Health Food Quiz

Explanation
Agave nectar is a highly processed refined food and is not much better for you than high fructose corn syrup. The extremely high percentage of fructose in the syrup can trigger fructose malabsorption, metabolic syndrome, hypertriglyceridemia, decreased glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and accelerated uric acid formation.

Explanation
Organics CAN be a great value or a complete waste of money. It depends. Big-Agra and large corporations jumped on the organic bandwagon as soon as it appeared there was money to be made in that sector. Despite the packaging with pretty country images on it, a lot of the organic foods are not coming from local small family farms, but huge corporations. Produce from a local small farm who grows without pesticides but hasn't gone through all the hoops to get organic certification can be a much better bargain than organics shipped cross-country from huge factory farms. Unfortunately you have to really do your homework in order to decide if buying organic is worth the extra money.

Explanation
All cage-free means is the chickens aren't in cages. It DOES NOT guarantee the chickens spent a happy life in the sunshine eating grass and bugs and scratching in the dirt like they are supposed to. It usually means they were raised in a large climate-controlled warehouses and still never see daylight. The best way to know the chickens that provided your eggs are treated well, look for eggs PASTURED chickens, or better yet, raise your own. You can easily raise chickens, ducks, or quail in a typical suburban backyard to get your own fresh egg supply. Visit www.backyardchickens.com for more information.

Explanation
Eggs from pastured chickens ARE healthier than factory farm eggs. A Mother Earth News study in 2007 showed chickens with access to grass, seeds, bugs, and worms will produce a much healthier egg. Egg brands that claim their chickens are vegetarian fed can ONLY make that claim by keeping their birds confined and not allowing them access to their natural diet. Chickens are NOT vegetarians. They will not only eat bugs, snakes, lizards, and worms, but given the opportunity they will kill and eat mice and other rodents. This may surprise some people, but the chicken is the closest living relative to the T-Rex, and the T-Rex didn't spend it's days eating soy.

Explanation
Just because something doesn't list sugar as the ingredient doesn't mean you aren't giving your kid sugar. You need to look at the total carbohydrate count. If a typical cookie made with sugar has 17g of carbohydrates and a sugar-free cookie has 16g of carbohydrates, by the time the cookie is digested, your child still got about the same amount of "sugar" no matter which cookie they ate. For every 50g of carbohydrates your child eats, it the the equivalent of 1/4 cup of sugar regardless of the source. Bread, rice, potatoes and pasta are really just sugar in disguise.

Explanation
Sodas, energy drinks and fruit juice all have something in common...a high level of fructose. While the fructose in juice is natural, it isn't much better for you than the high fructose corn syrup you find in sodas and other drinks. A recent Duke University study linked HFCS consumption to liver damage. High intake of natural fructose increases triglycerides and is linked to obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Drink water or herbal teas instead.

Explanation
From "all natural" highly processed soy bars to breakfast cereals and faux meats, shopping at a health food stores gives no guarantee the items in the store will be healthy at all. Weather shopping at Super Walmart or Whole Foods, stick to the outside isles. Fresh produce, whole dairy and meats are your best nutrition bargain. If it comes in a fancy package with a cartoon character on it, the odds are high it is just expensive, highly processed garbage. Don't let words like all natural, organic or whole grain fool you.