Baking products that I think should never be in your kitchen are listed below. I think that these are the absolute minimum we can do–do you agree?
This post may upset some readers, because they may have one or more of these baking products in their kitchens. However, this is solely my opinion, and I think it’s important to voice it because I don’t believe in going through life with blinders on.
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This is my site and this is my opinion.
If you think I’m condescending, opinionated, rude or judgmental, I apologize in advance, because that is not my goal. I’m not claiming to be a health guru, far from it. However, there has to be a baseline of products and ingredients where we should all be able to say, “I can easily do better than this”. With all the GMOs, pesticides and chemicals going into our real food, why do we want to add to the list of poisons that we’re ingesting?
I am shocked at the continuously rising number of people whom I know, or friends of friends who have died of cancer, Alzheimers, MS or some other terrible disease. It’s not that I don’t realize that I may not have any control over whether I get cancer one day; sometimes cancer reaches the healthiest person we know. However, why not try to avoid unnatural products and chemicals as much as possible?
I know many people who put their hands over their ears and stick their heads into the ground when they start to hear these facts. Truthfully, it’s easier to stay in the dark about beloved baking products they have been using their whole lives. I know what it feels like to find out that something I’ve been using has changed their ingredients and have added something I’ve made my mind up not to use–it’s maddening, frustrating and disappointing all at once.
Making positive changes a little at a time.
Making changes in the kitchen is not always easy, but I think we have to be open about listening to the information, doing our own research and making a decision based on as many facts as we can gather. I am on a journey to try to become healthier day by day, and think we all can make an effort, even if it’s with baby-steps.
Years ago, I used to use cake mixes now and then, but one day I read the ingredients and was horrified; from that day on, I never bought another box. Is it significantly more time-consuming to make homemade rather than using a box? Honestly, it’s probably an extra 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the recipe, but homemade cakes also taste so much better.
Wrigley’s gum was what I grew up on, but since they added aspartame to all of their products (almost all gum contains aspartame now) I just completely stopped buying it, and all other gum. Sugar is bad, but aspartame is worse.
Although I can’t make gum, the same doesn’t apply to other products. For example, I used to love Mounds candy bars, but the ingredient list now looks more like something you might see in a high school chemistry experiment.
Mounds bars ingredient list
CORN SYRUP; SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE ( CHOCOLATE; SUGAR; COCOA; MILK FAT; COCOA BUTTER; SOY LECITHIN; PGPR, EMULSIFIER) ; COCONUT; SUGAR; SALT; NATURAL & ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR; HYDROLYZED MILK PROTEIN; SODIUM METABISULFITE, TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS; SULFUR DIOXIDE, TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS; CARAMEL COLOR; MILK
Do I have to do without? No, I make them myself and they taste fantastic! Click the photo for the recipe.
My prediction on comments that this post will receive~
I can already predict some of the comments that I will probably receive on this post :
“We’re all going to die, so what difference does it make?”
“I know someone who ate really healthy, but got cancer, and my grandpa who smoked a pack a day lived to be 90.”
“For every study that says x, there is a study that says y.”
I’m sure there will also be comments from the other side:
“Your cooking isn’t healthy, you use sugar and white flour.”
“You use a lot of butter and cream, and that’s not healthy.”
“You’ve got recipes on your blog that are deep-fried! How healthy is that?”
All I am going to say is please use some common sense. I’m not at either extreme, and I do try to buy as little processed and packaged food as possible. I know that if I make french fries at home from homegrown organic potatoes and fry them in an organic oil, I’m going to have significantly healthier fries than if I ate them from McDonald’s. You do realize this, right? Sometimes I think people think “apples are apples”, and that is definitely not the case, even with apples!
What constitutes “homemade”?
And let’s talk about the words “homemade” and “scratch” and the actual ingredients. For me, homemade and scratch contain no processed ingredients, for example: butter, sugar and flour for shortbread qualifies as both homemade and from “scratch”. This is a three-ingredient recipe using real baking products.
If you are using a cake mix, with oil and eggs, to me, this is not from scratch, and not homemade (the majority of your ingredients, the cake mix, was not made at home). Also, this is not a three-ingredient recipe, because if you use a Duncan Hines cake mix, there are 16 ingredients in the mix, plus butter and eggs, which equals 18 ingredients.
Please don’t be fooled by recipes claiming they only have three ingredients when they are
cake mix, a pudding mix, and non-dairy whipped topping, for example.
