• About 10 percent of the juices that CR sampled (from five brands) showed arsenic levels that “exceeded federal drinking-water standards. Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen.”
• 25 percent of samples had lead levels “higher than the FDA’s bottled-water limit of 5 ppb. As with arsenic, no federal limit exists for lead in juice.”
• We’re getting a large portion of our arsenic exposure from apple and grape juice. CR called the juices, “a significant source of dietary exposure to arsenic,” according to its analysis of federal health data from 2003 through 2008.
• Kids are drinking a heck of a lot of juice. According to a CR parents poll, 25 percent of kids under five drink more juice than their pediatricians recommend.

Consumer Reports says the source of the arsenic and lead is contaminated apple orchards. Soil is contaminated due to a number of reasons, For example, arsenic-based pesticides that were used in the past are still hanging around. Plus, there’s plenty of arsenic and lead in the environment from things like the production of pressure-treated wood.  Even more significant, I think, (and something the CR article points out, too) is the fact that much of our apple juice is made from concentrate that comes from China, a country that still uses arsenic-based pesticides.

I have always had a few rules about juice. First, anything my kids drank had to be 100 percent juice — no high fructose, sugar-added junk for us. Second, it had to be organic. Finally, juice was an occasional thing. We drink it sparingly at playdates, at mommy-and-me classes, and always watered it down in a 2-to-1 ratio of water to juice.

These rules, I assumed, would keep my girls healthier. We would avoid pesticides and reduce our risk of obesity. After all, juice is way better than the other options out there — aside from water, of course. Two separate 2010 studies out of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and Baylor College of Medicine seemed to support my theory.

One study found that children between the ages of two and five who drank 100 percent fruit juice had “significantly” higher daily intakes of vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium and “significantly lower intakes of added sugars compared to non-fruit juice consumers.” Juice drinkers, for some reason, also ate more whole fruits and whole grains. The other study — of children ages six to 12 — had similar results. Kids who drank juice took in more key nutrients and ate more dietary fiber, according to the study. In addition, “overall diet quality, as assessed by the Healthy Eating Index — a measure that evaluates conformance to federal dietary guidance — was higher in all fruit juice consumers assessed.”

Great. Juice is good for adults, too, as studies have found that it can reduce the risk of some cancers and is beneficial to cardiovascular health. Except, of course, when the juice contains carcinogens. So what’s a parent to do? I plan on sticking to water or orange juice for a while, or limiting my purchases to apple and grape juices that are organic and clearly marked, “Made in the U.S.A.” How about you?

My reasons are both health- and conscience-related. On the health side of things, organic turkeys are free of antibiotics and growth hormones that are commonly found in conventional turkey. (Check out this great blog on the subject from Green Talk.) As for the whole doing-the-right-thing thing, well, I think it would probably be much smarter and easier to let one of the experts I’ve interviewed do the talking instead. Here is the interview I did with Sharanya Krishna Prasad, U.S. Programs Officer with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) about the very topic:

KB: Why is organic turkey so expensive?

Krishna Prasad: Organic turkey is currently more expensive for various reasons. Intensive agriculture is highly subsidized by the U.S. government, and the price of products from intensively raised animals does not consider the true environmental, human health and animal welfare costs associated with producing and consuming factory farmed meat. As the demand for more humane meats increases, and when industry standards for all animal-derived products are raised, the cost of these products will become more competitive.

KB: There are so many different options out there. If I can’t afford organic, what are some of the more acceptable labels I should be looking for?

Krishna Prasad: When shopping for a turkey, look for labels such as “Pasture Raised,” “USDA Organic,” “American Humane Certified,” “Animal Welfare Approved,” or “Certified Humane.” These labels mean animals should have been raised under more humane standard where they were given access to sunlight and fresh air and had freedom of movement. They were also spared non-therapeutic antibiotics and growth-promoting hormones. Avoid misleading labels like “Natural” or “Naturally Raised.” While “Naturally Raised” ensures animals were not given antibiotics or hormones, this label does not mean the animals have freedom, fresh air or sunlight. The term “Natural” has no relevance to animal welfare and merely indicates that the product doesn’t have artificial additives.

