Healthy eating building blocks for kids

We teach our kids right from wrong to prepare them to live as law-abiding citizens in the world. Why not do the same for your kids in the eating department? Unhealthy habits can be passed on and our kids will not know how to protect their health.

Keep reading for some fundamental building blocks of great nutrition.

One of the most important functions of a family is family meals. It is here at the dinner table that habits are made and bad habits broken. Statistics show that kids who eat meals with their families are less likely to drink, smoke and do drugs. They are also more likely to copy the types of eating habits they see.

This is a parent’s opportunity to showcase what they know about healthy eating. If your knowledge is lacking, we can help you with that too. Begin with the food pyramid. There is one for kids that details what their nutritional requirements are. Both kids and adults need at least five a day of vegetables and fruits.

Kids will be more likely to try new foods at the dinner table when everyone else is eating them too. This gives parents the opportunity to revamp the kitchen with healthy foods and condiments. No matter what they reach for it will be good for them.

Besides sitting down for a family meal, there is the preparation for dinner. Let the kids get involved. They will see what it takes to make a meal and how great it is to cook with healthier foods. When they snack, it will be on vegetables, nuts and other good things you are putting in the dish.

Another novel idea is to give the kids their own night to fix dinner. Help them to create their menu and give them a hand if they need it. Not just learning by your side, they get to decide what foods they like to eat and learn about nutrition first hand.

Sugar is the enemy when it is eaten in large quantities. Teach your kids about sweetness by offering snacks that contain natural sugars: fruits and vegetables (carrots, beets). Adding sweet, but low calorie sweeteners to foods is also an alternative to sugar: syrup in oatmeal, honey in tea, and applesauce in muffin mixes. There will be times that you use cane sugar but it won’t be all the time.

Kids are big drinkers. If they want an alternative to water, try flavor packets for water or adding a bit of club soda to their fruit juice for a fizzy soda-like taste without the sugar and calories.

Giving your kids a good nutritional foundation is far-reaching. They will build on that foundation throughout their life and pass on what they learn to their children.

Going Back To Basics

Your grandmother was right. Every time she nagged you at the breakfast, lunch and dinner table she was setting the stage for your future. If only we’d listened. Well, WE did and we’re ready to refresh your memory.

The older generation were the ones who got it right. They listened well and taught us a few things about nutrition and how to eat smart. So what was it your grandmother said as you were making your way out of the front door?

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Your body has gone for hours without food when you get up in the morning. If you don’t want to stagger through your day like a zombie, you need some nourishment within the first couple of hours after you wake. 


This is one I remember my grandmother telling me all the time.  “Chew your food slowly.” The first part before the adverb seems like a no-brainer but there are people who couldn’t even tell you what they had for breakfast. Why? They inhaled it.  My grandmother also told me to chew each bite about 30 times!  I'm not sure we need to go to that extreme!   


Chewing your food does a number of things. First, it keeps you from getting indigestion. People who eat too fast will more than likely be hugging a glass of Alka-Seltzer and water or the toilet bowl not long after eating. Food is processed and broken down better by the body if it is thoroughly masticated instead of being introduced in the stomach in hunks.


Chewing also gives you a chance to enjoy your food. The French know all about this. Food is meant to be a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. You can taste all the flavors you love in your meal when you take your time to chew.


Thirdly, chewing increases your metabolism. Chewing gets those old stomach acids churning. Revving up the metabolism early in the day keeps it going. 


Last of all, chewing helps you feel full longer. When you chew each piece of food, you prolong the meal. You’ll notice that you don’t get hungry so often when you practice this technique.


What else did grandmother say? She said to eat a balanced diet. Many of us didn’t want those beans she put in front of us but she really did have our best interests at heart. Beans are an excellent source of protein without all the fat that other forms of protein provide. They are also filled with fiber. If you were going out to play, you needed that sustained energy and the fiber to eliminate other fats that might be present in the meal. That’s why you didn’t feel like eating again even at dinnertime. 