Without further ado, I’d like to share a list of 10 products I think can easily be removed from kitchens and replaced with something much healthier. They are just products I often see in popular recipes. I could easily add another 10, but I just want to focus on these right now. Hopefully, this will inspire you to think about these ingredients in future.
Even if we are not being told the complete truth about these products/ingredients or they actually may not be as bad for us as some research claims, do you still want to risk your health. Or better yet, do you want to roll the dice on your children’s health when there are other much simpler alternatives?
Also remember this important fact when reading labels. Ingredients must be placed in descending order on labels, so that consumers will know that the first ingredient is the highest quantity of all the ingredients, and the last is the least. Here is my list in no particular order.
Christina’s List: 10 Cooking & Baking Products That Should Never be in any Kitchen
1. Margarine.
With all the research showing that butter is better, one would think that the margarine industry would be out of business by now, but old habits die hard. Click photo for the recipe for Cream Girdle Scones.
2. Corn syrup (especially high fructose corn syrup).
I had cut corn syrups almost entirely out of my family’s diet until I read an article years ago that explained the process of how corn syrup is made. After that, I was completely finished with corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup, not only in my kitchen, but in any product I bought or served my family.
I do occasionally use Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which is derived from sugar as a substitute for corn syrup. In addition, the flavor adds so much to whatever I make with it! Click the photo for my World Famous Sticky Toffee Porridge recipe.
3. Aspartame
And all other artificial sweeteners. When I was in college, my friend’s father who was a chemist for a large pharmaceutical company forbade her to eat or drink anything containing Nutrasweet (aspartame). That was good enough for me, so I never did either.
I’m not even going to post a link here because for every link I post, there can be one found refuting the information and that really goes for anything on the internet. Large corporations pay for their own research, and those studies are deemed reputable. Do the math yourself. Do you really trust the FDA? I prefer to use organic sugar whenever possible.
4. Any hydrogenated (partially or otherwise) oils and palm oil in baking products (or others).
A word of advice on hydrogenated oils from the Mayo Clinic. Besides the health issues of using palm oil, there are many other reasons to stop buying products which include palm oil in its list of ingredients. Coconut oil is a better substitute. Also, don’t be misled and think that canola oil is on the “good” list. I mainly use extra virgin olive oil.
5. Crisco.
Ingredients: Soybean oil, Fully hydrogenated palm oil, Partially Hydrogenated Palm and Soybean oils, Mono and Diglycerides, TBHQ AND Citric acid (Antioxidants). Do you really want to ingest this stuff after reading #4? Instead of Crisco, I use butter or lard, yes lard, from a reputable butcher or source that I know hasn’t added preservatives or other questionable ingredients.
6. Cool Whip (any non-dairy whipped topping).
Why anyone would continue to buy and eat this chemical concoction is beyond my understanding. Even if I couldn’t eat dairy, I still wouldn’t eat this. The only thing I can think of is that many consumers have just continued to put it in their shopping carts like their parents did without ever giving it a second thought. Please give real cream a try and leave the Cool Whip on the shelf (or freezer or wherever it is kept in the grocery store) the next time you go shopping.
Just look at this list: water, hydrogenated vegetable oil (including coconut and palm oils), high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, skimmed milk, light cream, and less than 2% sodium caseinate (a milk derivative), natural and artificial flavor, xanthan and guar gums, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, and beta carotene (as a coloring).
7. Packaged cake mixes, baking products, & frostings.
I thought it was interesting that I could not find one single ingredient list for any Betty Crocker cake mix as every link I clicked on took me to a page that said “page not found”.
However, here is the list on a Duncan Hines cake mix. Wheat Starch, Salt, Dextrose, Polyglycerol Esters Of Fatty Acids, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Cellulose Gum, Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Maltodextrin, Modified Cornstarch, Colored With sugar, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil Shortening (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Propylene Glycol Mono- And Diesters Of Fats, Monoand Diglycerides), Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate). Contains 2% Or Less of Yellow 5 Lake, Red 40 Lake.
Now, what if I had these ingredients listed on one of my cake recipes: Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids, Cellulose Gum and Artificial Flavors? Wouldn’t you think I was mad?
However, when you pick up that cake mix off the shelf and put it in your shopping cart, you don’t even think about it. You bring it home to make your son cupcakes for his 5th birthday party and you still don’t think twice, right? However, you are feeding your son and his kindergarten classmates those horrific sounding ingredients. Please DO think about it, because these are facts. It’s in black and white on that cake mix box.