KB: Is it worth buying organic over pasture-raised or the other non-organic labels you just mentioned?

Krishna Prasad: WSPA has developed an easy-to-use humane classification system where labeling claims have been designated as ‘Good’, ‘Better’, or ‘Best’ depending on the level of animal welfare required by the claim standard. Under this classification system, both USDA organic and pasture-raised fall under the same category — ‘Better.’

For turkeys, the best labels to look for are Animal Welfare Approved, American Humane Certified, and Certified Humane. If products with these labels are unavailable, we recommend choosing from one of the ‘Better’ or ‘Good’ category labels such as USDA organic, pasture-raised, or free range. If a turkey doesn’t have one of these labels, it was raised without the consideration of animal welfare, and buyers may be paying a premium for products that likely don’t meet their expectations in terms of the impacts on animals.

KB: How can I get my store to carry the “Better” or “Good” categories of turkey?

Krishna Prasad: Consumers should request humane food products from their retailers by speaking with the purchasing manager of the stores they frequently shop at. Studies have shown that it only takes a few customers to request a product before a store will carry it. In addition, WSPA’s website www.EatHumane.org has a postcard that consumers can print and drop off at the comments and suggestions box at their store to request more humane products.

KB: Does organic turkey taste different than the Butterball everyone might be used to?

Krishna Prasad: While some studies have been conducted on the taste of meat from organically-raised turkeys versus meat from intensively raised animals, to my knowledge they have not been conclusive. WSPA has noticed a trend among gourmet restaurants featuring more locally sourced, humanely-raised products on their menus. Chefs are probably taking in to account both the better care and fewer resources it takes to raise animals humanely. But I am sure they are considering the good taste as well. Today most food offered for sale in major U.S. supermarkets is from animals raised under intensive confinement on large factory style farms. These animals are typically denied fresh air and sunlight, and given very limited freedom to move and express their natural behaviors. Polls have shown that a large majority of Americans think the way farm animals are raised is important to them. Consumers who choose humane turkeys can be assured that the animals were given more natural living conditions and are typically given access to fresh air and sunlight, and freedom to move and express their natural behaviors.

So there you have it. Will this affect the way you shop for meat this holiday season? Was I insane for spending so much on a turkey that was gone in less than 20 minutes? I’d love to hear your feedback.

I was watching The Soup on E! and Joel McHale had a clip about genital age. Seems Dr. Oz has a quiz, which can be found on his website that provides the RealAge of your genitals. The woman in the clip was 43 and her vagina’s RealAge was 73. The clip made The Soup because of the woman’s face. (I felt really bad for her, actually.) Anyway, my husband and I got a big kick out of watching the clip, so I wanted to see the actual show. Thank goodness for reruns. We found it, watched it, and since then have been watching the shows instead of watching Daily Show reruns. (WHY is Jon Stewart on vacation so much?!?)

Dr. Oz spends a lot of time talking about aging. Specifically, how you can avoid aging. We saw another show this week — it aired last week; gotta love time shifting — about skin and what you can learn by looking at it. During the taping, Dr. Oz asked everyone to take off their makeup. The show really hit home because it made me aware of the fact that I am probably the only woman in America who does not wear makeup. I don’t own concealer. I don’t own liquid makeup. I don’t wear eye shadow. My beauty routine consists of moisturizer with a high SPF, a little lipstick, and some blush if I am planning on being out in public. Most days I go with the moisturizer and nothing else. This is something I’d like to change. It’s not the first time that I’ve said this. Every six or 12 months I get on a “I could be prettier” kick and try to wear makeup. The thing that keeps this from happening is my sensitive skin and desire to avoid parabens and other toxic chemicals. (And, let’s be honest here: I’m lazy.)

