Deadly DHA?

I recently entered the world of working motherhood.  My incessant google searching and continuous self-education on all things baby has quickly screeched to a halt.  These days if I make it to the local farmers stand instead of the store I feel like I am doing good, never mind organic. 

Nonetheless, I have continued biting the bullet so to speak on Organic DHA fortified milk (Horizon).  It makes me feel better to know Jovi is getting a daily supplement of DHA in his diet.  

Flash back almost a year ago when I was in the kitchen and my sis-n-law came up behind me as I was peeling a sweet potato for Jovi.  "is that organic?" she asked.  "No"... I stammered and like wildfire the guilt poured out of my emotional holding take like a tidal wave.

Flash forward to tonight.  Pouring Jovi his milk before bath time (after he just finished an entire bottle).  Sis-n-law comes beside me and carefully studies the milk carton.  I nervously pretend not to notice.  She suddenly says in exclamation... "No!!!!  You can't give this to him anymore!!!!!".   She reads the label of the source of the DHA which for an extra 60 cents fortifies Jovi's milk.   Apparently, the company Lifes DHA by Martek has been under a lot of scrutiny for using a synthetic additive and plopping it on cartons that claim to be organic. 

Long story short, the DHA added into it is actually a derivative of fermented algae, chemically altered into an oil form on DHA.  AND, is suspected to cause cancer and neurological issues.  

Who knew.  I guess I will be using the expensive cancer causing milk in my coffee tomorrow morning.

I am reminded of after I had Jovi and I was so excited to eat tuna fish again.  I ate a can or 2 a day for a week.  .  and breast fed.  Then, I learned that I was not supposed to have more than 1 can a week due to the mercury.  I cried for a day on and off convinced that I had caused my precious baby some mental or neurological issue.  I am reminding myself of this as I catastrophize over the deadly DHA... my mind is currently buzzing with alarms, drills, bells, screams.   

If you want to learn about it yourself you just have to google Martek DHA dangers.  

It has been especially scrutinized because it has been used frequently in infant formula.  Apparently, this type of additive is not even legal but the FDA is not enforcing it.

Thoughts?

Pizza Pizza

Last weekend we enjoyed a trip to my parents house.  I don't know if you experience this, but Jovi's grandparents feel it is their earthly duty to feed him... anything.  From chips to honey it is all fair game with the grandparents.  What I love the most is how they ask if he can have it when I catch them feeding it to him.  Or, even better, we are at a dinner. I glance at my dad who has a chocolate chip cookie inching its way towards Jovi's open mouth.  My dad's eyes meet mine staring at him... he asks "can he have it?".  Jovi's big brown eyes fixed on the cookie, drool coming down his chin...

In today's time there is very little we can truly control with our kids.  Sometimes I wonder if food is a sure way to feel like we are doing our best, passing parenthood.  The problem with this is when we don't serve up the healthiest meal or snack, are we doing our worst, failing?  Sometimes this all or nothing thinking just feels right... well it is either all right or all wrong, right?

As we were leaving my parent's house and readying ourselves for a 6 hour drive, I realized Jovi needed to eat dinner.  My mom had 2 options.  Spaghetti or pizza.  Hmm.  My mother, God bless her, wasn't exactly sure how old the pasta was, so we went with the pizza.  "Am I a bad mom for giving him pizza for dinner?"  It was a rhetorical question. I didn't want a response because in my distorted head I had already answered it.  My mom earnestly replies "no, you are a good mom for feeding him pizza for dinner".

Perhaps uber healthy food is like discipline... too much of a good thing can be, not as good. I watched (and heard) Jovi enjoy every bite of that pizza... dirty tomatoes, gluten infested crust, and all.  This was not his first go with a big slice of greasy pizza.. nor was it mine with guilt watching him eat it. But to my mom, its a pretty whole food... "It's just bread, tomatoes, and cheese" she asserts.

I am learning that parenting is about give and take, not pass or fail. 

Good Intentions: Made in China

I believe in a balanced approach.  It helps me.  A few days ago a friend and I were discussing Nair, of all things.  She said "It's crazy that we put stuff on our skin strong enough to make our hair fall out."  I agreed, flashing back to my own trauma with Nair, and mentally noting, and then we go buy organic carrots.  We feel healthy when we drink soda filled with aspartame because it's "diet".  I put sunscreen with a known carcinogen on my skin to prevent skin cancer.  There are even organic cigarettes.  Yes, we live in a world of balancing.   

So since I feel I have personally bought in (literally and figuratively) to Organics, I have taken some time to research and balance opposition.  

According to Businessweek.com, Stonyfield Organic Yogurt buys some of its organic milk, in powder form, from China.  I realize after researching that they are not trying to be cheap, or misleading, but there is simply not enough organic dairy's in the US to keep up with us pesticide protective parents, and others. 

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_42/b4005001.htm

I think it is clear that not eating pesticides is a good thing.  But what is the effect on our world from the fall of local organic farming and the rise of Walmart turning organic into a $14 billion dollar business.  

After reading this article,  I must have felt so convicted that my next shopping trip I purchased organic yogurt, again.  Whether it's from China or some picturesque town in New Hampshire (as shown on labels), it just tastes better to me.  .  .  And reduces my guilt when I give it to Jovi.  I feel that with yogurt the amount of sugar in it is probably a more important thing to look at than whether the cow that made the milk was fed organic grain.  

I also went to the USDA organic website and read all of the regulations on the cows living environment (yes they are all posted online down to where to keep the poop).
But as I was in partial doubt of the fact that organics were coming from China, I found this article on the USDA website.  Since 2006 China's organics have grown from $300,000 to $350 million and now account for the largest export of organic foods.  As a result the USDA are beginning to audit compliance, and just did one.  I found the outcomes to be suspiciously positive.
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5092178&acct=nopgeninfo

Just interesting.  I hope China keeps the lead out of my yogurt!

