Posts Tagged ‘Health’

The Two for Tuesdays Blog Hop is Here!

June 14th, 2010

twofortuesdaysTwo for Tuesday Blog Hop starts today! I’m so excited and I hope you are too! I can’t wait to read all of the wonderful food posts you all will share! If you missed yesterdays post about this exciting new blog hope check it out. You can learn more about Two for Tuesdays from my fellow hosts:

Alex at a Moderate Life
Heather at girlichef
Michelle at Health Food Lover

Here’s a quick review of how to play along with us:

  1. Write a post having to do with real food.
  2. In your post, add a link back to THIS PAGE (or any of my fellow blog hosts Two for Tuesday posts for this week) and add one of the badges below (if you want).

    3. BethStedman.com

    24TbadgeBethStedman

  3. Add URL for your POST (not your blog home page) to the list using the Linky bellow (or the Linky on Alex, Heather, or Michelle’s site).
  4. Leave a comment too and let us know what you are contributing this week.
  5. Hop around and enjoy all the great content gathered in one place!!

Alright, on your, mark, get set… LINK, LINK, LINK!!

Here’s my contribution to today’s Two for Tuesdays: Stuffed Bell Peppers and/or Stuffed Zucchini

These two meals have been staples for us over the past few years. They are what I cook when I just don’t know what else to make for dinner. This is a super easy recipe that doesn’t require a lot of thought. It’s simple and warm and yummy.

You can easily make it more interesting, by adding various seasonings to it, chopping in some green onions, or tomato, or add a little freshness by shredding some carrot and celery root and other veggies into it. Really this recipe tastes great on its own and I often make it without adding anything, but it’s also a great base recipe if you want to play around and get creative. Enjoy!

Ingredients for the Stuffing:

  • Ground Meat (1 package)
  • Cooked Rice (I use maybe 2-3 cups or so – sometimes more sometimes less) (NOTE: you could also use quinoa, or another grain in place of the rice if you want)
  • Onion (I use 1-2 onions)
  • Garlic (I use 2-4 cloves)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauté the meat, onion and garlic until the meat is cooked. Mix the ground meat mixture with the cooked rice. Add a bit of unrefined sea salt and pepper.

For Stuffed Bell Peppers:

Cut the top off of the bell peppers and take out the seeds. Stuff enough of the ground meat and rice into each of the peppers to completely fill them. Place standing up in a baking dish and put in an oven preheated to about 350 degrees F. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the bell peppers start to soften. Remove them from the oven and top them with fresh mozzarella cheese. Place them back in the oven until the mozzarella has melted. Serve warm with a side salad.

For Stuffed Zucchini:

Open up the zucchini by cutting it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and a bit of the middle section. Drizzle with olive oil and place in an oven preheated to about 350 degrees F for roughly 15-20 minutes. Then stuff the hollowed out middle section with the meat and rice mixture and place back in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Once the zucchini is very soft top with mozzarella cheese and place back in the oven long enough for the mozzarella to melt. NOTE: You do not have to pre-cook the zucchini before adding the filling, but we like our zucchini really soft so I usually do.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

This post has been entered in the following carnivals:
Two for Tuesdays
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tuesdays at the Table
Tuesday Twister
Click on the links and check out all the other GREAT food posts from around the web.

And, of course, LINK UP to Two for Tuesdays!

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Sugar Part III: Refined White Sugar

June 11th, 2010

This post is part of my series on sugar. You can find the other blogs in this series here:
 Sugar Part I: High Fructose Corn Syrup
 Sugar Part II: Artificial Sweeteners
 Sugar Part IV: Natural Ways to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

For many years I felt like I was making the “right” choice by using plain white sugar. I mean I wasn’t using artificial sweeteners and I avoided High Fructose Corn Syrup. Sure I used white sugar, but at least it was REAL sugar. Lately I’m wondering if it really is real and I’m definitely rethinking my intake of white sugar.