This weekend in between going to game night, making up birthday party favors, and throwing an eight-year-old’s birthday party, I started investigating cosmetics. Again, I’ve done this in the past, but as the Campaign for Safer Cosmetics has found: It’s pretty hard to steer clear of bad stuff in the products that make us pretty. According to the organization, “The average American uses about 10 personal care products a day resulting in exposure to more than 100 unique chemicals. The vast majority of the roughly 12,500 chemicals used by the $50 billion beauty industry have never been assessed for safety.”

I’m hoping that the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 (H.R.2359), introduced on June 24, will help to change that, but until then what’s a girl to do? One option: Check the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. Checking the database actually made me feel a little better about the mascara I use, which scored a 3 out of 10 (with 10 being the most dangerous) on the guide. Still, I am going to try the Coastal Creations mascara, which scored a 1 out of 10 because yes, it’s important to feel pretty, but it’s important to be healthy, too.

But wait, I have totally digressed! I started off talking about Dr. Oz and skin and what you can learn from looking at it without makeup. Want to know what I learned? My skin is in pretty good shape. I’m thinking all that sunscreen and my giant “spinster hats” (as my friends have dubbed them) is the reason. That didn’t stop me from ordering $100 worth of cosmetics this evening, though. I’m looking forward to messing around with it.

I love it because, hey have you ever tried a sweet potato that was picked only days ago? I can’t stress this enough: The taste and texture are incomparable. This week I baked one, peeled the skin, and ate it like a banana. It was such a pleasurable experience. I also love my CSA for the broccoli, spinach, red potatoes, garlic, carrots, onions, tomatoes (oh, I wish I could get those tomatoes all year!), and cucumbers I get in my boxes.

And why do I hate it? The endive, kale, breakfast radishes, Swiss chard that show up– you know, the stuff that’s really hard to cook. (And I’m not even counting the green beans, beets, fennel, eggplant, and escarole that I pass along to my mother.) I don’t like wasting food, and there’s always something that I can’t or don’t want to use. As the drop-off point for the CSA, I get stuck with the food that people fail to pick up, too. Last year, we had a lot of extra boxes lying around, so I would mix in my unwanted veggies and drop everything at the local food pantry. This year’s group of subscribers is way more conscientious. There have only been three or four weeks when people have forgotten to pick up their shares, so I’m left wondering what to do with my extra kale or bunch of cilantro. I figured it would be too weird to drop off a small bag of mixed greens so — I am embarrassed to admit it — sometimes I just threw everything into the compost bin.

I’m really trying to do the right thing for my family, the environment, and my health, but because of the wasted veggies I am considering giving up my share next year. How sad is that? Damn you, kale!

Kettle Cuisine soups. I love soup. Love it. It’s quick, filling, and usually chock-full of vitamins and healthy stuff. Except for one thing: It usually comes in a can. Cans usually have BPA, which in my book negates all the good stuff, which is why soup, in recent years, has become something I avoid. Yes, it’s true homemade soup is BPA-free, but I can’t always make my own. (Although I  did make my own lentil soup during the throws of my severe anemia. I didn’t freeze it as my mother told me I should, so I threw a bunch of it out. But I digress…) A few weeks ago, a press contact at Kettle Cuisine reached out, sending me a few coupons to try the stuff for free. I decided to give it a try since the company uses real food ingredients — no hydrogenated this or high fructose that. The soups come frozen in BPA-free plastic containers; It’s #1 PETE, but I still took the soup out of the container and put it into a glass bowl to heat it in the microwave. After a few minutes it was ready. Oh. My. Goodness. I had Tomato Soup with Garden Vegetables (110 calories) on Wednesday and Angus Beef Steak Chili with Beans (250 calories) last night. Both tasted like my mom made them — lots of vegetables, meat, and broth. A success. Can’t wait to try the other varieties.

