Cookies, Candy, and Vitamins

Got your attention???

Today I stopped by Job B to pick up some food for our "picnic" lunch. Fruit and cheese. BFF's DS3 had asked for a treat. He has allergies... LOTS of allergies. The biggest are: milk, soy, nuts of all kinds, Red 40. These are the MAIN things I have to label read for, for his sake. And it can be TOUGH to find a treat that doesn't contain these. I was willing to forgo the HFCS and hydrogenated oils for this, just to get him something.

Well I took a walk down cookie row. I figured I'd have better luck with some kind of cookie than candy. Regular stuff? All out. Hydrogenated SOYBEAN oil all over the place. Organic?? NOPE, still has soy or milk. Started looking at shortbread like cookies, most had butter, which is MILK. *sigh* Would I EVER find something he could eat??? I picked up a pack of Lu Cinnamon Sugar Spice Cookies. Mmmmmmmm... Sounds good. I looked, fearing the worst. Guess what? NO milk, NO soy, NO nuts, NO dyes!!!! I couldn't fallen on the floor.

My next stop was checkout. I am SUCH a sucker for Skor Bars. The delicious toffee and chocolate... mmmmm. So I grabbed it, took a quick gander at the ingredients thinking, "I probably should NOT be eating this, I'm SURE it has a hydrogenated oil or HFCS." To my surprise, AGAIN, it didn't have EITHER!!! So I have found a candy, that I LOVE, that is still on the safe list as of today!!! LOL.

Among our many stops today we needed to pick up some supplements for BFF's DS3. Since he can't have milk, he needs extra calcium, and for other reasons, extra Vitamin C. He also takes Acidopholus (I can't spell today, i'll fix this later). At our fave store, Target, we began perusing the vitamin aisle. Now, all her DS's already take a daily multi-vitamin, which INCREDIBLY enough, lacks ALL DS3's allergens. So she was HOPING to find a gummy style chewable calcium and vitamin C for him. After much looking we found it, a gummy style Calcium and vitamin C's that lack the allergens. IN A MAINSTREAM STORE!!!! OMW!!! So I gotta give a shout out to the company that makes "Lil Critters" vitamins. How AWESOME is it that this company takes care of the kids (and adults) with allergies like DS3? And he says they taste good too! :)

As for the Acidophilus. BFF read the ingredients list for the A I take. It's a capsule, too big for DS3 to take, but it was a place to start. Sure enough, LACKS the allergens!!! We mix it into something such as applesauce for him. So another shout out to Origins brand at Target for again being a great company committed to producing a product that allergy prone person's can safely take.

BFF's DS and my own desire to lead a healthier, hopefully thinner, life have really taken me down a path. I strive to KNOW what's in my food, most importantly, I strive to know that what I am eating DOESN'T contain things that are unhealthy or unsafe for myself or the people I am with. I would go TOTALLY milk, soy, and nut free for this incredible little boy. I already am striving to stay away from red 40.

READ THE LABELS, know what you are eating. There's an old adage out there about not eating your food unless you can pronounce EVERY SINGLE ingredient in the list. I urge you to follow this! Also, know the HIDDEN names for things. Soy and Milk have so many names.

****UPDATE****

BFF found the link to these vitamins by Lil Critters!!! Gummy Vitamins Among the interesting things she has learned, I HAD to share this ONE:
Q. Are L'il Critters product bottles recyclable?

A. Yes. We use only #1 and #2 recyclable bottles and they are BPA Free.

I <3 them!!!! OMW!!! Good, allergen free vitamins and supplements, in recyclable bottles, that are ALSO BPA FREE??? I LOVE THEM!!!!! :) :) My DD's will be taking these vitamins!

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I HATE being sick, eating healthy

Oh yes I hate being sick. I managed to go over a week without getting this pleasant little bug, but now it's in me. Saturday morning I woke up feeling AWFUL. BFF heard me hacking and left me to sleep an extra couple of hours. Once I was awake enough we headed off to Whole Foods to get me the medicine I prefer for colds. Unfortunately, they did NOT have it!! I wanted to cry there in the store. But the extremely helpful clerk came over and helped me find an alternative. My only concern was that it was a cherry flavored liquid. However, it turned out to have a nice NATURAL cherry flavor.