The refined white sugar that we get at the store starts out as either sugar cane or sugar beets. The process for making sugar is fairly similar with both of them. First they take the sugar cane or sugar beets and wash them, cut them, press or mash them and use chemicals to turn them into a syrup. Next the syrup is heated until crystals form. The syrup is then put in a machine that spins rapidly to separate the crystals from the syrup. The crystals that are left after this are sometimes called raw sugar. In order to get white sugar the crystals are further refined by being treated with more chemicals, filtered and again allowed to crystallize and this time solidify. At the end of this process it is “bleached snow-white usually by the use of pork or cattle bones.”

I knew that white sugar was highly processed, but I have to be honest I was still a little surprised to read how much it is processed. I feel a little leery of products that have been processed that much. I mean a lot of the processing that our foods undergo these days is relatively new and that makes me wonder if we really know what effects it could have on our health.

What we do know is that white sugar is processed in a way that removes ALL of the nutritional value of the sugar cane or sugar beet used. Refined white sugar contains absolutely no macro- or micro-nutrients. All of the minerals, vitamins, proteins, fats, fiber, and enzymes have been removed. All that is left is pure sugar.

What happens when you eat a refined carbohydrate like sugar? Your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of the sugar…

Refined sugar, by some, is called a drug, because in the refining process everything of food value has been removed except the carbohydrates-pure calories, without vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, enzymes or any of the other elements that make up food.

…Dr. David Reuben, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition says, “…white refined sugar-is not a food. It is a pure chemical extracted from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways. Its true name is sucrose and its chemical formula is C12H22O11.

It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and absolutely nothing else to offer.” …The chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21NO4. Sugar’s formula again is C12H22O11. For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the “N”, or nitrogen atom…

I’ve always sort of known that sugar wasn’t good for me and that I should cut back on my consumption of it, but I’ve never thought of sugar like a drug before. In many ways it makes sense to think of it like a drug. Sugar is addictive, and seriously detrimental for our health. It affects our brains and our body chemistry.

Here are just a few of the MANY health problems that have been linked to sugar:

  • Sugar weakens your immune system
  • Sugar has been shown to feed cancer cells
  • Sugar feeds bad bacteria and can contribute to Candida overgrowth in the body
  • Sugar “disrupts the effective transfer of amino acids to muscle tissue.”
  • Sugar causes your tissues to lose elasticity
  • Sugar can cause deficiencies in copper, calcium and magnesium
  • Sugar consumption can lead to tooth decay and gum disease
  • Sugar weakens eyesight
  • Sugar can cause your digestive tract to become too acidic
  • Sugar consumption can lead to arthritis, asthma, food allergies, gallstones, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, hemorrhoids, osteoporosis, varicose veins, infertility…
  • and the list goes on and on…

Seriously, this list just brushes the surface!

Ok, so I know that sugar isn’t good for me. I know that it will slowly destroy my health. I want to be healthy. But, honestly, that sweet, sweet taste is sometimes irresistible! So, what do sugar addicts like me do? Well, let’s talk about some basic steps we can all take, to limit our sugar consumption and improve our health:

  1. Clean out your cupboard and throw out anything that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup
  2. Start reading labels and avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup, and other sweeteners, and products with added sugar.
  3. Try to avoid processed foods in general because they are likely to contain sweeteners in amounts that far exceed the recommended moderate intake of sugar.
  4. Become familiar with natural unrefined sugars and start using them as substitutes in your cooking.
  5. Try to cut back on your consumption of sweets overall (even natural sweeteners). Eat fewer sweets, less often. Maybe cut a smaller piece of cake, or only eat sweets on certain days of the week – whatever works for you.

Where am I at in these steps – well, let me put it this way… a few days ago I ate almost an entire cake (all be it a small cake) by myself in two days. Sure I used unrefined natural cane sugar in it, but still not so good, right? So, I guess you could say I’m working on number 4, but not quite ready for number 5. I do find though that I do better quitting something cold turkey then I do trying to limit it. So, maybe I’ll have to skip number 5 and go straight to number 6: Avoid all sweets except fruit. But, personally I think that life would be a little sad without at least some indulgence in sweet, so I’d like to try and find some balance. It’s hard for me though – anyone have any suggestions?

In the next Sugar Series Post we’ll talk about natural and unrefined sugars. What are they? Where do you find them? And how do you cook with them? We’ll address all the questions I had about natural sweeteners when I started down this path.

