Step one: READ LABELS

This is a very important skill to obtain. What are you actually putting into your body? You first glance and the box or packaging of the food. What do you look for first? The picture? The advertisements? Such as how many calories, fat, sugar, trasfat. This is what they want you to notice, believe and eventually purchase. The first thing you need to do is turn the box over, skip past the nutrition facts and look at the ingredients. WHAT IS ACTUALLY IN THE FOOD??

Here is an example of the label of Hamburger Helper:

Enriched Parboiled Rice (Rice, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Folic Acid), Corn Starch, Maltodextrin, Whey, Salt, Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, folic Acid), Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Sugar, *Chili Pepper, *Ricotta Cheese (Whey, Milkfat, Lactic Acid, Salt), Paprika, *Corn Syrup, Spice, *Red Bell Peppers, Modified Corn Starch, Monosodium Glutamate, *Tomato, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Natural Flavor, Calcium Lactate, Sodium Caseinate, *Garlic, Colors (Yellow Lakes 5 & 6, Yellows 5 & 6), Monoglycerides, Malic Acid, Yeast Extract. *DRIED

Look this over and try to figure out what they are? You don't know do you. Well, let's make a rule...if you don't know what it is don't put it in your body or your families.

The easiest thing to do is google these ingredients and decide for yourself if you want to digest them. I will post all synthetic and long worded ingredients and their definitions in a later post as this time consuming.

Now here is a list of ingredients from a LaraBar ( fruit and nut bar): A great snack for kids.

Raisins, apples, walnuts, almonds, dates and cinnamon

A little easier to swallow huh? No pun intended.

Let's just end my saying READ LABELS, READ LABLES, READ LABELS

Step one: DONE!