I dragged through work on Sunday and yesterday. Yesterday, at Job A, we finished up our primary job by 8:45 am (shift starts at 5:45 and we usually finish at 10:45). I asked my supervisor if we finished early could I go home, since I wasn't feeling well. They let me go which I REALLY appreciate. I was able to come home and rest for several hours before my shift at Job B.

While at Job B I missed a call from Job A. I listened to the voicemail on break. One of my supervisors was calling to tell me that since today's shipment was going to be small, that she was giving me the day off, since she knew I wasn't feeling well. I really appreciate that she's looking out for my health (and everyone else's!!) BUT... I wasn't scheduled to work today!!!! LOL She "gave me" a day off I already had off! Knowing I had today off was what kept me going yesterday!

We are looking forward to a good day today. I'm feeling MUCH better. The weather is supposed to be beautiful. We are getting all the kids fed and dressed and then we are going to head out for some shopping and then some time at the park.

We also have some housework to accomplish, especially catching up with the laundry. My parents arrive Saturday and we'd like the house to be ready for "staying here" company. It's a little different when someone is staying here than just visiting for a couple hours LOL

Lastly, I am working on my health. I had quite a realization recently about HOW unhealthy I am. I am 5'8", weighing in this morning at 202.2 pounds. Yes, we can all agree this is considered overweight. By medical definition, I am JUST under the BMI for being obese. HOWEVER, I wear a size 12 jean! It's all about how the weight is distributed! A friend of mine is about 3 inches shorter, 20 pounds heavier, and 5 years older. We recently used one of those blood pressure machines in a pharmacy. My blood pressure and pulse were noticeably higher (although still within normal limits, just barely) than hers. BY ALL RIGHTS... I should have the lower numbers. For my height my weight is closer to ideal than hers, and I'm younger. Yet her overall health picture is BETTER.

I recently began reading Jillian Micheals book "Master Your Metabolism." Jillian is one of the trainers from The Biggest Loser. Her book is very encouraging and really hits home to me so far. She discusses that for many of us, our hormones are so messed up from what we eat, even the foods we THINK will help us, that we are CAUSING ourselves to gain weight. She encourages a fully organic diet. Well, I can't go totally organic, but I am starting to remove as many of the bad things from my diet as I can. I'm starting mostly with 2 things. Aspartame (aka Nutra Sweet) and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

Aspartame is the sweetener in MANY fat free and no sugar foods. It is a CHEMICAL. My gut has long told me that chemicals in my food are bad. But I have discovered that some people with migraine problems have aspartame as a trigger. I'm reading my ingredient labels now to make sure it's not there. I'm going to try to steer clear of Splenda as well, since I question the chemical process that takes sugar and makes it calorie free. As for the HFCS... it messes with your insulin levels. It can help cause insulin resistance which is a VERY BAD THING. HOW did these two come to be my newest pet peeves???

YOGURT. Yes, one little food, yogurt. I've LONG loved "Brand A" Fat Free Yogurt. I didn't get the fat free version BECAUSE it was fat free, but because I liked the taste and texture better. Well, I offered some to BFF who is also a migraine sufferer, and she said no and pointed out the aspartame. GREAT... So I've probably been helping cause those knarly headaches. LOVELY. So the next day at work, I grabbed the Brand A original container and read the ingredients. One of the very first ingredients (I believe is was the 2nd in fact) is HFCS! Oh My Word!!! Well, since I DID have gestational diabetes, and my mother has type II diabetes, I want to stay away from a CHEMICAL that is going to increase my likelihood of having diabetes (again). So I decided to look at other brands. I opted to look at the organic ones. One of which is a store brand so I'd get a discount on it. Sure enough, no aspartame, no HFCS. So I bought it. After discount it costs me 85 cents for one container. Not too bad, Brand A when on sale is 60 cents a container. And it tasted better!!!! So I will be buying organic yogurt from now on!

My next target is to remove as much hydrogenated oils from my diet as possible. I'm a realist. Removing these things 100% is next to impossible for me. Eating 100% organic is next to impossible due to cost and availability, but, I can make a start, and I can reduce and remove these things as much as possible.

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