For now, what are your thoughts on sugar? What number of the steps are you on? Have you tried to reduce or cut out white sugar? If so, how did it make you feel?

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman
Further Reading and References:

This post has been entered in the following blog carnivals:
Fight Back Friday June 11th
Food Revolution Friday
Food on Fridays
Wholesome Whole Foods
Vegetarian Foodie Fridays
Please visit each of these wonderful carnivals. You’ll find great recipes all about food from all over the blogosphere.

EDIT: I just found out about this free workbook from The WellGrounded Life all about How to Break the Sugar Habit. I just had to share since it went so well with the topic of this post. Check it out and remember it’s FREE.

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Sugar Part II: The problem with Artificial Sweeteners

June 9th, 2010

This post is part of my series on sugar. You can find the other blogs in this series here:
 Sugar Part I: High Fructose Corn Syrup
 Sugar Part III: Refined White Sugar
 Sugar Part IV: Natural Ways to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

In Part I of this series we addressed High Fructose Corn Syrup and I said that the next post in the series would address refined white sugar. But, today I’m adding a post about artificial sweeteners, also known as sugar substitutes or low-calorie sweeteners. I hadn’t planned on addressing artificial sweeteners; in fact it didn’t even cross my mind. I guess because I’d never used them and my family has never used them they aren’t really on my radar. But, as I was hopping through the blogosphere this morning I found a number of posts for sugar free recipes and I was disappointed to see that they all just substituted artificial sweeteners for sugar. After being surprised by how many people out there are using these sugar substitutes I decided that I needed to dedicate a whole post to the topic and jumped into researching.

The appeal of sugar substitutes and low-calorie sweeteners is that they are exactly what their name says: LOW-CALORIE. Artificial sweeteners are made from chemicals that provide the taste of sweetness without the calories usually contained in sugar or sweet foods. They are often MUCH sweeter than sugar which means that you can use a lot less of them and still get a sweet taste. They also don’t raise blood sugar levels the way that sugar does so they are often used by people with diabetes. These sound like pretty good things.

There’s so much that can be said about Artificial Sweeteners – and there’s plenty of debate as to whether they are ok for you or not. There are independent studies that say that artificial sweeteners cause cancer and other health problems, even though there are also a lot of studies saying that they are fine for you (most of which were funded by those with a vested interest). Honestly, I don’t really want to get into the whole debate on all of the different artificial sweeteners.

Here’s my two cents: Artificial Sweeteners are NOT real food. They are NOT natural. They are made in a lab. Not only that, but they are also very new comparatively. Our bodies have never had to deal with the consumption of these chemicals before. So, I avoid them. Personally I choose to eat real food that is traditionally prepared as much as possible and whenever possible. Artificial sweeteners do not fit into that category. Plus, I say why use them? There are natural sweeteners that are also low-calorie and don’t spike insulin, like Stevia, so why go for the artificial stuff when you can use real stuff?

Some argue that the very fact that these super sweet sweeteners are low in calories could be problematic. I found this quote shared on the blog Kelly the Kitchen Kop to be a very interesting take on this. It made a lot of sense to me:

“God created sweet taste to represent quick energy. That’s why you see tennis players at the U.S. Open peeling a banana during changeovers; they need the quick energy from bananas and other sweet fruits. When artificial non-caloric sweeteners are consumed, the sweet taste but not the calories are there, and the body receives mixed signals. In addition, since the body expects calories with sweet taste, the body craves other foods to get those calories.”

I personally choose to avoid artificial sweeteners and I do not encourage others to use them, but everyone has to make their own informed decisions. So, do your research before using artificial sweeteners and then make whatever decision you are most comfortable with.

If Artificial Sweeteners are something you are interested in knowing more about here are some resources and references for further reading. There are of course tons more out there and a simple google search will give you plenty, but here are some places to start:

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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Weaning Part V: When to Stop Breastfeeding

June 5th, 2010

This will be the last post in the weaning series. I hope that you’ve enjoyed this series and would love to hear your thoughts on it. You can find the other posts in the series here:

Weaning Part I: When to Start Solids
Weaning Part II: Baby’s First Food
Weaning Part III: Baby Led Weaning
Weaning Part IV: Allergies and Foods to Avoid

Today I want to share with you my thoughts and plans about when to stop nursing. I’ve been hesitant to write this post because, well, honestly, I fear that some of you might judge me for it. I know that I fear what people will think of me and often make decisions based on that motivation, but I don’t want to make decisions based on fear and cultural stigmas when it comes to my child, instead I want to make informed, intentional decisions based on what’s best for my own family. So, if you disagree with this post or you choose a different way for you and your family please know that I respect that and hope that you will be equally as gracious with me.

