San Diego State had an event today where everyone could tour campus, visit information booths, and generally get a feel for the place. It was meant for new and transfer students and their families. I went with my daughter.
She stopped at a booth to ask questions about a topic that interested her. I'm not sure what was said because I was focused on the girl dispensing the information. It was more or less lunch time, and she had a sandwich that I once might have called "healthy" because it looked to be made of whole grain bread. It was in a baggie, and instead of holding the sandwich by the baggie and eating it directly, the girl was holding it in one hand and breaking off pieces of it with the other.
All I could think of was with the hand that touched the bread, she contaminated every single piece of paper on that table!
ACK!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Tale of My Boggled Mind
Ya gotta love it. This absolutely boggles my mind.
It seems that in the interest of economics, some companies are choosing to move offshore, costing countless American jobs. Some of these same companies are choosing to purchase the ingredients that make up their products from a variety of sources. They don't appear to be interested in the quality of the ingredients, or even what those ingredients are. They do not require the suppliers to provide the information ~ citing proprietary secrets or some such horsepucky. They also change suppliers at the drop of a hat with no notice to the buyers of their products. Therefore they cannot tell a customer whether or not a product is safe for that customer to eat because they really have no idea what is in it.
Did you get that? They expect you to trust them to provide a product that is safe for you to eat, but they themselves don't even know what is in it!
ACK!
Two major companies that I know of that adamantly REFUSE to disclose ingredients are KFC and Hershey's.
A friend told me of her experience at KFC when trying to find something safe for her child to eat. The manager flat out refused. Rather than risk her child's life (yes life) she chose to take her business and money elsewhere.
The sorry Hershey's saga can be found here.
It seems that in the interest of economics, some companies are choosing to move offshore, costing countless American jobs. Some of these same companies are choosing to purchase the ingredients that make up their products from a variety of sources. They don't appear to be interested in the quality of the ingredients, or even what those ingredients are. They do not require the suppliers to provide the information ~ citing proprietary secrets or some such horsepucky. They also change suppliers at the drop of a hat with no notice to the buyers of their products. Therefore they cannot tell a customer whether or not a product is safe for that customer to eat because they really have no idea what is in it.
Did you get that? They expect you to trust them to provide a product that is safe for you to eat, but they themselves don't even know what is in it!
ACK!
Two major companies that I know of that adamantly REFUSE to disclose ingredients are KFC and Hershey's.
A friend told me of her experience at KFC when trying to find something safe for her child to eat. The manager flat out refused. Rather than risk her child's life (yes life) she chose to take her business and money elsewhere.
The sorry Hershey's saga can be found here.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Tale of ACK!
ACK!!! Just ACK!!!
Yesterday a mom with her daughter came into where I work. The daughter was eating a bag of Goldfish Crackers (read poisonous source of gluten) and as unsupervised children tend to do, she was touching absolutely everything with her gluten-contaminated hands.
There was nothing I could do about all the paper goods she contaminated, but after she left I had to go around and clean off all the hard surfaces I could find. I absolutely HATE it anyway when kids start messing up the greeting card displays (what ever happened to "don't touch it - it isn't yours and you are not going to buy it" ?????) and not only did she contribute to that mess but she did it with gluteny hands, leaving an invisible but toxic trail behind her.
THEN, I get to church to work with the AWANA Sparkies, and here comes a whole family eating their dinner on the run as they came in.
PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank God for my co-worker who 1) understands my situation because of food intolerances in her family and 2) after eating the piece the family brought for her, cleaned off the table, doorknobs, etc, where the pizza had been.
Think of gluten as dog poop. Would you want to touch it? Would you eat anything that had come in contact with it?
NO?
Now you know how I feel.
Yesterday a mom with her daughter came into where I work. The daughter was eating a bag of Goldfish Crackers (read poisonous source of gluten) and as unsupervised children tend to do, she was touching absolutely everything with her gluten-contaminated hands.
There was nothing I could do about all the paper goods she contaminated, but after she left I had to go around and clean off all the hard surfaces I could find. I absolutely HATE it anyway when kids start messing up the greeting card displays (what ever happened to "don't touch it - it isn't yours and you are not going to buy it" ?????) and not only did she contribute to that mess but she did it with gluteny hands, leaving an invisible but toxic trail behind her.
THEN, I get to church to work with the AWANA Sparkies, and here comes a whole family eating their dinner on the run as they came in.
PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank God for my co-worker who 1) understands my situation because of food intolerances in her family and 2) after eating the piece the family brought for her, cleaned off the table, doorknobs, etc, where the pizza had been.
Think of gluten as dog poop. Would you want to touch it? Would you eat anything that had come in contact with it?
NO?
Now you know how I feel.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Autism and Vaccines and Diet, Oh My . . . .
Here in the San Diego area there has been a recent outbreak of measles. It started elsewhere and has spread elsewhere, but several children came down with measles here because they had not been vaccinated. Some were too young and some had parents who chose not to vaccinate.
