I Can't Belive It's Not...Zero Calories??

We all remember the famous Fabio commercials for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, with his long blond hair and soap opera music in the background. Perhaps the advertising pros at ICBINB were using Fabio's accent and hair from the crazy ingredients found inside their spray butter.

Let's examine this product a little closer, shall we? I unfortunately have been a consumer of this condiment. Actually, I know a lot of people who have this in their fridge. I have sprayed this on rice, sweet potatoes, toast, used the spray in place of butter to cook eggs...the possibilities are endless. And with the zero calorie claim, most people feel free to spray away!! Not so fast guys, you might want to chunk the spray butter.

 

The ingredients inside the yellow bottle are: Water, Soybean Oil (Most likely GMO sourced), Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Salt, Sweet Cream Buttermilk (Definetely not organic) , Xantham Gum (Again, GMO), Soy Lectithan(GMO), Polysorbate 60(GMO), Lactic Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Disodium EDTA, Natural Flavor, Vitamin E Palmate and Beta Carotene

 

To me the first thing that comes to mind when reading the label is, "How the heck is this calorie free with EVOO and buttermilk in it and how is it sodium free if salt is the fourth ingredient listed??" Hmm..just how is that possible? The serving size is just one spray as a cooking spray or five as a topping, and if you were to use just five sprays you would actually be consuming 2.64 calories. You see, this bottle of spray butter actually contains 900 calories, not zero. A teaspoon of the stuff contains 20 calories and a tablespoon has 60 calories in it. You might as well spring for the real deal and have actual butter for just 40 calories per tablespoon more.

 

But, that is sadly not all.

 

 

Polysorbate 60- Made of corn, palm oil and petroleum, wait what?! Petroleum based ingredients are known to cause cancer and endocrine disruption.

 

Calcium Disodium EDTA- May cause blood in urine and kidney damage

 

Potassium Sorbate- Prolonged use leads to allergic reactions, diarrhea, nausea and nutrient loss in food

 

Vitamin A Palmate- May cause liver toxicity and birth defects

 

The hidden bombshell lies within the "natural flavor," a.k.a Diacetyl. Whenever you see this term you can almost bet there is nothing natural about this ingredient. Diacetyl (DA) is an artificial butter flavoring found in not only ICBINB but frosting, corn chips, margarine, gelatin and pancake syrup. Diacetyl can also be found in strawberry, banana and dairy flavorings. So what is the big deal with a little extra flavor in our food?? Chronic exposure to diacetyl has been linked to Alzheimer's disease. It has also been known to cause respiratory problems and other health problems. You can read more about that here.

 

I think the moral of this story is to eat clean, eat simple and read ingredients. If you can't pronounce it then its most likely not real food, and more importantly if you have to google an ingredient to figure out what it really is that is not a good sign. Also, skip anything that lists natural flavors as an ingredient. The natural flavorings are not so natural and can come from crazy sources.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 



Tonight's Dinner

Yumm!!! I'm so in love with Swiss Red Chard and so is my hubby, which is a miracle in itself. He is so skeptical to try anything new and green! Tonight's dinner was an organic, whole chicken with organic brown rice, sautéed Swiss chard and carrots. This is probably the first ever entirely organic meal I have prepared. It was so clean tasting and I am satisfied without feeling gluttonous. So how much did tonight's dinner cost us?

Drumroll please........

My delicious, nutritious entirely organic dinner cost around $5.50 for two!!!!!!!!! Yes that's right, five dollars and some change. You couldn't go to a fast food joint and feed one person for that, let alone two!

I bought a whole organic chicken from Kroger's for $10.82 and put it in the crock pot. After it was fully cooked, I completely deboned it and weighed portions for my hubby and myself for tonight's dinner, tomorrow's lunch and dinner. It was super easy and delicious. When you do the math, that's about $1.80 a portion. Not bad!!