Let’s start with my own experiences with weaning. First of all, as far as I am aware, I have never personally known anyone who has nursed much longer than a year. So, I think there is a part of me that just always assumed I would wean my child around their first birthday, like most people I know. Sure, I had heard of people nursing more long term (in fact I knew that my husband’s grandfather, who is from Europe, had been nursed till he was 3), but most of the time when I heard about people nursing long term it was fairly negative. In fact even when I was pregnant I was part of a conversation with a group of ladies who all agreed that once the child could ask for it they were too old to be breastfed.

But, as my son get’s closer and closer to turning one I just can’t imagine stopping breastfeeding. Sure there are moments when I long for my freedom (especially since we haven’t introduced bottles at all) and there are moments when my nipples get soar and I’m tired of waking up in the night. But, for the most part, I love breastfeeding. I love the closeness it creates. I love how easy it is and that I don’t have stress about balancing meals or packing food when we’re out. I love knowing that it’s the best possible form of nutrition for him and that it has all sorts of health benefits for him and for me.

So, over the past few months I started wondering what was really best for me and my son. I know what others around me had done. And I know some of the reasons why, but what should I do? How long do I want to breastfeed and what is going to be best for both my health and my sons?

As I asked these questions I did some research. Here’s what I found out:

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women breastfeed for a minimum of one year. The World Health Organization, on the other hand, recommends that women continue to breastfeed their babies until the baby is at LEAST 2 years old. I was actually really surprised by this. I had no idea before looking into it that the WHO’s minimum recommendation for nursing was 2 years. Then I started to wonder why the difference between the AAP and the WHO?? Basically the WHO doesn’t take cultural norms or societal stigmas into consideration; their recommendation is based solely on health. The AAP does take cultural norms into account with their recommendation. Both the AAP and the WHO state that breastfeeding beyond their minimums will benefit both the mother and the child and that breastfeeding should be continued for as long as “mutually desired.”

Something else I found really interesting was that the American Academy of Family Physicians states that children weaned before two years of age are at an increased risk of illness. Did you know that breast milk actually changes in composition the longer you nurse for? It has significantly higher fat and energy contents and some of the immune factors that are always present in breast milk also increase in concentration after a year. Breast milk meets the developing toddlers health needs just as efficiently as it meets the developing newborns needs.

Here are a few of the benefits of nursing until or past two years of age:

  • Nursing toddlers have been found to be sick less often and to recover more quickly from illness then their non-nursing peers.
  • Breastfeeding protects women against breast cancer and the longer a women nurses the more her risk of breast cancer decreases.
  • Extended breastfeeding has been shown to increase IQ. In fact “Extensive research on the relationship between cognitive achievement (IQ scores, grades in school) and breastfeeding has shown the greatest gains for those children breastfed the longest.” This is particularly pronounced in children who are nursed past the age of two.
  • It has been shown to protect against various diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and multiple sclerosis.
  • A nursing toddler who is sick and refuses to eat is still getting adequate nutrition from breast milk and will be less likely to get dehydrated and more likely to stay nourished (even if they are vomiting because breast milk is so easily and rabidly absorbed by the body).
  • Long-term nursing can reduce the risk of allergies and asthma.
  • One study even connected long-term nursing (babies nursed longer than one year) with social adjustment. Children who had nursed longer were more likely to be rated by mothers and teachers as well adjusted socially and less likely to have conduct problems.
  • In short, all of the advantages of breastfeeding a baby just continue to get stronger the longer you do it. Well, that seems pretty good to me.

For a truly wonderful list of the benefits of breastfeeding (at any age, baby or toddler) click here.


So, what about concerns? What are some reasons why you might not want to breastfeed past a year or into toddlerhood?

