Last week, Maya's class coordinator invited a nurse/nutritionist to speak to parents. It was a very interesting talk and I thought it'd be useful to include a summery of the talk in my blog.
For decades, we've been told that fat is bad, low-fat is good. Butter is bad, liquid vegetable oils and margarine are good and 'heart-healthy'. So instead of fats, we ate carbs and in the US, obesity skyrocketed.
So, what's really good to eat?
- Eggs - the perfect food. It contains nutrients that are important in a child's brain development. After age 4, the benefits of egg consumption on brain development decreases. If you have to choose, choose free-range over organic. Free-range hens are allowed to roam in the open and feed on grass and insects. They may be supplemented with non-organic feed.
- Organic butter is full of vitamins and minerals. Cholesterol found in butterfat is essential to children's brain and nervous system development.
The cheapest organic butter source I've found so far is Costco's Kirkland Signature organic butter at $7+ for 2 lbs.
- Organic whole/full cream milk. The 'goodness' of skim milk is a myth. To get skim milk, milk’s natural and nutritious saturated fat is removed. The industry has a lot to gain by selling 'skim' milk and removing the cream because sales of the cream is very profitable.
When you eat fat, you feel full even though you have not eaten much. The food industry has more to gain by keeping us hungry.
- Most vegetable oils are bad because they are processed at high temperatures causing the oils to actually turn rancid. Worse, many oils like soybean, corn and canola here in the US are genetically modified by Monstano (the company that brought us DDT and Agent Orange).
- Cold pressed olive oil is good - as long as you don't subject it to high temperatures. It's best to add it to food after cooking.
Again, Costco's pricing on organic olive oil is quite reasonable. Sunflower Market's prices also seem OK for olive oil, although I cannot remember if it is cold-pressed/organic or not.
- For high temperature cooking, palm oil or coconut oil are best. I have not checked prices but your best bet to get these at lower prices are probably from an Asian grocer.
- Avocados are great fats. Sunflower Markets often sells them for about $0.33-$1 each, depending on the sale. 3 for $1 is usually a good price in the Denver area.
- Peanut Butter is an OK butter to use. Other nut butters like Almond Butter better choices. There are other risks like mold and pesticide use (for non-organic) associated with peanut butter. I will elaborate on this in another post.
Of course, avoid the peanut butters that are loaded with hydrogenated oils and sugars. Many well-known brands are guilty of adding these ingredients.
Costco's organic peanut butter from New Mexico runs about $7+ for two 28 oz jars. That might be your best bet, even though I personally prefer the texture of JIF Natural.
You can also opt to grind your own butters that some stores offer. That way, at least you can see the molds (if any) on the peanuts.
I know I mention Costco's products quite a bit. No, I am not their spokeswoman, nor do I get paid to mention them or their products. However, they do seem to have a good selection of organic foods are reasonable prices.
Other possible store options are: Trader Joe's, Vitamin Cottage, Safeway's O Organics line, Sunflower Markets and Wholefoods. From time to time, Sunflower has good prices on their fresh organic produce.
I'm not familiar with the other stores' pricing so if you have any comments on these or other stores, please let me know so that I can update this post! I'm also happy to include international store information!
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