#Unfortunately dog treats tend to be high protein... so a lot of them are off the menu now

[megpricephotography]

Happy 11th Birthday, Flynnie!!

Birthday boy enjoyed a run around in the buttercup field & some birthday snacks!

[tinyscratches]

Isamu Rat Diet

I’ve seen too many good web pages disappear (and photobucket is nasty) so I’m reposting the good bits of this RatForum thread here. It’s obviously more pertinent to UK rat owners but can help inform rat owners in other countries, as well. 

02-18-2013

Isamurat: Making your own mix – how I do it (picture guide)

I have seen that several people are thinking of starting to make their own mix, or are just starting out feeding one. I thought it might be useful to see how I go about my mix, with photos and info on the kind of ingredients I use as well as the steps I take. I’ve been feeding a homemade mix for years now (started in 2006) and get on very well with it. I do tend to evolve my mix fairly steadily depending on how the rats are doing and new ideas I see. This is one of my mixes, they are all slightly different, but the basic balance stays the same. It is very much my take on a Shunamite style mix, given that I started out on that diet, and have learnt and adapted my mix along the way with a good amount of help from its author over the years. Base (50% by volume) First off I start by assembling the base of the mix, this is predominantly minimally processed grains, it forms about half my total mix and is aimed at giving a solid foundation of carbs, that aren’t too easy to digest (leads to fat rats) and contain plenty of whole grains, but not too much that are high in phosphorous (harsh on the kidneys, one of a rats weak points). I like to include a decent amount of grains still in their husks here too, as it adds an element of enrichment, and keeps the rats busy during the day doing what they are meant to do, peel open little seeds and grains. This means that I generally use animal quality grains (or at least a good number of them) as for some reason us humans are rubbish at, or too lazy to getting grains out of there husks so strip them off. I’ve used a lot of different bases in the past, sometimes entirely mixed grains, sometimes entirely a rat suitable commercial rabbit food. My current balance involves a mix of the two and works well, they get the variety with the backup of the enriched rabbit food. To make my base I add the following (note I’ve tried to photo these all in the same container for people to see the size of the bits) • 6 scoops Banana brunch - this is a lovely rabbit mix with the following ingredients (in order of volume); cooked flaked peas, cooked flaked barley, oats, cooked flaked maize, cooked flaked beans, mixed wheat discs (with vitamins), banana chips, flaked carrot, banana essence, vitamins + minerals. Its nutritional analysis is; protein 14%, fat 2%, fibre 5%, Vitamin A 5000 iu/kg, Vitamin E 26 iu/kg, copper (cupric sulphate) 5mg/kg . I break up the banana pieces into smaller chunks, otherwise it looks like this

• 6 Scoops Marshams Mixed flakes - this is a nice mix of micronize flakes, micronizing is essentially heating and squishing, the heating helps ensure that the fungus issue you sometimes see with dried corn/maize isn’t an issue. It’s 60% flaked barely, 20% flakes peas and 20% flaked corn and smells lovely and pea flavoured. I use this to help bulk out my mix and up the barley content (this is my fave rat kidney friendly grain, closely followed by rice)

• 4 scoops Versa Laga Junior Dark Plus Pigeon mix – I add this as it’s a good way of getting lots of variety of seeds and grains in without having to have many little packets of them. Its ingredients are as follows: extra french cribs maize 16%, dari white 14%, paddy rice 12%, extra wheat 8%, safflower seed 8%, extra small french cribs maize 6%, milocorn 4%, extra barley 4%, yellow peas 4%, green peas 4%, small green peas 4%, yellow millet 2%, toasted soya beans 2%, mungbeans 2%, maple peas 2%, striped sunflower seeds 1%, brown linseed 1%, junior pellet I.C. 6%. Its major nutritional values are; protein 12.5%, fat 7%, fibre 7.5%, carbohydrates 54%. The higher fat helps combat the low fat of the banana brunch and mixed flakes. It’s a lovely interesting mix and goes down well.

• 2 scoops Paddy rice – there’s already some in the pigeon food, however I add more as it’s such a good grain, and my preferred mixes major on barely and rice. Paddy rice is a nice form of rice, it’s still inside it’s husk, meaning to get at the grain the rats need to peel it before they reveal the brown rice inside.

