Everyday Systems

http://www.naturalnews.com/022194.html

This goes over the hidden ingredients in McD's and other restaurants' additives to something as innocent as a SALAD.

It's no wonder I feel like crap after I eat there!

Oh, my...but *eating* sunscreen!? And ranch has always been my favorite salad dressing - yikes!

Mimi

This makes me so happy that I can cook and don't have to resort to McDonalds and Burger King....

It's not just in fast food.. All processed food is full of crap and preservatives.
Debs

Yep. I'm haivng a sandwich now with "lunchmeat" and "cheese slices" Bleh

Then the nonfat yogurt and it says right on the label "with aspartame and othe rsweetener" Gross.

once this stuff is gone I'm going to try to be far more conscience of what we put in our mouths.

Yes, I saw this program the other day: "How it's made" They had a segment on yogurt and how they were making it. The kind with fruits at the bottom. It didn't seem too healthy to me with everything they were adding to the mix, sugar, syrup, gelatin, pectin and whatnot ... all sorts of powders, mixing 'em all up in there.

I am glad I am making my own yogurt now and it tastes great too. Much healthier and it saves me 4$ a week at the same time since I usually eat two 650g. containers of plain yogurt per week. I tweaked my recipe a few times : quantities, temperatures, duration of the incubation period and now after 4-5 batches I am close to my ideal set up from now on.

I let it ferment for a shorter period of time since I don't like my yogurt to taste too 'sour', the other day I was experimenting and let the batch incubate for nearly 8 hours, it was still good but more sour than usual. I went back to my usual 6 hours 45 after that and I liked it better. I will test 5 hours 45 minutes to 6 hours next time, this will probably be ideal for me. Good plain yogurt. Nice and creamy since I add 3 tbsp of powder milk to the mix. I make two containers once a week usually.

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 06/01/2009 : 215.6 pounds
7 months 1 day / 64.4 pounds

Marc, that sounds interesting.
I used to have a kefir culture going but I killed it moving across states several years ago and never got one going again.
It's wonderful and tastes like sour cream and you just add your own (whole) milk to it. Super good, no heating, just set it out at room temp.

now that I've thought of it, I should get some starter going again... hmmm

shamrockmommy, it's a coincidence but I just started making milk kefir as well. I just got the dehydrated grains and I am in the process of reactivating them right now... it should take a few days apparently, maybe a week and they'll be ready to go. I put them in half a cup of milk for 24 hours at room temp. and then I change the 1/2 cup of milk for a fresh one every 24 hours.

If you look online, you can find sources for the milk kefir grains. It's convenient not to have to heat anything, everything is done at room temperature. It should take 5-10 minutes of work every day to be able to make a cup or two of milk kefir. It's Supposed to be even healthier than yogurt for you actually.

Here's a website to get the kefir grains :
http://www.torontoadvisors.com/Kefir/kefir-list.php

They don't cost much, I got mine for 5$ in the mail, 2 tbsp. is enough to get started and then they should multiply quickly later on when you use them.

Remember to pronounce it : "Kay-Fear", not "Key-Fer" alright ...

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 06/01/2009 : 215.6 pounds
7 months 1 day / 64.4 pounds

I think limited processed food is great, but if I had to strive to make ALL my foods non-processed, I think I'd give up on trying to be thin(er).

Nichole, it is hard to try to concentrate on vanilla noS and then try to whittle down the ingredients in food.

I do find that MSG (has several hidden trade names) really bothers me, I get headaches, digestive issues and a general fatigue after consuming, as well as aspartame really bother me. So I might do well to attempt avoiding those things as much as possible.

I will have a hard tiem finding (and/or sticking to) a substitute for sandwich meat, as that's a staple for lunch around here! :O

the best subsitute for lunch meat is to roast your own turkey breast or ham or beef, slice it thin, and freeze in individual sandwich-filling servings. It's more expensive, though, because the packaged cold cuts are full of water and gelatin and other cheap fillers, and when you make your own you use nothing but expensive meat!

A good deli will have higher-quality cold cuts than a supermarket, so that's a start.

Thanks, Thalia, that's what I was thinking about trying.

It's amazing the nasty stuff they ruin perfectly good yogurt with. If it has gelatin I don't buy it. If it's real yogurt it shouldn't need gelatin.

Nichole wrote:I think limited processed food is great, but if I had to strive to make ALL my foods non-processed, I think I'd give up on trying to be thin(er).

You have to determine what your limits are. I do use pasta, white flour, rice, sugar and some condiments, but I make all salad dressings (or buy some from local companies that make them "from scratch") and cook everything from scratch. Essentially, though, I avoid products with ingredients lists that sound like chemistry experiements. I don't think it's that difficult or time consuming -- but I've come to it gradually over a number of years and now it's just second nature. Plus, it keeps things simple.

I'm excited (sorta!). I got a pork roast and a turkey breast to roast tomorrow and slice thin. I'll freeze portions and use as needed for sandwiches. I like doing things in bulk like this.
Maybe I'll keep it up, maybe I won't That's how I am, but the idea is sure appealing!

Oh, YUM! One thing about homecooked is that it's so vastly more delicious than packaged lunch meat.

I wish I were organized enough to cook my own more often! Enjoy!

shamrockmommy wrote:I'm excited (sorta!). I got a pork roast and a turkey breast to roast tomorrow and slice thin. I'll freeze portions and use as needed for sandwiches. I like doing things in bulk like this.
Maybe I'll keep it up, maybe I won't That's how I am, but the idea is sure appealing!

There is a small chain of restaurants here (6) owned by the same woman. Her philosophy is that she won't serve anything at her restaurants that she wouldn't serve her children or guests in her home. All of the food is cooked from scratch, including the turkey used in the sandwiches. That philosophy is one of the reasons I eat there. Another is that the food is really good.

There are several small places like that around here. They're about the only places I eat when I eat out now.