Worried about GMOs...

There have been studies published recently that link genetically modified organisms to organ damage and I've been reading a little bit about it and I'm kind of worried. Here's one article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html
GMOs (in canola, soybeans, vegetable oil)are in so much of the processed foods !
Dr.Joe Mercola ( who is great) has a website and I signed up for his emails and they recently sent me a video about GMOs and in the attached article there was a shopping guide on how to avoid GMOs and I couldn't believe how prevalent it is. I never understood before why it was important to buy organic, but now I do.
It makes me sad because I feel like I've been feeding my kids some poisonous garbage when I thought I was giving them healthy food. It's even in Cheerios and my daughter loves them. Now I guess I'll have to completely change my grocery shopping habits. I was not aware of GMOs and I'm sure a lot of other people aren't aware either. It's worth it to read about them.

 

It's great you are becoming aware and taking steps. We can only do what we can. We spend much more on their food and dairy because we choose to go organic (as much as possible) for the girls. Their milk is almost $9.00 a gallon! I went organic mostly to avoid the growth hormones. My sister thinks I'm crazy, but she is okay with spending her money on high-end cable, cell-phone plan, pedicures, etc.
I think its worth at the very least trying your best when it comes to their health. I'm going to try my best but at the same time try to be flexible, for example when they start going to parties and having meals at other people's home.

There are lots of alternatives to the foods they love, like goldfish, Ritz crakers, graham crakers (look at those ingredients...yikes!) Honey Bunny organic brand has versions for all those and more!

 

I'm on the same page as you both! I am struggling to find healthy alternatives here in the central valley of California. The nearest Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (or any other natural market) are an hour away and you should see the prices in the teeny tiny "health foods" section at our local grocery store (actually, sounds like you are already aware... 9$ for a gallon of milk... yikes)! Meanwhile the much more price appropriate store offers organic lettuce, organic broth and Kashi cereal products and THAT'S IT! No normal organic produce, organic dairy, GMO free stuff.... nada! K, sorry. I just had to vent. I just moved here last summer from the bay area where healthy food is easy to find and although it is more expensive, it isn't ridiculous like it is here. Sheesh. I'm feeling guilty too. I mean just today I bought a box of super cheapie animal crackers loaded with junk (and I know better) because I was trying to shop at the cheap grocery store with the girls who were screaming "cookie" at the top of their lungs! I guess my point is, you are aware and doing what you can. You can't change the decisions you made about their food last month or even yesterday so don't beat yourself up. Take comfort in knowing that you are providing the best that you are capable of from here on out. DH is the only one making any money right now so going totally organic (even if it were available) isn't financially possible so I find myself switching off... organic bread this week but not next week. It's better than nothing! Now, to throw out the rest of those dang animal crackers....

Side note: I've been buying my girls those quaker mini rice cakes as snacks for about a month now (they love chips but we never buy them so I figured those would be a good alternative and hey, they're available at our cheap grocery store)... ummmm... MSG. I just realized yesterday. Gonna throw those out too.

 

I live in GA and the nearest Trader Joes is 45 min-1hr as well. It is worth the drive every 2 weeks or so (whole foods right near by too). I want my girls to have healthy nutritious foods and snacks. I cannot afford ALL organic but milk absolutely. I also but the healthy snacks too. There are so many crappy chemicals in all the processed foods. IT id good to at least do SOME organics!

 

First and foremost, I'm not sure I believe the hype about GMOs. We (humans) have been modifying our food for centuries. We breed strains of tomatoes to other strains to get more hardy crops, we mix flower seed and watch them cross polinate. Genetically modifying foods is just a more efficient way to get the results we want. That said, there are probably some genetically modified foods that are scarier than others, so if even if you can't get to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's regularly, there are other options! Sunflower Market is another store that clearly marks anything with GMOs, and many companies have websites that list whether they use GMOs or not. Write a list of the processed foods you normally buy and do a search online by company. Or, you could stop buying processed foods. Crazy, I know, but it works. Last but not least, if you do find processed foods you want to buy but can't get locally, try Amazon. They have a huge selection of natural and organic foods and the prices are usually close to or better than Whole Foods.

 

I try to buy organic/natural stuff as much as possible for the kids stuff, but really, unless you shop exclusively at whole foods and trader joe's and don't mind spending hundreds on food, there's just a limit on what you can do... Plus when we start feeding them what we eat, there's just no way we'll be able to afford it.

 

I agree with this. There is a lot of fear, but I haven't seen a lot of scientific evidence one way or the other (about GMOs). I'll check out those links though; thanks for sharing.

I do try to buy organic when I can because of the pesticides, but organic produce around here is just miserable. It looks and tastes cruddy. I'll do organic milk, and I did get a lot of organic baby food, but it's tough to find good quality organic produce here.

We have a big garden and grow a lot of vegetables and fruits. We're lucky that we don't have almost any pests (just deer and other varmints :gah: ) so we don't have to spray, and we try to use compost/manure as much as we can instead of fertilizer. I have little overalls for the boys to play "farmer" in, and hopefully this year I can teach them the difference between a weed and a pea. Of course knowing Nate, he'll pull the peas up anyway so he doesn't have to eat them.

 

I forgot to mention that for those of you that don't have a specific store near by, I found Annie's Organic brand foods like their crackers, fruit snacks and macaroni and cheese products at Target!

 

Our Costco sells Annie's products. I picked up a 6 pack of mac and cheese today. (Of course, the sodium content isn't great....there's always something to worry about.)

 

Isn't that the truth!!!! :gah:

 

Haha, as soon as it thaws around here (probably June <_< ) we'll get them out there in their overalls for a photo op.

The nice thing about gardening is you can start as small as you want. Even a pot with a tomato plant is really cool and super yummy.