• 1 scoop Pearl Barley – I add this as an alternative form of barley, it’s a different shape and texture so nice for them, this is human quality so unfortunately doesn’t have its husk on, I’ll get hold of some that are husky at some point.

• 1 scoop Millet seeds – this is another good grain, and as it’s around 11% protein it helps make up for the fact that most grains are very low in protein. I get a mixture of red and white millet still in their husks

• 2 x Millet spray broken up – another form/texture of millet. I take a millet spray and just run my fingers along the stalk backwards, giving my lots of mini millet tufts. These are a little easier for rats to find in there substrate, though mine can find even individual seeds now.

When mixed together this gives me my base mix which is approximately 20-21 scoops

Protein (5-10%)

As I use a base that works out relatively low protein in need to add extra protein to top it up. Rats need a diet around 12-14% protein for normal adults, more for growing youngsters. The best protein sources for being kind to the kidneys are egg, soya and fish (in that order). All have their strengths and weaknesses so I do a mix, which also adds variety balancing there weaknesses. It also helps make sure that the rats get ‘complete’ protein, proteins are made up of different amino acids, you need a full range of them to fully use the protein, mixing the type of protein you use helps this. • ½ scoop dried shrimps, mealworms, fish, tubifex, bloodworm and krill. Crustatians are really handy as there high in copper, they are also a great form of protein in that they have a high protein:fat ratio. Mealworms are a little high in fat but I include them because they’re quite a natural foodstuff for rats, and there isn’t loads of them. These are all very light, as I mix by volume it means by weight I don’t add loads, but given there around 60% protein this is good as you don’t want to boost the overall values too much.

• ½ scoop Soya flakes – this is micronized soya, the cooking part of the process makes it safe for the rats to eat, as uncooked soya beans are not good for them (much like any bean). Soya is a bit controversial for some people, it reduces the chance of some forms of cancer, and increases the chances of others, however pretty much all studies are done at high levels of soya, feeding as a small part of the diet can be quite beneficial and it’s a good kidney kind protein and one of the few proteins which are complete. I’ve also fed it as the dried beans soaked for 12 hours, then roasted in the oven, this also makes them safe to eat (and are a nice treat for humans and rats too).

• ½ scoop Egg biscuit– this is essentially floury biscuit soaked in egg then dried. It is often sold for birds as egg food, this one is particularly nice as its in bigger chunks, meaning the rats can find it in their substrate when I scatter feed. It seems a little high in sugar (smells cakey), so I wouldn’t use it as all their protein, but it’s a very handy way of adding dried egg.

• ½ scoop Fish for dogs Salmon small bite kibble. This is by far my fave dog kibble to use in my rats diet, its really high quality and the ingredients list says it all. Ingredients; Salmon (27%), Pea Flour (22%), Potato (23%), Fishmeal (8.7%), Salmon Oil (9.3%), Beet Pulp (6.6%), Brewers Yeast, Minerals. Nutrition: Protein 26%, Fat 12%, Crude Fibres 7.5%, Omega-3 Fatty Acids 1%, Vitamins: Vitamin D3 1,800 IU; Copper Chelate Of Amino Acid Hydrate 80mg; Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 2.5mg Antioxidants (Stabilised With Rosemary And Tocopherol-Rich Extracts). Effectively it has a good proportion of named meat, and that’s an oily fish, which is a sign of good quality. Also by going for fish you avoid the heavily farmed poultry or beef, which are far more likely to have poor care standards and contain lots of chemicals. The other ingredients are also named and aside from the fishmeal (which I would prefer over most other meat meals) all are whole. The protein is quite high for a dog kibble but as I don’t add loads it works well, plus the size of the pieces is tiny, which means it spreads well in the mix. I mainly add it because of the added vitamins it contains, particularly vit d and copper. Both are naturally low in a grain based mix, and with the rabbit food I add being low copper I need to boost it. This helps a fair bit and as an added bonus the rats love it too