Here’s an easy recipe for homemade yellow cupcakes which are so much healthier than boxed mixes.
8. Faux “maple” syrups.
The number one ingredient is usually corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup-see #2. It never pours or tastes like real maple syrup, either. Click the photo for the pancake recipe.
9. Processed cheese products.
Just the fact that the word “processed“ is in the name should be a red flag. These are not allowed to be called cheese by law, so you are NOT eating cheese. Why not just eat real, unadulterated cheese? It’s so simple.
10. Hershey’s Genuine Chocolate Flavor Syrup.
I need to hold back on what I really would like to say about this product. Let’s say its name and the use of the word “genuine” and “flavor” in the actual description of the product make me crazy. Please realize that this tastes nothing like real chocolate.
Once again, take a look at the ingredients. High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Water, Cocoa, Sugar. Contains 2% or Less of: Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Salt, Mono and Diglycerides, Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 60, Vanillin, Artificial Flavor. The fourth ingredient is cocoa, which could actually be less than 10% of the product.
Watch this space, as I’m planning on making my own homemade syrup and will put the link here. In the meantime, you can make your own homemade magic shell!
I wonder just how many of you made it all the way down here? How many of you now hate me, will stop following me? Who thinks I’m absolutely wrong about all the baking products I just posted?
I think it’s sad that it’s come to this. I don’t think anyone in history ever had to argue about the quality of their food the way we now do. There are discrepancies in what the facts truly are. We have no sense of reliability in how our food is grown, processed and labeled. Unfortunately, we are also cooking less whole foods and buying more prepackaged, processed and instant products.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, I’m afraid.
I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. This is done by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
baking products
Look, I just have to say, you are using the word “processed” inaccurately. You give shortbread made from butter, sugar and flour as an example of a home-made, “from scratch” recipe with wholesome, unprocessed ingredients. Butter, sugar and flour are all processed from raw ingredients to make them usable in a recipe like shortbread – cream is processed (churned) to make butter, sugarcane is processed (refined) to make sugar and wheat is processed (milled) to make flour. Processed is not a bad thing. I’m all for fresh, high-quality ingredients that don’t require high levels of processing or the addition of lots of salt or sugar to be palatable. I think we would agree on that much. “I can’t pronounce it” or “I don’t already know what it is” is not a reason to avoid an ingredient, it’s a reason to look it up and find out the pros and cons of using it.
Written while simmering your spaghetti sauce recipe, which I’m looking forward to tasting.
I think everyone gets my gist, but you’d probably prefer I use “overly-processed”? I think I make my point quite clearly by giving the 10 examples of what I consider to be un-natural ingredients. We could go as far as to say that scrambled eggs are processed as one has to beat them. Butter is an all natural ingredient, as is cane sugar, so do we have to argue over what we agree on? I’m just saying stick to basic ingredients that are not overly processed.
On your second point, I disagree: if there are words I can’t pronounce (I can pronounce most ingredients) on a label, there are usually many more of them, and I’m simply staying away from those overly processed products. I’m not sticking my head in the sand, I’m just not wasting my time, that’s all.
As I stated at the beginning, this is my opinion. All I’m trying to do is have non-label readers do some label reading and realize what they’re putting into their bodies (and more importantly, their children’s bodies). Hope you enjoy the spaghetti sauce! :)
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“What if I had these ingredients listed on one of my cake recipes: Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids, Cellulose Gum and Artificial Flavors? Wouldn’t you think I was mad?”
This is a great point and one I’m surprised I’ve never heard before. It’s amazing how much commercially-made food and drink we regularly buy without giving it much thought. I’ve been suffering from occasional stomach cramps for the last 15 years or so.
At first, my doctor said I probably wasn’t getting enough fiber. And while that was definitely true, increasing it hasn’t helped much. His next solution was Miralax, which did absolutely nothing. Now he says I have IBS and his current solution is some pill. Of course I passed on that.
Now I’m wondering if fiber isn’t enough because I’m still consuming processed food (which is the real problem)? I remember that when I lived at home, and my mom cooked most of what I ate, I didn’t have this problem. My mom wasn’t a purist, but she definitely believed that food should be made at home whenever possible.