Many parents who choose not to vaccinate their children make that choice because they have read that the rise in vaccinations and the rise in autism diagnoses came at around the same time and don't want to put their children at risk in case there is a connection.
Trust me, I totally understand that fear.
But what if vaccines are not the cause of the rise in autism. What if it's something else? Like diet? What we eat today is so far removed from what people ate 50 or 75 or 100 years ago. Vegetables are less nutritious because the ground has been stripped, meats are loaded with hormones and antibiotics. Processed foods full of preservatives and unpronounceable chemicals are everywhere.
You are what you eat, whether you like that idea or not. Yor body functions - well or poorly - because of what you feed it.
Wheat has been bred to maximize its gluten content. ACK!
What if the rise in autism has to do with increased exposure to fluorescent lighting? Within a couple of years it will be mandatory to use fluorescent bulbs - no matter how dangerous they might be, and no matter how many people cannot tolerate them.
What if?
Maybe just maybe a lot of kids get things like measles for no good reason at all.
Many parents who choose not to vaccinate their children make that choice because they have read that the rise in vaccinations and the rise in autism diagnoses came at around the same time and don't want to put their children at risk in case there is a connection.
Trust me, I totally understand that fear.
But what if vaccines are not the cause of the rise in autism. What if it's something else? Like diet? What we eat today is so far removed from what people ate 50 or 75 or 100 years ago. Vegetables are less nutritious because the ground has been stripped, meats are loaded with hormones and antibiotics. Processed foods full of preservatives and unpronounceable chemicals are everywhere.
You are what you eat, whether you like that idea or not. Yor body functions - well or poorly - because of what you feed it.
Wheat has been bred to maximize its gluten content. ACK!
What if the rise in autism has to do with increased exposure to fluorescent lighting? Within a couple of years it will be mandatory to use fluorescent bulbs - no matter how dangerous they might be, and no matter how many people cannot tolerate them.
What if?
Maybe just maybe a lot of kids get things like measles for no good reason at all.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tale of Publicity and Acknowledgement
Yesterday I received my "Fearless Flyer" from Trader Joe's. Inside were featured FOUR different products flaunting - actually FLAUNTING - that they were gluten free! These products were:
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
Homestyle Pancakes (also dairy-free!)
Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies
I don't know how many of these "Fearless Flyers" they mail out, but hats off to Trader Joe's for calling attention to the need for these products, and recognizing the market for them!
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
Homestyle Pancakes (also dairy-free!)
Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies
I don't know how many of these "Fearless Flyers" they mail out, but hats off to Trader Joe's for calling attention to the need for these products, and recognizing the market for them!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Tale of Kindness - Tale of Exasperation
Tale of Kindness
Last night my daughter went shopping and came home with ingredients for gluten-free lasagna, which she proceeded to prepare for dinner. Cooking and shopping are still kind of new for her and for her to do this for me was appreciated more than words can express. It came out very good and I am looking forward to the leftovers!
Tale of Exasperation
Last night my husband went to the local Mexican food place and came home with a burrito for himself. Flour tortilla.
Sigh
Last night my daughter went shopping and came home with ingredients for gluten-free lasagna, which she proceeded to prepare for dinner. Cooking and shopping are still kind of new for her and for her to do this for me was appreciated more than words can express. It came out very good and I am looking forward to the leftovers!
Tale of Exasperation
Last night my husband went to the local Mexican food place and came home with a burrito for himself. Flour tortilla.
Sigh
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Tale Of Aggravation
How A BIG Company Alienated A Whole Lot Of Customers With A Little Change
One of the rules of life that I particularly like is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I am not a big fan of Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs made by the Hershey Company, but a lot of people wait all year for this one special treat.
Some of these people are gluten-intolerant and appreciated more than most that this was a treat they could enjoy.
However, it seems the Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs, which were once safe for these people to eat, now contain WHEAT!
Ya gotta ask why.
I can't imagine they made such a significant change in quality that it was worth alienating some of their most loyal customers!
NOTE: Adding wheat or gluten to a product will NEVER EVER add even one single customer. Not even one. Not ever. However, adding wheat or gluten to a product is guaranteed to drive thousands of customers away because the formerly safe product is now toxic to their systems.
One of the rules of life that I particularly like is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I am not a big fan of Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs made by the Hershey Company, but a lot of people wait all year for this one special treat.
Some of these people are gluten-intolerant and appreciated more than most that this was a treat they could enjoy.
However, it seems the Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs, which were once safe for these people to eat, now contain WHEAT!
Ya gotta ask why.
I can't imagine they made such a significant change in quality that it was worth alienating some of their most loyal customers!
NOTE: Adding wheat or gluten to a product will NEVER EVER add even one single customer. Not even one. Not ever. However, adding wheat or gluten to a product is guaranteed to drive thousands of customers away because the formerly safe product is now toxic to their systems.
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