  • Many people are concerned that it will create an “unhealthy attachment” in the toddler and that they won’t develop the independence so valued in our society. Studies have actually shown the reverse to be true. Research has shown that children who are allowed to nurse until they are ready to wean themselves are actually less dependent in the long run. It is said that this is because their needs for security have been fully met as infants and they can then move on to independence in their own timing and abilities when they are ready. In some ways this makes sense to me. I think often we try to rush our children to grow up and because we as American’s value independence so much we try and push it on our children even before they are capable of it. Personally I think it is completely appropriate for a toddler to be dependent and attached to his/her mom and to receive both nourishment and comfort from her.
  • Another concern is that if you wait past a year to wean it will be harder when you do wish to wean the child. Instead of weaning a sweet baby you will be weaning an animated toddler. We hear such horror stories of the terrible twos that we think there is no way we would be able to wean in the middle of that so we wean before our children are really ready. It is true that extended nursing means that weaning will take more time and when it does happen it will most likely be a slow process, possibly with two steps forward and one step back all along the way. But, if you wait till the child is truly ready weaning doesn’t need to be a power struggle and you can in fact most likely talk the child through the transition so that they can understand it. To me that seems like a very humane and peaceful option.
  • Another question and concern that I personally had with long-term nursing is what happens if you get pregnant again? We plan on having another child eventually and if I allow Thaddeus to self-wean and nurse long term it is possible that I will become pregnant again before he stops nursing – what happens then? Well, the truth, which I had never known before doing this research, is that it is entirely possible to keep nursing while you are pregnant. If the woman is healthy and the pregnancy is normal there is no reason to stop nursing an older child. It does not pose health risks for you, your toddler or your unborn child. Some women say that their milk dried up when they got pregnant and it may be that they did produce less, but that does not mean that there toddler is not getting anything or that the closeness and comfort nursing provides is not still valuable. There is even some research that suggests that tandem nursing (nursing a new baby and an older sibling at the same time) can result in a better adjustment for the older sibling and a closer relationship for both siblings. Another interesting fact is that your body will still produce colostrum and your newborn will still have all of their nutritional needs met.
  • I would imagine, though, that most often American women don’t breastfeed past one year because of the social stigma’s against it. They may not feel ready to wean, they may desire to nurse longer, but they have bought into the cultural advice that they “should not” wean a toddler. They have heard too many people ask them with raised eyebrows, “you’re still nursing?” They have had too many looks and comments and not enough support and encouragement. So, they stop. This makes me really sad. If a mom feels ready to wean, or weaning is the best option for her situation then I can support that, but it makes me sad to think of women who don’t want to stop but feel pressured into it.

There are many reasons to stop nursing and many reasons for extended nursing  - I truly believe that the decision to completely wean a child is intricate and complex.  It is up to each individual family to decide what is best for them and their personal situation. I for one, though, don’t want to stop nursing my child at a year just because it’s “the norm.”

Honestly, I have no idea when I will stop nursing. I just know that right now I don’t want to stop and I don’t think I need to. I know that I would like to nurse until Thaddeus is at least two, as the World Health Organization recommends, but I don’t know where we will be at by then or before then, so who knows. Really I just want to continue nursing for truly as long as it is mutually desirable for both me and my child.

What about you? If you breastfed your child/children when did you wean them and what were your thoughts and reasons for doing so?

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

Resources for Further Reading and References:

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Sugar Part 1: High Fructose Corn Syrup

June 4th, 2010

This post is part of my series on sugar. You can find the other blogs in this series here:
Sugar Part II: Artificial Sweeteners
Sugar Part III: Refined White Sugar
Sugar Part IV: Natural Ways to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth


A friend of mine recently brought these commercials to my attention and I found them fascinating. She wrote an email and a post on her blog about this issue and I encourage you to check it out.

They were released more than a year ago and I’m sure most of you have seen them already, but I hadn’t (we live in Europe and don’t own a tv, so I can be a bit behind on things).

In some ways I think the commercials are kind of brilliant – very relatable and well done. But, that makes me even sadder watching them – because people are going to buy into them. Just in case you haven’t seen them – here’s one of them:

You can watch the other one’s Here and Here.