My organic brown rice was from the bulk section of HEB. Seriously, take advantage of the bulk section in your grocery store! You can buy as little or as much as you want or need for the week. My rice was $1.99/lb and I used a quarter pound for dinner.

Our veggies were from our wonderful Bountiful Baskets box. Fresh garlic, half a bunch of carrots and the red Swiss chard.

I felt like I was a serious chef last night!!! I am shocked at how cheap tonights meal was. I have always wanted to go completely, 100% organic and use only organic meat but never attempted to because I thought it would be too expensive.

Hmm...I'm going to have to give this some more thought and consideration. Maybe an organic budget challenge is in store?!?!

Bountiful Baskets

One of my favorite ways to save on organic produce is to order from Bountiful Baskets. They are a non-profit Food Co-op that delivers fresh produce and other goodies to a site once a week. My site, the Copperfield Pavillion just recently started offering the organic option along with conventionally grown produce, fresh bread and a juicing pack.

 

 

My hubby always jokes that I am going to pick up a cucumber and a couple of apples and I will admit, I was very skeptical when I ordered my first basket. The picture shows everything that was in my basket this morning, minus the Keurig of course! For $25.00, I think it was a steal!! My hubby wasn't convinced so I hopped across the street to Kroger's and priced everything out.

Our Basket:

4 Oranges                           Kroger's Price $1.49 Each
2 Red Bell Peppers                                    $2.49 Each
1 Avocado                                                  $1.19 Each
4 Mangoes                   Kroger's did not have Organic Mangoes, but the conventional were $1.25 each
2 Bulbs of Garlic         Again, no organic garlic
1 Pound Bag of Limes                               $2.49/lb
3 Pound Bag of Apples                             $2.49/lb
1 Bunch Spinach                                       $2.49
1 Bunch Red Swiss Chard                        $3.48
1 Bunch of Carrots                                    $1.49
6 Tomatoes                                                $2.99/lb

My total at Kroger would have been $39.55 for everything and that is just calculating the conventional price for the mangoes and not including the garlic. So at least a savings of $15.00!!!! Plus we get to try a new food tonight for dinner, the swiss chard. With the money I saved by going with Bountiful Baskets I was able to buy a whole organic, free range chicken and some organic coconut milk.

Check them out and hopefully, there is a site close to you! Does anyone else utilize Bountiful Baskets or another Co-op??

How my Clean Eating Journey Started

My journey to Eat Clean started two weeks after my son was born. We were in the midst of a growth spurt and he needed to nurse every hour on the hour which meant we spent a lot of time sitting on the couch watching TV or Netflix and heating up a microwaveable meal for lunch. Any Mom wants to lose weight ASAP after her baby is born and so I stocked up on the low cal, microwaveable foods because they were easy and convenient, and supposedly healthy. The calorie info seemed legit enough for me at the time. Yes, I am cringing right now thinking about the sodium, GMO's and junk that is in microwaveable food. YUCK! Anyways, I was trying to find something interesting to watch on Netflix and saw the Food, Inc. documentary and decided to press play. If you haven't watched Food, Inc. yet you need to!!! You will probably never want to eat fast food again and it might change your life.

After Food, Inc. I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and then Fork Over Knives. My hubby came home and I made him watch them too. I was in disgust. How could I be feeding my family such junk??

It has been 8 months since my husband and I decided to Eat Clean and there have been some ups and downs. I have lost 50 of the 62 pounds I gained while pregnant and haven't bought a bag of potato chips because I can't get over the thought of the GMO's hidden inside of them. I also have left the grocery store buying way too much "organic junk food" and spending ridiculous amounts of money on groceries. It's a life change and I know it will take a while to find the right balance between Eating Clean and overspending on food.

Clean Eating is definently not the most convienent way of life, you have to put some thought into planning your meals and must resist the temptaion of peanut butter cups and diet sodas...my weakness. But, you will feel so much better!!! So, give clean eating a try, your body will thank you.