Pour Some Sugar on Me!

I love things with sugar.  I am a sugar addict.  Literally.  I crave it.  I love baked goods and will load up on them if they are around and then drift off into a happy shaky sugar coma.  It’s amazing that I am not 400 lbs of sweet love.  There are a lot of people out there who avoid sugar due to dieting, health purposes etc.  Sugar is often substituted with artificial sweetners.  I personally avoid artificial sweetners as much as I can. 

For one if you are going to eat/drink something high in sugar, such as a soda, just have the real thing or none at all.  I feel the same thing about low fat foods.  If you are going to indulge, go big or go home.  Secondly, I avoid artificial sweetners because they make my stomach hurt really bad.  Sharp pains will plague me for hours if I have any.  Logically, if my body (stomach) is telling me it doesn’t like it, it must be bad for my body.  Thirdly, I personally think (for some reason I chose this in my life to be stubborn about) that artificial sweetners are so obviously manufactured and unnatural that they should not be willing poured into your natural body systems. 

To support my stubborness on artificial sweetners, check out these stats on aspartame.  75% of all complaints that the FDA receives are from the ingestion of aspartame for 15 years after it arrived on the market.  It has brough more complaints than any other food additive ever.  Aspartame is also marketed under the names of “Equal”, “Nutrasweet” and “Candarel”.  It is found in approximately 6,000 food and beverages served worldwide.  You would most likely ingest it from softdrinks or in packets on restaurant tables.  However, some other common everyday food items where it is found is in gum and some chewable vitamins.  

What happens when you metabolize aspartame is that aspartame is changed into methanol in your intestines which is then absorbed and changed into formaldehyde.  All of this within your body.  Some experts feel it’s not enough to make a difference.  Others say that adding these chemicals into your body will cause a chronic toxicity over time causing symptoms similar to other chronic diseases.  Then there are others who laugh in the face of all of this and say “NONSENSE!”.  Studies have linked this controversial additive to cancers, neurological diseases, etc but the scientists say that the amount that most people drink shouldn’t really affect them.  And since the experts are still undecided on if it’s really bad for people, we should just wait and see if other symptoms show up.  At least that’s appears to be the overall plan

Hmmm….Since these experts don’t really agree.  I am going to maintain my stubborn stance on this and just use good old regular sugar.  I really don’t like to be a walking science experiment.  Plus, if I gamble on the fact that it won’t cause something weird, I will probably lose.  I also lose when I gamble, so why gamble with my health.  Oh and if you use Splenda….don’t be so sure that’s great either.  It also has a similar back story.  So pour some sugar on me (or rather my Rice Krispies)…in the name of love.  In moderation, of course. 

 

Know When to Say When

I am in a quandary.  Like many of you readers, I am a SAHM with multiple children.  We have one main income with lots of outcome (aka: expenses).  Tomas and I have consistently struggled with our grocery budget.  What’s too much?  What’s unrealistically small?  How often should we shop?  How can we eat healthy on a strict budget?  etc. etc.  You have all heard the drill, I am sure. 

In order to get a little better grasp on this, I have taken the advice of many fellow moms who are much better budgetors than I and joined a coupon website.  It’s called Savings Angel.  (I previously did The Grocery Game, but found it to be a little harder to deal with.)  These coupon matching sites are great! They match up the local store ads with the coupons that are in your paper.  The idea being that you stock up on things when they are really dirt cheap instead of paying an arm and a leg for it.  It has really helped our grocery bill to shop this way.  We have cut our bill in half.  Not hard since we really didn’t shop on any a good budget before.

Here’s the problem…I just have so much stuff.  I have been stocking up for a few months on all these items for very little money.  Some of them are even free or I have ended up getting money back for them.  I have given some stuff away, but yet when I look in my basement pantry (otherwise known as my kitchen overflow).  I am appalled.  I counted 18 cereal boxes as of today’s shopping trip.  How does that happen?  And let’s not forget the bathroom!  I don’t even know how many tubes of free toothpaste or lotions are up there.  All of it for free or at least for under a dollar.  How can you say no?

This whole process has troubled me a little bit.  When should you say when?  When is a really great deal, really not necessary?  It’s hard to say no.  It’s hard to have limits.  Come on, you might think….it was free.  You can’t pass that up.  Well, I think that I need to.  For several reasons.  One being, it’s wasteful.  Things may just get buried in my stock piles and never come out because it’s just too much to sort through when I am busy.  Do I have time to do spread sheets to keep track of my stock?  No, I am too busy entertaining a clown troupe.  Therefore, I need to simplify and stop creating these shelves of “free to a good home” items.  Before I grab that next free lotion, I need to ask “Will I use this in the next couple months?”  If not, I will slap my greedy hand away from that lucious lubricant.  How embarrassing is it that we think of ourselves as just “getting by” when we have stockpiles of goods?