One thing that grandmother knew but maybe never HAD to mention is to eat only real foods.  Let me explain that one.  Today we are exposed to so many foods.  Think about each aisle in the grocery store and how many items are crammed on all of the shelves in those aisles.  Now, think about how many of those foods have been created or processed.  Your grandmother shopped at the local market where she was given the choices of fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, cheese, and meats.  Yup, breakfast, lunch and dinner were all made from the freshest ingredients she could find at the corner store.  Meals were prepared from simple ingredients, not processed or frozen.  This is something to keep in mind when eating now.  We have so many processed foods that are really not healthy.  Grandmother knew about simple and fresh!  
Grandmother knew her stuff.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? What grandmother really wanted was for us to get back to basics. Use her wise words as a starting point for better nutrition for you and your family.  

Got Water?

We've all heard it before - drink lots of water.  But do you know why?  There is good reason that you should take heed to this wise advice

If you were stranded in a desert, would you want something to eat or drink? That rumbling says eat but did you know that the human body can’t go more than a day or two at the most without water? (There have been stories of people surviving longer but those are not the norm).  It is important to stay well hydrated.

Water is the most abundant fluid in the body. Over half of our body weight is represented by water.  It is an understatement to say that water is vital to life.

So why do we need to stay hydrated? Water is used to keep our bodies going. Every system needs water to operate properly.

Do you exercise? When you do, your body perspires. That is water you are losing through your skin as well as some electrolytes. The body uses water as a cooling system. But, that water you lose needs to be put back so water isn’t stolen from other systems.

How about digestion? When you eat food, the body breaks it down into nutrients that are transported to the cells where it is used for repair, daily functioning and building new cells. It can’t do that without water to give volume to your blood to help carry these nutrients.

What about excretion? Whatever the body can’t use is excreted from the kidneys. Water is needed to transport these nutrients so they can then be filtered from the blood to form urine.

Without proper water volume your body becomes dehydrated. Severe dehydration can lead to dizziness. Your body doesn’t have enough water to keep its systems functioning. In extreme cases, body systems can begin to shut down. You will get sluggish also. Intravenous fluids may be used at this point to increase your blood volume and the amount of water in your system.

So, how do you get that water? The obvious way is by drinking water. Tap, mineral, purified, spring, flavored and carbonated are all ways that water comes to us. But what if you are not the kind that likes water? For some, water is hard to consume because they don’t particularly like the taste.

There are other sources of water. If you like tea or coffee you are also getting water in your system. Go easy on the sweeteners so that you don’t get empty calories mixed in with your water. Also try drink mix packets. They can be added to bottled water and are a substitute for soft drinks or sugary punch.

Consume water throughout the day to spread out your consumption. Before, during and after exercise, drink plenty of water to replenish what is lost. Electrolyte drinks will also replenish the salt that you lose.
When you are hungry, drink a glass of water. It partially fills your stomach so you eat less and sometimes those pains signify thirst and not hunger.

Got water? If not, get some now to keep that body hydrated.

Is Raw Better?

When considering the options about food and how to prepare it, is raw best?  Cooking can either enhance or deplete the health benefits of foods.  Spinach, for example, when cooked down, becomes more concentrated in nutrients and fiber.  You actually get more nutrition eating a serving of cooked spinach versus raw spinach.  Many times, enzymes are destroyed by heat and cooking. Enzymes are necessary for digestion.  Heating can also deplete vitamins, damage proteins and fats.  Cooking can sometimes also contribute to free radicals which cause diseases such as cancer.  


What foods are more nutritious raw?


NUTS
Almonds and many other nuts have healthy fats that are essential for the body.  However, when nuts are roasted at a temperature higher than 170 degrees, the benefits of raw nuts are negated and actually become unhealthy.  The disease fighting effects will actually break down into free radicals.  


BROCCOLI
You've been told to eat your greens and this green is actually better eaten raw.  Not only do you enjoy the best form of Vitamin K but the actual chewing process will release an enzyme.  This particular enzyme, myrosinase, helps your liver detoxify carcinogens.  Cooked broccoli will actually deactivate this enzyme.  


GARLIC
Garlic has been know for its medicinal properties for centuries.  The Chinese have known about the benefits of garlic as an immune system booster, powerful antibiotic, reduces cholesterol  and so many other health related benefits.   Although there are garlic tablets and capsules, the best way to attain all the benefits of garlic is to eat it raw.  The Chinese have also used it in teas, as well as mashed in foods.  Heating the garlic will negate the benefits of garlic.  

What exactly is Agave?