In fact, before I was in the sixth grade, the only time we ever really had fast food, pop, chips, or cookies was when it was someone’s birthday or Christmas. Having read this post (especially the part about palm oil and your friend’s chemist dad), I should probably adopt that mindset.
Hi Matt, I’m so sorry to hear you’ve had stomach problems for so long only because the few times I have tummy troubles (extremely rarely) is just too much for me! I’m so happy that you’ve passed on your doctor’s suggestion of a pill. Many times, the solution seems to be to treat the symptoms and not the actual issue CAUSING the symptoms. I do believe that diet can make such a huge difference in our health.
My suggestion to you would be to try eating a Mediterranean diet, however, you simply can’t change a diet without being aware of quality. For example, when you buy pasta, you really need a high quality brand. I think one of the reasons of the massive number of people with celiac disease comes from eating products that are made from GMO wheat and wheat that’s been doused with chemicals/pesticides and herbicides. I RARELY eat fast food and can tell you that the last time I drove from CA to Michigan I had tummy troubles twice in ONE week! I’m just not used to that type of food. However, when I was in Spain, Italy and England for over a month, I didn’t have one bit of trouble with my stomach!
Good luck to you and I hope changing your diet will have awesome results for you. You may want to try some of my “cucina povera” dishes. You may have to be very brave to try some of them, like minestra, if you’ve never had anything like it before, but I can assure you, they are so good for you! LINK to my recipes. :) CC
[…] Years ago I wrote a post about a few ingredients that I feel (yes, it’s my opinion) no one should have in their kitchen. You’ll find it here. […]
Totally agree. A lot of these things are not available in the UK so we are very lucky!
It’s funny how certain things are much better in the UK, but then I find some things are much worse. For example, it’s easy to see here when something contains artificial sweeteners, but not so much in Britain. I have to remember to read the labels closely as many things I wouldn’t expect to have aspartame, do!! For example, yogurts and crisps! Now I’ve heard that Irn Bru is adding it to their original drink (not the diet one which has always had it).
I still use a little corn syrup to prevent crystallization, but other than that, your list is spot on for me. Organic dairy always, and organic fruits and veggies most of the time. I haven’t searched beyond King Arthur for flour products yet.
Good for you, Francesca. And if you only use a tiny bit of corn syrup when you are making candy (for example) which won’t be everyday, I would assume, I don’t think it’s a big issue as long as you’re not buying things like soda (loaded with corn syrup).
Oh oh,,,I did not realize how bad cake mixes are. I do not use any of the other products but I do use cake mixes….well now they will be going in the bin. I never even thought to look at the ingredients. Thank you Christina.
I honestly think that things like cake mixes never used to be THIS bad when they first were introduced, but gradually everything gets more and more chemicals and additives and plain old PROCESSED. Some flour is super processed, so if the flour is bad, cake mixes are worse. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but glad you’ll be saving yourself from eating them in future, Lindsay.
I make my own cake mixes and frosting and none of your listed ingredients are in my kitchen unless I picked up without thinking.. I totally agree and it is good to have a voice of reason sometimes. I am proud to say I use a lot of butter but real butter with no additives per se, never any margarine, only Bob’s red milk or King Arthur flour, NEVER any syrup unless it is from my friend’s farm in Vermont, only Olive, Avocado, and vegetable oil, so I am pretty much living according to what you say shouldn’t be in my kitchen..Yay me..lol..
Good job.
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Christina, glad I found your site through your guest poster. I am in complete agreement with you about the fake foods. I was raised by a mother who got interested in health and nutrition when she was a girl in the 1940s. She was always decades of her time! So I grew up eating whole foods and none of the fake foods. I could hardly stand to eat at my friends’ homes when I was growing up. Their mothers used Crisco and margarine and made meals out of boxes, cakes out of boxes, Kool-Aid, Tang, etc. Yes, I eat white flour and sugar (in limited amounts), but I get organic. Organic unbleached flour is my friend! My mother never fell for the hype about margarine, always used butter. I use all organic dairy products. No GMOs, no frankenfoods.
Lucky you, Jean! Yes, it truly sounds like your mother was years ahead of her time. So happy you found me via Sue! CC
Here, here, Christina! I agree with you on all counts. We try to eat as little processed food as possible. Although I do like to use Golden Syrup in my baking from time to time. But as you said everything in moderation. I never buy Cool Whip or the canned whipped cream they sell. Only the real stuff in this house. I think back to my grandparents who lived to be 94 and 99 and they ate butter and meat with fat and cakes etc, but nothing processed. Everything was made from scratch. I think about this a lot! Thanks for the great article.