My second big struggle with this is the “greening” of my home.  I have to think that every person who is stockpiling these items are seemingly increasing the demand for any product that continuously has coupons.  Jergens Body Lotion is just an example.  I have a couple bottles of this upstairs.  I am trying to do what’s best for my family and the environment, and yet I am bringing all sorts of perfumes, dyes and chemicals into their diets and personal care because I am stockpiling.  Here’s Jergens safety analysis from Skin Deep.  Some people may not be concerned with this but I am.  I am trying to keep everyone in our house healthy and “green”.  Would I have 2 bottles of this lotion in my home if it weren’t for my organized hoarding?  No, I would have waited until I really needed lotion.  I would have made one trip to a store and bought one bottle of natural lotion.  That’s it.  No multiple trips to multiple stores to get the best price on something that’s not totally healthy for us.  It’s the same for the food items too.  It’s very hard to eat healthy produce/meats when you are trying to stick to a tight budget.  There’s never coupons for fresh fruits and veggies.  Only chips, sugar laden breakfast bars, and crazy new chocolatey cereals.  You can probably begin to imagine how this second issue has so many levels to be considered.  My mind spins when I think of all that could be considered in this category.

However, with all the negatives, I still value the money saved in our budget.  We live a good life.  We have nice things.  We eat well.  We smell good and have controlled body hair (thanks to all the free razors).  But I have cancelled the my paid subscriptions to these sites.  I am forging ahead on my own.  I will still shop a sale and use coupons.  Oh, I will guarantee you that.   That’s the positive side, I have educated myself in budgeting and smart shopping.  But I will also revert back to my greenie ways and stay true to my values as a responsible consumer and parent.  It’s just all too much.

“Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure.”

— John McConnell, founder of International Earth Day

“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

— Gaylord Nelson    former governor of Wisconsin, co-founder of Earth Day

 

I Guess Peeps are Healthy

Everybody has their food vice.  Their weakness.  The one thing that you just can’t say no to.  For me, Easter is the worst possible time to try and control food cravings.  If any of you know me, you know that I have a full fledged sugar addiction.  Baked goods of any kind call my name (I think my body is part donut from the quantity I have eaten in life).  Anything that resembles chocolate taunts me into submission.  ”Caw, Caw! Stacey, Lookie here! Lookie here!”  I can not say no!  What’s a girl to do?

I went shopping this evening for groceries.  Good healthy groceries.  I got bananas, strawberries, whole grains, you know the good  healthy stuff.  Then I passed all that Easter candy.  Can I just say 3 words…Cadbury Cream Eggs….Hmmm…Yumm….  I really really wanted those.  A couple years ago, I broke my record and counted eating 19 of those babies in the Easter season.  But, I was strong.  I opted for four one bag of Hershey’s Kisses instead.  (More bang for your buck).  So with my cart full of mostly necessary groceries, I went to check out. 

There was one woman in front of me.  She just reeked of health.  She had all sorts of reusable grocery bags.  A small cart filled with organice veggies, fruits, and yogurts.  It was obvious that everything she chose, was chosen with her and the earth’s health in mind.  I was envious of her commitment, her will power.  I looked at my cookies and candies and felt guilty.  My taste buds had led me astray again!  Then…I caught a glimpse of something in the very bottom of her shopping basket.  Can you guess what it was?  The most unhealthy, yuckiest Easter candy that’s ever been made…   It was not 1 but 2 boxes of Peeps!! 

I couldn’t believe it!!  Even a picture of health has to have a sweet food vice.  2 whole boxes of unadulterated high fructose corn syrup!  I wondered if their was anything in Peeps that made them healthy.  I don’t think so.  Unless you consider them chicken and opened the box for a while when you got home.  Then maybe you could say that they were cage free chicken that weren’t ever given antibiotics or hormones.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.  I think that’s why I always buy/eat all the Cadbury Creme Eggs too.  Cage Free.  Hormone Free.  Antibiotic Free.  Eureka!  Those things don’t just taste good, they are good for you.

Of course if you remember this scientific study, you might think twice about the peeps.  Just stick with the Creme Eggs. 

 

She Can Bring Home Bacon and Fry It Up in a Pan

Mama (a.k.a. Martha) Stewart has done it again!  Yes, the great visionary of our times has thoughtfully jumped on the Green Initiative Bandwagon (just like every other marketing pro).  I am sure that she is doing it just to save the planet and that it has nothing to do with revenues or the bottom line or anything financial at all. 

Anyway, she has come out with a set of “Green” Cookware.  Yippee!  I have been looking at cookware for years and years.  We happen to be using the set of pans that my in laws used for years.  They got a new set and gave us their old one when we were first married 10 years ago.  Needless to say, we could stand to purchase a new set.  However, I have gone back and forth as to what I want.  I love the nonstick of teflon.  Hate the questionable chemicals being released into my food.

So, I think I have my answer here.  Her new cookware has a nonstick surface that is not supposed to release any harmful chemicals like teflon.  And they really don’t seem too pricey.  They are available at Macy’s.  You can follow this link to take a look.  Love you Martha!