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident for Wii. I spent a lot of time lying on my back over the past few months. My poor kids had to sort of hover close by so I could watch them. We played Wii a lot and this game — a type of I Spy — was one of their favorites, and something I could actually play with them. The best part of this game is that the entire family could participate. Big Girl did the navigation while Little Girl and I (and sometimes my husband) searched for the hidden items on the screen. It’s a lot of fun, and it doesn’t get old.

MindWare Q-bitz. Another fun game for the entire family. Each person gets their own square frame along with 16 multi-patterned dice. The goal: Try and duplicate the pattern on a card before someone else does. We gave Little Girl a head start so even she could play!

The iPad 2. I was never an Apple fan. I prefer PCs, actually, but I cannot explain HOW much I love my iPad. I love the Optimum Online iPad app that lets me pull up live television from every room in my house. I love Fruit Ninja, which is a super-fun game that everyone can play alone and against each other. I love having an always-on Web browser sitting next to me while I watch TV. I just love it. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for creating a device that anticipates and provides for everything I need and want to do.

Clif Kid Z-Bars (in either chocolate brownie or chocolate chip flavors). What do you do when your hemoglobin drops below ten? Eat stuff that is iron-rich. While I love Cream of Wheat, I can’t eat it more than once a day. Enter Z-Bars, which are 95 percent organic, low in calories and fat, and taste like candy. I ate one every day both for the taste and for the hefty dose of vitamins and minerals.

Citrus Lane gift boxes. I’m finally able to talk about baby stuff without crying, so I figured I’d pass along this great idea. This company lets people buy monthly giftbox subscriptions for new parents, filling the boxes with healthy and natural items that are age-appropriate for Baby. For example, Month One’s box contains an Aden + Anais Burpy bib, a bottle of Mommy’s Bliss Gripe water, a Sage Creek Organics washcloth, a package of Weleda Calendula Diaper Care, and a Cotton People Organic baby doll. Very cool, very fun. A nice way to give all throughout the year, especially since you can start the subscription any time between month one and month 18.

That’s it for now. Big weekend coming up. Big Girl turns eight. My MiL goes home to Florida. The kids have an extended weekend. Hope everyone has a good one.

The outline of my Grandma's personal garden. The compost heap was at the lowest point of the photo.

Growing up, I lived in a house with a huge (for Long Island) backyard. It was a stretched pentagon-shaped piece of property 60 feet across in the front but about 300 feet across in the back. It went back at its deepest 250 feet deep, and the house wasn’t big so there was a wide expanse to run and play and work in. Since there was so much room every spring my Italian grandma would come and plant three vegetable gardens along the back fence, which abutted a school yard. We’ have tomatoes, watermelon, lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, green peppers, eggplant, and herbs, among other items. She also planted a fourth garden along the common side fence that we shared with a neighbor — a perfect place to grow green beans, cucumbers, and other climbing plants.  Grandma was blessed with a proverbial green thumb. My father had one, too, despite the fact that he grew up in a Manhattan apartment building. They gardened together for years before he died.

While my father had good instincts, it was my Grandma who taught him that the best fertilizer is the natural stuff. During the planting phase he’d watch my grandmother drop egg shells, veggie scraps, and manure into the dug-out holes, lovingly ensconcing in the little seedling plants and covering them with what was essentially garbage. I don’t know if my grandmother had anything to do with it, but at some point he started making a huge compost pile in the backyard and it became the primary way to feed our garden. All the yard and grass clippings went there, of course, but so did coffee grinds and eggshells and apple peelings. Dry leaves were added in the fall. In the spring they would fill up a wheel barrow and dump piles of compost on top of the garden, covering up the withered vines and plants from the previous year. (No reason to pull them, after all, since the dry, brown vines and mushed tomatoes and eggplants would simply have gone into the compost bin anyway.)

Between April and April, I can remember him — every so often — turning over the pile with a pitchfork. What’s most vivid, though, is the memories of its smell and heat. In the spring, the pile would steam as he uncovered the decomposing bottom layers. In the summer, if you took a moment, you could smell the different components rising up. It was a good smell. I think I may have even sat in that heap once or twice. It was fairly close to our swingset, so it was often incorporated into our play — sometimes it was a home for ghosts; sometimes goblins lived in it.The smell and the process bring back wonderful memories of people who have been gone for years.