Fantabulous!!! Love to hear it! Thanks, Lucinda!
Christina – you hit the truth about the faux food we can’t pronounce right between the eyes. Let’s just eat the real food, not the faux. Thanks for putting this out there in the blogosphere!
Thank YOU for your support, Patricia! :)
HERE HERE! Agreed! And so well put. I’m sharing this right away as it’s such an important topic and I think so many people might not realize just how easy it can be to omit these items and do things more naturally.
Great! Thank you so much, Valentia and I think you’re right, a lot of people just don’t realize real from faux foods!
Love this post!! So true, and Amen!! :) I am guilty of artificial sweetener, mostly because I love soda and hate how sweet the non-“diet” ones are… I know it’s bad for me though… I just realized this week that vegetable oil is just soybean oil and have switched to sunflower oil forever. Companies aren’t going to stop making foods with these awful chemicals in them if we keep buying them!!
You are right, if everyone keeps buying, they’ll keep producing! :(
Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Um…. I still have Hershey’s syrup in my fridge because of a cake my aunt made that I love. So I need to find a chocolate syrup that I can use instead… Any thoughts?
Seriously, aside from the syrup (which I have only used once in the 9 years we have lived in Tucson), I have not had one of the other ingredients in the house in decades. I think you are definitely on the right track here! I get really wound up on arguing with people about these things, but some people don’t care enough about their health – or their children’s or friends’ health – to make any changes.
I am so sorry I’m just replying now, David! Over a year later, yikes!! I don’t know how this happened, but I do have a recipe for you for homemade chocolate syrup and I bet you’ll love it!
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/09/homemade-hersheys-syrup-chocolate-syrup-sundaes-chocolate-milk-recipe.html
Let me know if you try it! CC
Bravo! I was considered a freak when I moved to this town 26 years ago because people found out that I made only healthy fod for my family! Some people get very defensive about it, but they don’t want to change, and don’t understand that food is nourishment. I’m still a freak, then, and I know I lose blog followers when I insult Velveeta and packed foods. oh well! Some of the comments I get are funny.
I know exactly what you mean, Mimi! Keep on doing your own thing, you are totally NOT a freak!! Brava!! CC
Excellent post . . .I have been trying very hard to just be more aware of what’s in what I buy. A few months ago, I tried making “Velveeta” at home. Surprisingly simply and with real cheese! I like how Velveeta melts. And I do still have Crisco, I’m afraid. But taking measures to eliminate the foods you list is a big step forward. (I like my butter bell, too)
Wonderful, Rosemary!! Glad to hear it, and agreed, step by step is better than standing still! :)
I’m sure you are not surprised that I agree with you, Christina. It’s a sad fact that the Marketeers in the US have pushed these products so hard that people begin to believe they can’t cook and bake without them. It’s been creeping in a little in the UK but the biggest problem here it is the takeaway culture and lack of confidence in cooking from scratch. I get so incensed by the TV ads extolling people not to cook but to order some high fat, salt and sugar takeaway/takeout meal.
I do use margarine, occasionally in home baking, mainly because getting butter to creaming temperature in Scotland is challenging! Good to see that you are getting so much support, more power to your elbow!
Thanks, Janice! Yes, I see it when I come over to the UK also. Very frustrating, and what really bothers me there is that aspartame doesn’t need to be labeled as clearly as it is her and so on occasion, I’ve bought something and had no idea there was aspartame in it! Grrr….
Thank you. What do you use instead of corn syrup or the golden syrup? I can’t get either where I live.
Hi Blima, I don’t know where you are, but if you are in the US, you can order Golden Syrup via Amazon.com. If not, I would try maple syrup or honey, however, they might not work in certain recipes. It’d have to be trial and error. Good luck! CC
Dear Christina,
I agree with you for the most part. Great topic and you explained everything so well. The only thing I must say that I use once a year is the Crisco for my Italian Easter Cakes. It is in the recipe that my great-grandmothers handed down. I do not think if I used anything else in it’s place the consistency would be the same. The other thing that I have to admit to is using a box cake mix once in a while. It is fast and easy sometimes, when you don’t have the ingredients on hand. But most of the time I make my cakes from scratch. I agree with everything else you have on your list. Especially the whipped cream and the Maple Syrup. We had discussed this once before and ever since then I only use Pure Maple Syrup. I have it mailed to me from upstate where I used to live, they make their own, “Spragues.” Thanks for sharing this and I am sure you have surprised many people with your fabulous research. Enjoy your Sunday!
