The Crap We Eat

So here's my rant about food. At this point I know I may lose many of you to a very over-exaggerated eye roll--but I'm used to that.  I get the same reaction from my husband every time I bring up the word "food."  Here's the thing, having a kid has greatly opened my eyes to the crap that we eat.  There is so much added to our food today that is seriously harmful for us! The current generation of food is so different than it was even when I was kid.  I'm not going to get into it all but it is disgusting and extremely frustrating.  There are two things that frustrate me the most though and they are listed below:

1.) It is extremely frustrating that although I am decently educated about food and do not want to expose my family to the majority of the ingredients found in food--I can not afford to buy the food that is best for my family.  We have a very strict food budget and buying the food that I would like to buy is simply not possible.  I  try to buy what I feel are the most important things--essentially the things we consume the most.  Meat, milk, and fruits/veggies are the things I splurge on, but it's amazing how expensive quality food is.

2.) Secondly, it is ridiculous that the FDA is allowing some companies to add ingredients to food and then not list those ingredients on the label! I mean seriously, that is insane!  For example, there has been a recent discussion of adding aspartame to milk and not showing this addition to the label.  How can that be allowed?

The addition of ingredients to products that are completely not necessary is what has spurred my recent hysteria--specifically due to the prenatal vitamins that I have been taking for over two years.  While doing some research on atrificial dyes (which are also added to nearly everything we buy) I stumbledd upon an article which listed the top three worst prenatal vitamins in the US.  As I'm sure you are guessing, the top two on the list are the exact vitamins I had been taking---just great! The main reason for these being the worst is the addition of red dye to the vitamins.  Here's a link to the article if you are interested....but the top two vitamins are the Nature Made Pre-Natal and the Women's One a Day Prenatal and DHA.

3 Worst Prenatal Vitamins

My partner in crime, and I,  have been researching the best prenatals as a result of these findings and I wanted to share one with you all.  I have been taking this vitamin for a month now and LOVE it! I have felt great! No nausea--even if taken on an empty stomach and I have had a huge increase in my energy level.

Here they are:
New Chapter Perfect Prenatal Vitamins

And check out the awesome ingredient list:

I have also been taking an additional calcium supplement (2 Tums daily) because I am calcium deficient and there is not a lot of calcium in these vitamins.   I will also need to look into a good DHA supplement. But these things rock, and I would highly recommend them!

If anyone has any suggestions on how to eat healthy on a budget PLEASE offer your advice, I would love to hear from you!

Here We Go Again

Grad school is complete: CHECK! Summer is one week away: CHECK, CHECK! Blog is back up and running: CHECK, CHECK, and CHECK!  So, here we go again.  I have been wanting to write for such a long time now but have not had a free second.  There have been so many things that I have thought, "this would be an awesome blog post" but never had the time to write about it.  I have kept a list and am going to try and write as often as I can this summer.  Brandon and I also have a lot of exciting events, plans and announcements coming up this summer that I can't wait to share.... but before any of that happens I have to make it through one more week of school!

This year has been my favorite year of teaching so far.  I have had the privilege of working with the same group of students for three years when they first came to middle school as little 6th graders, and am now going to watch them graduate on Friday.  I have developed such close relationships with these students and have been able to see them grow immensely throughout these three years.  I have essentially come to be their "mom at school," as I often tell them, and I can't imagine coming to school in the fall and not seeing them! The absolute best thing about being a special ed teacher is being able to work individually with students and having the ability to develop such deep relationships.  I am really excited for this last week of school because we have a bunch fun activities planned and I am looking forward to spending this more relaxed time with them.  I am also super excited about taking my kiddos on a field trip to their high school for an early tour! I'm excited to see how they act when we are there! It's been an awesome three years but I know Friday is going to be hard.  They are going to do great in high school, but I'm going to miss them.