Anyway, tonight as I took a bowl of vegetable scraps out to my own pristine, antiseptic, black plastic compost bin I remembered the one from my childhood, and connected the two. I don’t know why it took me so long to do so. Here I thought I was doing something so modern and Earth-friendly, but in reality I was just following in my father’s footsteps. He and my grandmother were eco-friendly before I EVER was.

Feeling nostalgic, I came inside and told Big Girl about my childhood compost bin. (She loves hearing about when Mommy was a little girl.) I also made her a promise: Next year, we’re going to start a garden. After all, what’s the point of composting if you don’t use it for what it’s intended for: creating life.

Flavored milk: Why bother?

I was more than impressed this past Tuesday to see that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) school board voted to eliminate flavored milk from its cafeteria. Now, the more than 1,074,691 students in the district won’t be guzzling extra sugar, food dyes, and high fructose corn syrup with their milk. While the board made the right decision, I knew it never would have happened if it wasn’t for Jamie Oliver, the creator and host of Food Revolution.

I watched the first season of the show and loved the way Jamie was able to turn an unhealthy lunch program into one that was not only healthier, but better for the environment. (Fresh food is always better than pre-packaged stuff that has been processed and trucked half-way across the country.) That’s why I was really sad when I saw the troubles he had with the LAUSD, who wanted nothing to do with Jamie or his revolutionary food tactics. And yet, even with their reticence to let him in to do his magic, he was still able to create real, meaningful change within the district. (Although I would have been happier if they said they were switching over to organic plain milk! I won’t give my kids non-organic dairy, but I digress as usual…)

This week I was lucky enough to grab a few moments of Jamie’s time to ask a few questions about flavored milk. Here’s what he said.

KB: Why do you think people are so reluctant to give up flavored milk?

Jamie: Two reasons: The Dairy Board has done a really good job scaring parents and we’ve gotten our kids addicted to sugary milk. They prefer it. But that’s not the point really. They prefer chocolate cake too, but we don’t let them eat chocolate cake every day sometimes twice a day for 180 days a year because they prefer it.

KB: What are the dangers of flavored milk?

Jamie: The added sugar. Pure and simple. There is no need to add so much extra sugar into kids’ daily diets.

KB: What do you say to the people who insist flavored milk helps get children to drink their milk?

Jamie: I say we should be responsible adults, educators and parents and not give children the choice. We can market to them as well. When I was in Huntington, the entire kindergarten class chose white milk and drank it, and when I asked them why, they told me because their teacher told them to. IT IS that simple. Show leadership. Educate. Be responsible for the health of the future generations.

KB: How can parents create this type of change in their own schools?

Jamie: Go to the Food Revolution website and download the tool kit and get involved with your local community. We’ve got Facebook groups springing up all over the country connecting like-minded parents who want to make change. Get angry and start stirring things up.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jamie! I’d also add that people might want to follow Jamie on Twitter. (I do.) This post is how I am participating this week in Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays — two awesome campaigns to get people eating real food again.

Looks so yummy I may go and make a sandwich...

I was at the deli counter of my favorite store. “Do you have any of the Boar’s Head All Natural stuff,” I asked. (Meaning: the Boar’s Head All Natural line, which is produced without artificial ingredients, added nitrates, MSG or gluten, and comes from animals that were raised on a vegetarian grain-fed diet without hormones or antibiotics.) There were two guys at the counter. After telling me that he did, actually have both the turkey and the roast beef, the one guy turned to the other guy and told him that it was great that Boar’s Head offered that line. That he had never fed his kid, who is now seven, any type of cold cuts when he was younger because of the nitrates and artificial junk in it. The other guy goes, “Yeah, and now they know that the colors are so bad for kids. Sheesh. I’m glad there are better options out there.”