Dottie :)
You are so sweet, Dottie! I hope it’s clear that I’m really directing this to readers who use these items on a daily basis or often. I think using anything once a year or once in a while is really not a big deal. “Everything in moderation” is a wonderful thing to live by, I think! What are “spragues?” I have never heard of it, or them! :) Have a lovely weekend! CC
Happy Sunday Christina, thanks for your reply, “Spragues” is a Maple Farm in Portville, New York. Here is their address if you interested… http://www.spraguesmaplefarms.com/ I used to live near there and we would always go to visit the farm. They have a restaurant and a pancake house too. We would go for a Sunday breakfast there and they have a store also which they sell pure maple products. Sometimes we would visit at the time they were tapping the trees and that is an interesting topic. But I agree with you everything in moderation…have a good week…soon you will be in the sun and having fun… Dottie :)
AGREED!
Thanks, Annette!
I agree with you 100 %. The only thing on your list that I do use once in a while is Crisco. And that is getting to be a rarity. Love your site, keep up the good work!
Thank you SO MUCH, Dawn! Really appreciate your comments! :) CC
OMG, you hit the nail on the head this time Christina! I also grew up in Scotland but many years before you were born and coincidentally I made Girdle Scones yesterday and also mailed a home made cake mix to my grand daughter who is away at university and living with 4 other girls off campus. I made cloth bags last Christmas for both of my grand daughters and filled them with pure unadulterated grocery items. They were thrilled. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for a wonderful article. I have eliminated most of these, and now that I have read this, the others will be on their way out, too. I had only recently been aware that Canola is not so good — that is what I was told to use some years ago by doctors. Along the same lines, my late mother was told to use margarine and Mazola Corn oil back in the 60s. I am beginning to wonder just what IS safe to eat.
Great article, Christina! I agree with them all. I only wish that you had elaborated a bit, with examples, on Item 9 Processed Cheese Products. I fear that some processed cheese products are not labeled as such except in the fine print.
Thank you, Charlie! I can absolutely go in and add some examples on the processed cheese products. Thank you so much for the feedback. I appreciate it! CC :)
Oh Christina you hit the nail right on the head. My husband has high blood pressure and diabetes. We used to use a lot of processed food and ate out a lot when we both worked. We both retired and I discovered I really do love to cook – from scratch. His doctor cannot believe how well he is doing. He can’t lower his diabetes medicine anymore than what he is on. Granted leaving his job helped because no more stress but his diet has made a HUGE difference. I will never go back to that processed food again. You should also check pain relievers. I damaged my kidneys by using something that you only need to take once every 6 hours. Stick with Tylenol. Love your blog!!!!
First of all, I’m so sorry for the ridiculously late reply, Patty! I realize that I went on a trip right after I posted this and never remembered to respond to all these comments! :(
I am SO happy to hear that your husband is doing so well on controlling his diabetes and yes, a HUGE part of it is diet! Good for you and I’m really glad to hear that you have put processed foods behind you! Thank you for your wonderful comments! CC
Sounds like perfectly sound and sage advice to me, Christina! I am with you.
grazie!!
Amen sister! We eliminated all that stuff from our kitchen a while ago. Have you seen the documentary called “Fed Up”? It’s a wake-up call about the damage certain foods are causing, particularly sugar.
No, I haven’t seen it. I’ll have to add it to my list. Thank you Kristina!
Amen! I noticed you called them “products”…..not food! =)
You noticed!! :) Thanks, Debbie! I appreciate your comment! CC
Christina,
I threw out all these items years ago. I love to bake and cook homemade and organic. I get comments from my family like, “Man we eat good!” It makes me feel good that I am providing a very healthy diet for them. I have always packed my children’s lunches for school and husband for work. I think you are doing a great job here and love to see all your posts! The more people that realize what these companies are putting in food the more they are forced to change it.
So, so sorry for the late reply, Kinsey, but I love to hear that your family appreciates what you are doing for them! That makes it all the more fantastic! Keep up the good work and thank you for your lovely comments!
As I always say about processed cheese (aka Velvetta): If you can leave a block of Velvetta in your refrigerator for a year, and it’s still “edible” that should be a red flag to you that perhaps it’s not the best thing for you. Just saying….