The main point of the commercial is to communicate that High Fructose Corn Syrup is “natural” – it’s made from corn and has no artificial ingredients. They also communicate that it has the same calories as sugar, and that “like sugar it is fine” when consumed in moderation.

Let’s talk about each of these claims and break them down a bit…

1.  Corn Syrup is natural – it’s made from corn and has no artificial ingredients.

Well, this is true… in part. Corn syrup IS made from corn. The corn is processed into corn starch which is then processed into syrup. Then enzymes are added to that syrup which converts the glucose into fructose. From what I could tell it’s true that they aren’t adding any artificial ingredients/additives to it. BUT, just because something is made from natural ingredients doesn’t make it good for us.

Any sort of processing changes food. Corn in its original natural state is rich in vitamins and minerals and can be very good for you. High Fructose Corn syrup has been stripped of those vitamins and minerals and is devoid of those health benefits. The processing of High Fructose Corn Syrup changes the molecular properties of the sugar from one thing into another. What you are left with at the end is VERY different from what you started with at the beginning. Now, I’m not going to say that all processing is bad – I mean maple syrup is processed a bit (heated) and I use that and would advocate for others to use that as a better sweetener. But, when processing so drastically changes the property of the food and is so different from the way that people would have traditionally eaten the food, well, it just makes me wonder how it’s really effecting our bodies and if we really have enough evidence to know for sure that it’s ok.

2.  HFCS has the same calories as sugar, and like sugar it is fine when consumed in moderation.

I’m not one to count calories and I think that the whole idea of calories is a little misleading. So, in my book, who cares if it has the same calories as sugar. Calories are not a very good measure of health.

As for comparing HFCS to sugar… There are conflicting studies on both sides of this some arguing that sugar and HFCS are the same and some arguing that they are different. Personally, I believe they are different and would rather err on the side of caution with this.

A study released in March 2010 compared rats given water mixed with high fructose corn syrup to rats given water mixed with sugar. Both rats were given the same rodent food and the same amount of calories. The study was done at Princeton University and found that the HFCS rats gained more weight and had more fat around their abdomen and higher levels of triglycerides circulating in their blood. To me this indicates a clear difference between sugar and HFCS.

Two studies published about a year ago also showed that nearly half of the “tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient.” Ok, so, that scared me. I mean we all know that mercury is toxic to our bodies and that it can be especially dangerous for children, so, that should be reason enough to avoid HFCS.

But, let’s assume for a minute that the commercials are right and that it is exactly the same as white sugar and both are fine when consumed in moderation. The fact of the matter is that white sugar isn’t hiding in EVERYTHING, High Fructose Corn Syrup IS (from soda, to bread, to condiments, to vitamins – that’s right, vitamins!) Read some labels and you’ll be shocked to find out how many foods and products contain this sweetener. So, even if it’s not any worse than sugar and is fine in moderation the average American isn’t eating it in moderation. In fact the amount of corn syrup in just one glass of the punch from this commercial would most likely be outside of the limits of moderation.

In western society we consume far more white sugar than we should, but I think most people consume far more High Fructose Corn Syrup than white sugar. So, cutting back just on HFCS in your diet would, for most people, dramatically reduce their overall consumption of sugars and sweets.

The truth of the matter is that sugar is slowly killing us, in whatever form it’s in. Some of us would argue that white sugar is not as bad as HFCS, but it is still wreaking havoc on our health and it’s time that we each, as individual consumers, got off the sugar addition band wagon and started truly eating sweets “in moderation” (**I’m talking to myself as much as to anyone else here**). It’s time that we started making better choices when it comes to which sweeteners we will consume. The next post in this series will address refined white sugar and its effects on our health and in the following post we’ll talk all about natural sweeteners.

SO, what do you think about these commercials? What do you think about HFCS? Do you avoid it? Why or why not?

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

Additional Reading and References:

This post has been entered in the following blog carnivals:
Fight Back Friday June 4th
Food Revolution Friday
Food on Fridays
Wholesome Whole Foods
Vegetarian Foodie Friday
Check out each of the links for lots of other great posts.

Never Miss A Post – Receive free updates via RSS or Email

If you like this post please consider buying me a cup of tea (Suggested: $3 a cup)