As I continue to search for the best way to sweeten food, drinks, and other worldly passions, I came across this information about Agave syrup.  Now I was one who thought that this would be a great sugar alternative.  Here again, it does help to do your homework and not believe everything you read or hear.  So, after looking further, I found out that Agave is actually just as bad a corn syrup, well maybe not as bad but bad enough.  So, it's back to the drawing board.  This really does beg the question, "Is there a good way to sweeten food?"  or do we just need to grin and bear the sour, bitter tastes of delicious delights without the sweetener?  Let me know what you think.  At least for now, I'm still searching.  Stevia is an option but now I'm afraid THAT will be found to be as bad as everything else?!  
What exactly is Agave?

Agave Nectar (or sometimes also called Agave Syrup) is most often produced from the Blue Agaves that thrive in the volcanic soils of Southern Mexico. Agaves are large, spikey plants that resemble cactus, but they are actually more moist and tender similar to the Aloe Vera plant.

There are over 100 species of agaves, varying greatly in size and color. The Blue Agave species contains a particular high carbohydrate content (which results in a high percentage of fructose in the final nectar), making Blue Agave the preferred species for producing nectar. Though there are other species used to produce agave nectars, such as the Maguey Agave, the premium nectars are produced from 100% Weber Blue Agave.

How is Agave Nectar/Syrup made?

To make the agave nectar, sap is extracted from the core of the plant, filtered, and heated at a low temperature, which breaks down the carbohydrates into sugars (mainly in the form of fructose). It was once believed that Agave was only produced using temperatures lower than 118 degrees F (qualifying it as a raw food), but it has now been shown that in most manufacturing processes of Agave Syrup, temperatures well above 145 degrees F are being used, making it a highly processed and heated food and eliminating many of its healthy healing properties. Without this heating process, Agave Syrup would not be sweet at all. Agave will also turn into Tequila if allowed to ferment and many companies that produce Agave Syrup are also manufacturers of Tequila.

Good or Bad?

Agave was once believed to be a great alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. Now, more extensive research and knowledge about the processing, manufacturing and components of Agave have proven otherwise.

I, personally, no longer recommend Agave as a healthy sweetener alternative and here’s exactly why:

First, Agave contains an unusually high amount of fructose (90% in some varieties, leaving 10% glucose). Nowhere in nature does this ratio of fructose to glucose occur naturally. One of the next closest foods that contains almost this concentration of glucose to fructose is high fructose corn syrup used in making soda(HFCS 55), which only contains 55% fructose.

Even though fructose is low on the glycemic index (which is why Agave was previously recommended to Diabetics), there are numerous problems associated with the consumption of fructose in such highly concentrated amounts. Fructose does not increase insulin levels per se, but what it does do is radically increase insulin resistance, which is FAR more dangerous (and one of the greatest causes of diabetes and an inability to lose excess fat from the body). You see, it’s okay for your insulin levels to rise, that is normal. You just don’t want these insulin levels to remain elevated, which is what insulin resistance causes. The key to weight loss and avoiding diabetes is keeping your blood sugar levels regulated and avoiding high levels of insulin for extended periods of time.

So, if consuming such highly concentrated amounts of fructose is going to disrupt your body’s ability to control its own insulin and glucose levels, I highly recommend you stay away from anything that will cause that (Agave and High Fructose Corn Syrup).

Second, research suggests that fructose actually promotes disease more readily than glucose. This is because glucose is metabolized by every cell in the body, and fructose must be metabolized by the liver. Tests on animals show that the livers of animals fed large amounts of fructose develop fatty deposits and cirrhosis of the liver. This is similar to the livers of alcoholics.

Based on the fact that so many people’s livers (especially those who are overweight) are already clogged due to chemicals in processed foods, you do not need anything that is going to “overwhelm” and clog your liver even further. Remember that one of the other most important keys to weight loss (besides insulin control) is to clean out the toxins from your liver and allow it to focus on its job of fat burning, not spending the whole day detoxifying chemicals (and processing through tons of fructose).

And lastly, fructose can make you fat! (need I add anything else?) It is metabolized by the liver and converts to fat more easily than any other sugar. Fructose has also been found to elevate serum triglycerides (blood fats) significantly (making for some bad news at your next doctor’s visit).