Such a great point, Stephie!! So true!
What an insightful post. Preach away because I’ll shout back a hallelujah from me.
AMEN!!! ;)
I found your blog only a couple months ago, and have popped in on occasion, but you have just made a loyal reader out of me! I am sometimes so disappointed when I am searching for a “xyz” cake recipe online, and finally find one, only to go read the ingredients and see that #1 is a cake mix.
My kitchen is by no means as chemical and processed free as I want it to be, but so much better than it was a year ago, and compared to the year before? Amazing progress! My husband gets frustrated sometimes, when he happens to have a day off, and I am at work… There are no simple processed foods to throw in the microwave. But, even though he is momentarily disappointed, he knows we are so much better off than we were two years ago.
Thank you for sharing this post, and making me feel good about the changes I have made. AND, inspiring me to keep on cleaning up our pantry/fridge even more!
Kris, I must apologize profusely, but I seem to have not responded to most of these comments from last year and am just realizing that it was because I went on a trip just after publishing this! So sorry!
I am very happy to hear about your steps toward getting less processed (as I am doing, too)! I can only imagine a year later, you are probably even MORE well off than you were when your wrote this comment! GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!
preach it sista…
Thanks, Louise!! <3
I am happy to say I do not and never have had or ever will have any of these processed items in my pantry or fridge. I do wholeheartedly agree on this and I am shocked at how many people I know who do not read ingredients or even just the labels. This is a great honest post.
I know, Janette. The first thing I do is read the ingredient label, in fact if the label has a long list of ingredients, I don’t even bother and it goes back on the shelf! Hopefully readers who don’t realize how many bad ingredients are going into products they use will start to look and also put those products back on the shelf. Thanks so much! CC
Thank you! I agree with every word! I love your blog and follow you on Facebook. I haven’t used a cake mix in twenty years. I always buy real maple syrup.Yes, it’s costly, but so worth it!
I am originally from the UK, and love to have afternoon tea and scones.My friends think they are so wonderful, and never seem to realize how easy they are to bake! One other item I can never understand is those popping cans of dough! A long list of suspect ingredients in there for sure
I love your simple and delicious recipes.Thank you for all your hard work.
Oh dear, yes! Those cans of dough are another item, because any type of dough is usually so easy to make, it just takes time for it to rise. Thank you so kindly for your support, Margaret! I really appreciate your comments and that you like and use my recipes! THANK YOU! CC
This was a very interesting post. I have started to cut out many of the ingredients you mentioned, as far as my budget and local supermarket will allow. The unfortunate fact is that organic is pricier (at least here in rural Australia) and options are limited. So I haven’t been able to do as much as I would like.
I have never understood Cool Whip. I always hated it even before I started looking at ingredients. It tastes so fake. I always get disappointed when I buy something from a bakery and they have used fake cream and not really cream. I expect better.
I do still use margarine on sandwiches (I cook with butter) because that is what I grow up with and it’s easier to spread. And you can’t really leave butter out over here in summer because it melts to a puddle. So I’m not sure what the alternative is.
But I have to commend you for this post. I think one of the problems in society is that it is no longer acceptable to hold ourselves and others to high standards. Because apparently we don’t want people to feel bad about not reaching them. But setting standards is how we get better. Even if you don’t achieve your goal you still do better than not setting a goal at all. And yes there may be circumstances where a person can’t at that point of time in their lives but the vast majority of us can do better if we really tried.
I didn’t expect such a lovely comment, Kara! Thank you so much, but I agree that we should not only be politically correct in our society, but also not express our opinions on products that are not good for us in case we step on others’ toes. I don’t agree with the latter.
Regarding an alternative to hard butter or soft margarine, sounds like what you need is a Butter bell! I love mine, because I can’t stand using hard butter on bread. I don’t know if you can find something similar in Australia, but here is a link to the products here in the US
http://www.amazon.com./s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abutter+bell&keywords=butter+bell&ie=UTF8&qid=1424537057
You put the butter in the bell part of the crock and it goes into the base which has some water in it which seals it so you can safely keep it at room temperature. Granted on our super hot days here in LA, it slips into the water and I just don’t use it for those few days but it’s great for about 350 days the rest of the year! Hope you can find one! Thanks again for your comment! CC
Excellent Christina! Such an important topic! Well done!
Thank you, Cynthia! CC