A sweet potato's saga.

Jovi is about 7 months old and I'm feeling pretty good about myself because I am making homemade baby food, which, for me, is a very huge mess.  Who knew that steamed veggies and a blender could be such a cantankerous pair.   Anyhow, I am laboriously peeling a sweet potato over the sink when a family member comes up, peers over my shoulder and softly, yet intimidatingly asked "Is that organic?".  "No...", I stammered.  She takes a step back noting "You know that sweet potato's grow under the ground and whatever poison is put on them seeps through the soil...".  Visions of my little potato before it was unearthed, innocently, yet deceivingly soaking in poison.  After a moment of pondering my nicely peeled potato, I decided I would just eat it myself (anxiety at a 3 on scale of 10, 10 being highest).  Then, I realized that since I was nursing the poisons may still be transfered (anxiety escalating to a 6).  So I guess my husband would have to eat it (5).  It ended up getting thrown out which further intensified the guilt. . . now I was wasteful too (back to a 6).

Yes, I have issues, but at least I know how to rate them.

After this experience if I couldn't swing the high price of organic sweet potato I bought non organic butternut squash due to the shell covering.

Now, I realize that sweet potato's are a member of the "clean 15".   I'm amazed that someone with almost irritating rhyming abilities has made two lists.  Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 (lists below).  I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I am very grateful for this list that makes me feel dirty for feeding my child any dozen of those things.

If you would like to practice rating your anxiety,  check out this website.  This website is a great resource.  It helps you increase your personal neuroticism and become a nervous wreck.  Thank me later.
http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/

If you would like to keep your wits about you and not sound neurotic, like me, then review these lists, do your best, and go on with your life.

Dirty Dozen: Foods to Buy Organic 

1. apples
2. celery
3. strawberries
4. peaches
5. spinach
6. nectarines, imported
7. grapes, imported
8. sweet bell peppers
9. potatoes
10. blueberries, domestic
11. lettuce
12. kale collard greens 

Clean 15: Okay to Buy Non-Organic 

1. onions
2. sweet corn
3. pineapples
4. avocado
5. asparagus
6. sweet peas
7. mangoes
8. eggplant
9. cantaloupe, domestic
10. kiwi
11. cabbage
12. watermelon
13. sweet potatoes
14. grapefruit
15. mushrooms

https://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/natural-health/2011-dirty-dozen-clean-15-lists.aspx

Milk: It does the body good.

Milk.
Yesterday I stood cross-eyed in the dairy section of the store under pressure because my son was out of milk.  Voices in my head muttering messages read and heard "cows milk is not digestible to humans, cows milk is essential, plastic causes cancer, paper is healthier".  The conversation in my head was loud and confrontational.  I pondered back on my parents generation.  I thought of my mother standing in the milk isle with perhaps 2-3 choices, all from the cow.  I had no less than a dozen choices.  Rice, soy, cow, almond, organic cow, non-organic cow, organic paper, plastic, DHA added..."

I decided on the Horizon Organic Whole DHA added.  I reasoned with my husband that the extra 2 dollars was worth my peace of mind.  He joked that the fancy milk, then, was for my benefit as much as baby's.

Society runs us on fear much of the time.  I wonder if Horizon Organic DHA added banks on moms like me that are laden with guilt and fear.  They write little things on the carton like: "DHA - Gotta Have It!" with a picture of a little boy writing with a pencil.  Also, because it is "Organic" there are no hormones or antibiotics used for the cows that produce it.  Sounds great! Right?

I have some very close friends who have a dairy.  They are milk suppliers for Publix brand milk.  He told me that cows that are not treated with antibiotics cannot be treated when they are sick.  Therefore they are basically ostracized and left to die.  He told me that when they treat their cows with antibiotics there is a regiment that must be followed such as not milking the cow for X amount of time until the antibiotics are no longer in their system.  He serves his family the gallon size Publix brand plain old wallet friendly milk.

Even though I know, and trust, this information, the messages on the carton persuade me that my child needs the DHA fortified.  It's a whole new take on reduced-guilt marketing.

Do we really need to buy organic milk?  Does mine need DHA fortified milk to be a cute little boy writing with a pencil?  My receipt said so.  What does yours say?

dirty dessert.

Pressure.  Oh that familiar feeling of anxiety mixed with a dash of fear.  But all amounts of pressure seem slight compared to the outpouring of it once you begin the joy of parenting.  It starts at your first OB visit and ends... well, my Aunt says the first 40 years of parenthood are the hardest and after that you  just don't care as much.   

At 6 months old, I mentioned to my father-in-law that I had gotten Jovi (my son) organic blueberries for dessert.  They were, of course, part of the "dirty dozen".  In my late night internet research I had learned this was the only way to protect my child from the demons of the pesticide world.  Organic.  I knew my father-in-law would be so proud of me and know that I was, indeed, a good mom.  He laughed, "that stuff is a big joke, its all the same".  "No, it's USDA certified!," I argued.  He was unwavering in his assertion that it was a ploy to make money.  I looked down, sadly, at my $6 blueberries I was once so proud of.  

I do still assert with my father-in-law that organic is better, for baby.  But I work to release myself of guilt for not buying the $6 blueberries.  

Perhaps nowadays we know too much ... knowledge brings PRESSURE.

If you, like me, have fed your child "dirty", yet incessantly washed with guilt, blueberries... stay tuned.  I would like to make this a "safe place" for guilt-ridden and proud parents alike to share in the pressures and successes of parenthood, mainly the pressures of the plate.  Recipes encouraged!