There you have it…my take on Agave Nectar/Syrup…once thought of as a wonderful and healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners, but now being compared to sweeteners as dangerous as High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Like I mentioned yesterday, stick to Raw Honey and 100% pure Stevia as your sweeteners of choice for healthy sugar alternatives and also begin to enjoy foods in their natural states.

I wish you a happy, safe and SWEET New Year!

In health and happiness,

Isabel De Los Rios
Certified Nutritionist
Certified Exercise Specialist
Author of The Diet Solution Program
www.TheDietSolutionProgram.com

Four reasons to avoid high fructose corn syrup

With all the of the information about High Fructose Corn Syrup,  I was someone who wanted to know the truth.  After some research, I found what I needed to make the choice to avoid this ingredient.  What made it so easy?  I started buying foods that weren't processed.  It's a tough choice but I knew that if I was going to get away from some of the ingredients that I wasn't happy about, I had to make a drastic change.  The more I read about HFCS, the more I wanted to steer clear of it.  What do you think?  Is this an ingredient that has been picked on or do you really see it as a "food" ingredient that people have now been able to see the light and avoid?  Read the article and let me know.  

By Sara Novak, Planet Green

By now, you've more than likely seen one of the ads put out by the Corn Refiners Association. The ads tell the story of a "natural" sweetener made from corn. They go on to insinuate that high fructose corn syrup has been unfairly portrayed and that this truly American ingredient is fine in moderation.

Lloyd wrote about this massive $30 million ad campaign last year. The campaign claims that high fructose corn syrup has the "same natural sweeteners as table sugar and honey." Since then, the association has released a number of ads with the same message.

But when push comes to shove, what are the facts about high fructose corn syrup? How is it made? Is it healthy in moderation to the body and the planet? Here are the facts, so that the next time you're asked, you can confidently dispel any high fructose corn syrup rumors.

1. The process of making high fructose corn syrup is pretty weird

First of all, there's nothing natural about high fructose corn syrup, and it most certainly does not exist in nature.

The process starts off with corn kernels, yes, but then that corn is spun at a high velocity and combined with three other enzymes: alpha-amylase, glucoamylase, and xylose isomerase, so that it forms a thick syrup that's way sweeter than sugar and super cheap to produce.

That's why it's poured into a huge majority of mass pproduced processed foods.

2. High fructose corn syrup does weird stuff to your body

While the commercials claim that it's fine in moderation, the truth is that the whole problem with high fructose corn syrup in the first place, is that moderation is seemingly impossible.

The syrup interferes with the body's metabolism so that a person can't stop eating. It's truly hard to control cravings because high fructose corn syrup slows down the secretion of leptin in the body. Leptin is a crucial hormone in the body that tells you that you're full and to stop eating.

That's why it's so closely associated with obesity in this country. It's like an addictive drug.

3. There might be mercury in your corn syrup

And what about the rumors of mercury being found in corn syrup?

I wrote last year that according to MSNBC in one study, published in the Journal of Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.

"We went and looked at supermarket samples where high fructose corn syrup was the first or second ingredient on the label," Dr. David Wallinga, a food safety researcher and activist at the nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy said. These 55 different foods included barbecue sauce, jam, yogurt, and chocolate syrup. "We found about one out of three had mercury above the detection limit," Wallinga said.

4. The environmental impact of high fructose corn syrup is huge

Most corn is grown as a monoculture, meaning that the land is used solely for corn, not rotated among crops.Large monocultures, which are usually genetically modified, can be riddled with pests.

As a result, monocultures are often dressed with a toxic cocktail of pesticides so that they can survive. Monocultures can deplete the nutrients in soil and lead to erosion.

In addition, the pesticides used to grow them pollute our soil and ground water.

Our advice: Skip the high fructose corn syrup

Luckily, we have a lot more options when it comes to avoiding this frightening ingredient. The Corn Refiners Association wouldn't spend $30 million on advertisements if they didn't feel threatened and that's because more and more alternatives are becoming available.

Read labels on every processed food that you buy. Stores like Whole Foods and Earth Fare carry tons of foods without it.

Make your own snack foods

Also consider making your own snack foods instead of buying the prepackaged variety. This way you can control your ingredients and use safer sweeteners. You can also save some major dough and reduce the amount of packaging that your family throws away.