This was not Whole Foods, or even my local King Kullen, which has a Wild by Nature inside of it. No, this was Best Yet Market, which has a very limited organic selection, so these guys are truly just everyday folks. People who probably get all their “natural” news from the paper or from CNN. As those guys went back and forth for a while longer, I stood at the counter and felt so proud of myself. Everything I have been talking about for years was finally making it into the mainstream.

My glow got warmer when I got to Little Girl’s school and saw they had taped a copy of the WebMD article that discusses the potential link between artificial colors and hyperactivity and attention problems.

I’ve been at this healthy food thing for a long time. I know many people, even some of my friends, don’t believe a word of it, and think I am nutty. But I feel like we’ve come to a point where many parents — not just crunchy ones like me — are questioning why the incidence of conditions such as ADHD, food allergies, early puberty, eczema, and other digestive issues has skyrocketed over the past 20 years. Is it high fructose corn syrup? Artificial colors? The preservatives in vaccines? Artificial flavors? The environment? Hormones in milk, dairy, and meat? Or is it all of the above? I think it’s going to take another 20 years to sort it all out. For instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration bailed on its responsibilities last week when it called for additional research instead of warning labels. Not everyone on the panel, of course.

Lisa Lefferts, an environmental health consultant who was one of six panel members (out of 14), who supported adding more information to food labels even though there’s not a perfect link between artificial colors and behavior issues. Her exact words, according to a news report: “There’s something going on. Parents know that. But it’s hard to measure.”

Until we figure it all out, I will take solace in the fact that I am not alone anymore. Other parents are finally on the journey with me, which makes it so much easier for me to feed my kids good, healthy, wholesome food. True, cold cuts aren’t exactly health food, but now if my little girl wants a turkey sandwich I don’t feel guilty about giving it to her.

I worked until 6:30 tonight. I’m in a really busy period right now, so it couldn’t be avoided. (Besides, my mother, who normally comes on Thursdays, was unable to sit today so I had taken some time to do Mommy and Me earlier in the day. I had to make up for lost hours.)

Okay, so I finish work, come downstairs, and it hits me. What am I feeding these kids? I decide to go over to Trader Joe’s and pick up a few things I need, hoping for inspiration. The whole drive over I hear my mother’s voice in my head telling me how horrible I am for not feeding “those poor girls” at 6 p.m., the time “normal people eat.”

I go into the store, pick up some stuff I am out of, and grab some fresh turkey for dinner. The whole time the kids are bouncing off the walls. Laughing, making noise, acting up. By then, I’m physically exhausted. Honestly? I just want to lie down in the aisle and go to sleep. But I don’t. I am Mommy. I get my bags to the car, strap both kids in (Big Girl has trouble with the seat belt/booster in my husband’s car, which I am driving — long story), and I start home. I make the right on to Merrick Road out of the parking lot, and Big Girl pipes up from the backseat: “How come the worst food stores in the world are so close to the best food store in the world?” Pausing for a moment to take the statement in, I notice that there are indeed two “bad” fast food chains somewhat adjacent to TJ’s. And then I am surprised to find myself thinking how easy my life would be at that moment if I could just make another right, go through the drive-up, order a bunch of crap, and let them eat it. I could be done for the night in less than ten minutes.

The thought was fleeting, of course. No, instead I drove the kids home, warmed up the turkey, broke out some baby spinach, organic green apples (with sunflower seed butter because they wanted to dip the apples into it), some bread, two cups of yogurt, and some cheese.

It wasn’t fancy, but they ate it all, asking for seconds. Even the little one. As they finished, I read them a story — the third book in the Boxcar Children series — and we went upstairs to get ready for bed. Upstairs, I washed Little Girl’s face and hands, did the toilet stuff, got her ready for bed, read Pinkalicious for the hundredth time since Saturday, and put her into bed. Big Girl handled her own bedtime routine, and soon she was ensconced in her bed, too.

