look at, how many cancer causing chemicals are listed?

It's not that complicated is it?  Yet, it took me a good ten years, until I had my children, to read my own families food labels that way, and only because I had to.  I really thought just buying the "whole grain" and "low fat" was good enough.

I challenge you, next time you're in the grocery store, pick up any ten packaged foods and count how many of them don't fall into that garbage food category.  Go ahead and pick up "heath foods" and see if they even make the cut.  I'd really love to hear your replies too!

I have no choice in how I feed my children (I guess that's the perk of living with food allergies).  But then...in case shopping for food free of corn, legumes, dairy, tree nut, and egg for my toddlers, wasn't difficult, stressful and expensive enough already, I stumbled upon this TED video a few weeks ago by Robyn O'Brien, which has me rethinking the way our whole family eats.





And this is why I have panic attacks in the grocery store.  And why I am on day four of no soda, and if you know me, you know that is a huge deal!

I'm not one to buy into propaganda or the latest trendy diet, but combining what I've learned about food in the last three years, with these GMO statistics, I've officially developed a phobia of food.

Here's where my brain goes:  Corn is in everything.  EVERYGODDAMNTHING.  Even if a product doesn't contain "corn" in the ingredients, it almost certainly contains a derivative of corn (see, Also Known As), like vanilla extract, yeast, baking powder.  And 90% of corn in GMO.  Even if you buy "whole foods" like fruits and veggies....which are sprayed, almost always with a corn based pesticide (yes, even organic, either by their "organic spray" or by the blow over from the neighboring standard crop).

So, organic chicken and dairy the, you say!  But what was the animal fed?  Corn probably...   And if you're willing to go through the trouble to find grass fed, and locally grown (like, as in, your own) produce, you're probably going to have to travel near and far for it, and pay quite a bit more, and commit two to three times the time the time for prep and cooking.  And that's just the corn!

And....here it comes.  Another panic attack.  Like Robyn said, you just can't unlearn this stuff...

Allergy vs Intolerance

Sometimes I call Makayla's reactions allergies, and sometimes intolerances.  But the truth is, according to the doctors, she doesn't have a "true" allergy to anything.  

Here is the definition pf Food Allergy from Mayo Clinic: 

Food allergy is an immune system reaction that occurs soon after eating a certain food. Even a tiny amount of the allergy-causing food can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives or swollen airways. In some people, a food allergy can cause severe symptoms or even a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis. 

Food allergy affects an estimated 6 to 8 percent of children under age 3 and up to 3 percent of adults. While there's no cure, some children outgrow their food allergy as they get older. 

It's easy to confuse a food allergy with a much more common reaction known as food intolerance. While bothersome, food intolerance is a less serious condition that does not involve the immune system.

It is true that Makayla doesn't have any of the anaphylaxis reactions to foods or environmental triggers.  All of her reactions are gastrointestinal to food.  To environmental triggers, we know she sometimes has an eczema reaction, and that she becomes extremely irritable and unable to function to other environmental triggers, but since she s three, she can't explain what those feel like yet.  However, I have a strong hunch that her reactions are an immune system reaction, caused by an auto immune disorder.  

I don't have any sort of diagnosis to back that hunch up.  Not because doctors have been unable to find or confirm my theory, but rather, because every single GI doctor, and allergist (five, in total now, all from highly regarded medical facilities, such as UCSF, UCLA and a local Asthma & Allergy Center) has dismissed her reactions as non serious food intolerances.