• Try homemade granola.
• Make veggie chips.
• Make some Snickerdoodles for a Saturday snack.

Related:

• High Fructose Corn Syrup: That Sweet, Sweet Bully
• HFCS Causes Surprising Weight Gain
• Confessions of a Sugar Freak: Beating Fatigue and Depression

How to Recycle Your Used Electronics

From Apple iPhones to HP ink-jet printer cartridges, recycling e-waste is easy.

     

Photo: Istock

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Recycling for the Sexy Green Geek Only 12% of Electronics Waste Is Recycled 5 Steps to Safe Electronics Recycling How to Buy Green Electronics 1800recycling Makes Recycling a Snap

By Brian Clark Howard

	5digg
Buzz up!

Most people love getting new gadgets for the holidays, whether they are tech-savvy professionals or folks who never figured out how to program their VCRs or set up a Facebook page.
But the burgeoning market of electronics and accelerating pace of technology have meant increased environmental impact. This is perhaps never more true than after the holidays, when people clean out their old gear in favor of the new shiny toys and appliances they have just received, or purchased through gifts, bonuses or seasonal sales. With the 2009 change in TV transmissions around the corner, even more e-waste is being generated. Plus, consider that the average cell phone user changes handsets every 18 months.
The good news is awareness of the potential ecological impact is also rising, and there are ways to make a difference, especially at the end of your product's life.
It's no small step, considering that 20 to 50 million tons of electronics waste (often called e-waste) is discarded globally every year, according to Greenpeace. If all that e-rubbish were put into containers on a train it would go once around the world! E-waste is the fastest growing component of the municipal solid waste stream, and currently makes up five percent of all municipal solid waste.
In the past, no one thought of recycling computers and other electronics. The only option was tossing them on the curb. But these days engineers have taken notice that electronics usually contain a wealth of valuable materials. Plus, recycling almost always means lower net carbon emissions, which is something everyone is now paying closer attention to because of global warming. Finally, electronics are made with a sizable amount of lead, cadmium, brominated fire retardants and plastics that can leach toxic breakdown products — that's stuff no one wants in their water supply!
The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents electronics manufacturers, encourages people to recycle their e-waste, and has set up a handy Website to make the process simple. Log on to mygreenelectronics.org, where you can search for local recycling drop-off points by zip code and product category. You'll also find tips and info on electronics recycling, and a cool energy calculator that will show you how much juice each product uses.
How to Recycle E-Waste, by Brand

Apple - Dell - Sony - HP - Gateway - Best Buy

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/computer-recycling-electronics-recycling-461219#ixzz19YRkfTeN

Drink the Water At Your Own Risk

31 cities’ tap water has cancer-causing hexavalent chromium, study says

By Brett Michael Dykes

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The Environmental Working Group released a report Monday indicating that millions of Americans are regularly drinking hexavalent chromium, made famous in the film "Erin Brockovich" as a carcinogen, through their tap water.

The group -- whose study was first reported in a story Sunday by the Washington Post's Lyndsey Layton -- tested water from 35 U.S. cities and found that samples from 31 cities contained hexavalent chromium. The highest concentrations were found in Norman, Okla.; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif. The substance had been a widely used industrial chemical for decades and has evidently leached into the groundwater in many areas.

[Related: Drilling ban follows concern over flammable water]

The EWG report states:

"Despite mounting evidence of the contaminant's toxic effects, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not set a legal limit for chromium-6 in tap water and does not require water utilities to test for it. Hexavalent chromium is commonly discharged from steel and pulp mills as well as metal-plating and leather-tanning facilities. It can also pollute water through erosion of natural deposits.

"The authoritative National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said that chromium-6 in drinking water shows 'clear evidence of carcinogenic activity' in laboratory animals, increasing the risk of gastrointestinal tumors. Just last October, a draft review by the EPA similarly found that ingesting the chemical in tap water is 'likely to be carcinogenic to humans.' Other health risks associated with exposure include liver and kidney damage, anemia and ulcers."

[Related: Leaking ice raises tricky climate issue]

Drinking-water supplies all over the country are increasingly tainted by chemicals used in natural gas drilling. And Erin Brockovich, for her part, told the EWG that she's rather astonished to find that hexavalent chromium is still a prospective health threat in so many communities.