And as I sit here, my body even more tired after writing a story and a half, and talking on the phone to three friends, I completely and totally get why people choose fast food over a home-cooked (or in my case, home-warmed and home-assembled) meal. Because it is, at least physically, a LOT easier to drive up to a window, hand over a little cash, and be done.

It’s exactly why, on Friday nights when my mom worked until 8, we got Subway or McDonald’s or Burger King. (Yes, as a kid I used to polish off a Big Mac.) She was done. We needed to be fed. Easy-peasy. On the other hand, I realize that it wasn’t THAT much trouble to pull together a dinner that was comprised of healthy protein, leafy green vegetables, fruit, and carbs — almost all of which was organic. Still, just wanted to let everyone know that I get it. I really do. Oh, and that after going it alone last Friday and Saturday (hubby was skiing), Tuesday (hubby was at an Islanders-Rangers game), and tonight I have one thing to say: tomorrow my husband is taking care of dinner.

This post is how I am participating this week in Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays — two awesome campaigns to get people eating real food again.

You should check out the ingredients yourself, of course, but some, like the Dulche de Leche, have artificial colors including Yellow #5 Lake, Yellow #6 Lake, and Blue #2 Lake. Others, like Trefoils, have artificial colors. And almost all of them have palm oil. If you read the Girl Scout Cookies FAQ, it explains that high fructose corn syrup and all those questionable ingredients are “necessary,” according to the manufacturer Little Brownie Bakers, which is basically Kellogg (yes, the cereal people who make Froot Loops that make babies bounce off of walls). Without high fructose corn syrup, the cookies won’t brown up right, they say. Without palm oil, they won’t have as long of a shelf life. Sigh.

And here I am, in possession of this knowledge, and I’m still helping my troop set up cookie booths. I’m buying five boxes to send to the troops. I’m letting Big Girl bring Girl Scout cookies into school as a prop for her biography report. I’m bringing the form to my bowling league. So hypocritical.

I am a sell out. Yes, it all comes down to money. We earn $.60 for every box we sell, which in the past my girls have used to pay for our year-end party. One year, we went to Pump It Up. Last year we went to a local amusement park. This year we’re contemplating the American Girl store or maybe a sleepover party at the local children’s museum.

It hasn’t been easy for me — giving in like this. I’ve wondered if I should tell the troop that we’re skipping the cookies, and ask the parents to pony up the extra $30 per girl that it takes to go on these big field trips. But each year I’ve been reluctant to push my beliefs on other parents and children. And now that the girls have done a booth — having a ball, I might add — I feel even worse taking the experience away from them. It’s a team-builder for sure. It helps the girls learn about money, about salesmanship, about setting and reaching goals. It’s just such a difficult decision.

Still, I’m not just going to forget all those chemicals and bad ingredients. Heck, this IS Kellogg after all. It’s got the money and the power needed to provide us Girl Scouts with healthy alternatives, which is why I’m going to have my own daughter at least write to Girl Scouts and Kellogg asking them why they don’t care enough about kids to provide them with healthier options. It’s a good question to ask, right? And it’s also why I am asking you, my readers, to do the same if you care. Here’s the contact info for you:

Girl Scouts of America has a form on its website where you can email them with questions.

Little Brownie Bakers also has a web form.

It’s only after enough of us let them know that while we love supporting girls, we don’t want to support unhealthy activities that anything is going to change.

For instance, My friend Christina’s blog alerted me to the fact that two 12-year-old Girl Scouts are asking troops all across the country to create a puzzle piece, which they supply, that explains why they don’t want Little Brownie to use palm oil. (As per a news story, “The habitat of orangutans is being threatened by conversion of the land to the production of palm oil, an ingredient in Girl Scout Cookies.”) The girls are going to send the entire puzzle to Girl Scouts of America, asking them to get the palm oil out of the cookies. I’m thinking they may actually get somewhere based on the amount of press they’ve received. Good for them, and good for us, too, right? And the little children shall lead us…

This post is how I am participating this week in Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays — two awesome campaigns to get people eating real food again.