[List: America's most polluted cities]

"It is sometimes difficult to understand why I still have to warn the public about the presence of hexavalent chromium in drinking water 23 years after my colleagues and I first sounded the alarm," Brockovich told the EWG. "This report underscores, in fairly stark terms, the health risks that millions of Americans still face because of water contamination."

The list of cities found to have hexavalent chromium in the municipal water supplies are as follows:

• Honolulu, HI
• Bend, OR
• Sacramento, CA
• San Jose, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• Riverside, CA
• Las Vegas, NV
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Scottsdale, AZ
• Phoenix, AZ
• Albuquerque, NM
• Norman, OK
• Omaha, NE
• Madison, WI
• Milwaukee, WI
• Chicago, IL
• Ann Arbor, MI
• Louisville, KY
• Cincinnati, OH
• Buffalo, NY
• Syracuse, NY
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Villanova, PA
• Boston, MA
• New Haven, CT
• New York, NY
• Bethesda, MD
• Washington, DC
• Atlanta, GA
• Tallahassee, FL
• Miami, FL

(Photo: AP/Bob Child)

Chemicals in Butter?

Before you become too alarmed (no pun intended here), read the entire article.  Yes, we do have something to be worried about when we see that there is a flame retardant in our food but without more information, we really need to research.  

My first thought about this article was, "OMG, now I have to worry about one more thing that I eat!"  Well, that is true that I should always be conscience about what ingredients are in my food but also to read the entire article before making rash judgements.  Yes, the flame retardant in the paper could seep into our food, but it's not in all packaging, that we know of, and it's not an ingredient.  

Lesson learned, read to the end and keep shopping organic and local as much as possible.  That way, at least, I know where my food is packaged so that if there is a problem, I can go to the source.  Also, big corporations are going to take the least expensive route so I'm sticking with my tried and true local dairy!   

Pants On Fire? Put Them Out With...Butter?

December 13, 2010 at 12:06PM by Justine Sterling | 62 Comments

The next time you're looking to fireproof something forget trekking down to the hardware store, instead check the fridge and grab a stick of butter. Researchers have found varied amounts of flame retardant in sticks of butter.
Polybrominated dphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are a class of chemicals commonly used in furniture and electronic manufacturing as flame-retardants. When digested these chemicals have been known to stop hormone function and increase cancer risk. "Flame retardants were not made to be eaten," said Arnold Schecter, one of the researchers. "They're made to slow down the smoke in fires. They're not a food component. They don't belong there." Just in case that was unclear. They have also been associated with reproductive, developmental and neurological problems. This is the first documented case of PBDEs being found in food in the US.
U.S. researchers tested a selection of ten kinds of butter sourced from Dallas grocery stores. Nine of the samples showed small amounts of the contaminant, which is consistent with the results of previous studies as PBDEs can enter foods through soil, water and air. But one sample had levels of PBDEs that were 135 times that of the others. The source of the contaminants was traced to the wrapper. Though Shecter will not release the name of the company whose butter contained such high levels of the chemicals, he believes that the issue could be due to an electrical incident. If there was a fire in one of the machines or overheating, the chemicals could have leaked into the paper and then later into the butter.
Currently, there are no federal agencies tracking levels of chemicals like PBDEs in food so there is no way to know how widespread this sort of contamination is. The newly Senate-approved Food Modernization Safety Act would not be able to help as it focuses on bacteria rather than chemicals. Though it is unlikely that the sample with high levels of PBDEs is the only contaminated stick out there, it is also unlikely that there is a large quantity of the sticks. (If you feel like doing a little detective work to find out the exact brand of butter, Schecter says that the company's headquarters are in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area). These types of chemicals are also nothing new to our systems. "We basically have all of these chemicals in our bodies just from being in an indoor environment and from eating," Schecter said. "You're certainly not going to be able to control that by being careful about what kind of butter you buy." Schecter and the other researchers believe that their research emphasizes the need for a government-regulated program to test foods for contaminants like PBDEs.
How do you feel about these findings? Are you going to switch to Country Crock? Or will you throw caution into the wind and continue to give yourself a little pat of butter?

Photo Credits: jessicafm / flickr, jessicafm / flickr