Here’s a shot of the mix with protein element added to the base

Processed Carbohydrates 20-25%

This section is there to up the amount of carbs the rat can get from the food, as well as adding in vitamins and minerals. A diet entirely devoid of more processed carbs can mean that some of the nutrition is not so available. Too high and you get rats that get fat easily. This balance seems to work well, as long as you keep the sugar content of the carbs down below 5% (in most cases) and try and select for wholegrain products unless you have old rats (when white grains, and upping the overall percentage can be useful). • 1 scoop Denes wholegrain mixer – this is a mixer for dogs, it’s a wheat based biscuit, which I normally don’t prefer, but has good vitamin content, especially copper, calcium and vitamin D, so it is very useful. Ingredients: Cereals (Wholegrain Wheat), Derivatives of vegetable origin (herbs include Seaweed), Grassmeal, Minerals. Nutrition: Protein 11%, Oil 2%, Fibre 4%, Calcium 1.4%, Copper (Cupric Sulphate) 15mg/kg, Vitamin A 5,000iu/kg, Vitamin D3 500iu/kg, Vitamin E 50mg/kg. I break these in half of thirds as on their own they are a bit too big to properly divide up in a mix.

• 1 scoop Rice crispies – one of my preferred grains, I normally go for a value or own brand ranges as they are generally lower in sugar, as a breakfast cereal its enriched with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

   • 1 scoop Mixed puffs – These are a mix of different grains including spelt, rice, millet, etc. These offer a nice easily digestible addition to the diet and add a variety of grains

• ½ scoop Shredded wheat bitesize – this is the lowest phosphorous form of wheat, I break them up a bit and use them as my main wheat element of the mix.

• ½ scoop Cornflakes - similar to rice crispies, I use own or value brands, whatever is lowest sugar content. They are enriched which is handy and corn isn’t a bad grain to have in terms of phosphorous.

• 1 rice cracker broken up – mainly added for a little more variety, I break into small pieces At this stage the mix looks like this

Herbs – 5%

This part of the mix offers extra flavours and textures, as well as a change to exploit some of the lovely properties many herbs have. I vary this one every time and try and add a couple of different types in. I generally use herbs sold for rabbits as they come in decent sized chunks, human herbs are chopped too finely and easily get lost in the mix. • ½ scoop Herb Plus – this is my fave rabbit herb mix, it smells lovely and has good variety in it

• ½ scoop Echinacea – This apparently has immune boosting properties (at least in the tincture form, I doubt it adds much in its herb form, but I feed it anyway), it’s a little big so I chop it up smaller, the rats eat it though it’s not there fave bit.

• 2-3 sheets Shredded Nori – seaweed is full of lots of minerals and is very useful to have in a mix, I find that cutting up dried nori sheets sold for sushi goes down well and is easy to get hold of, seaweed powder just gets lost in a mix.

Veg – 5%

This also adds some variety and extra flavours, vits and minerals. • ½ scoop Dried mixed veg – this is a mix typically sold for human soups, its leek, carrot, potato and peas. I sometimes get it in cubes, sometimes chopped for variety of texture.

• ¼ scoop Beetroot flakes – beetroot is a super food, full of all sorts of good stuff, its also a natural way to add colour to the mix (from an entirely human view lol). The rats seem to like it as it’s one of the first things to go. If it gets wet though it turns things near it pink.

• ¼ scoop Mixed pepper flakes – A nice mix of chopped, dried sweet peppers (capsicum), both red and green, colourful veg is packed full of vitamin C and it goes down well too.

At this stage the mix looks like this

Seeds – 5%

This is the final element of my mix, it ups the fat content, as aside from the protein section everything else is a fair bit lower in fat than the rats need. It also makes sure that these fats are good fats, in particular omega 3 and 6. It’s easy to cut out the good fats when your rat is overweight but don’t, the overall calories make a far bigger difference and a decent amount of good quality fats keeps there skin and coat healthy. This section also adds a bit of additional protein to the mix and can have other advantages if you choose your seeds well. • 1 scoop Mixed Seeds and pine nuts – This is a mix of good seeds I’ve made up, I always try and get them in their shells or husks to add to the task of getting in to them, it also slows down there scoffing slightly. This mix includes hemp (one of the few complete protein sources out there), linseed (otherwise known as flax, great for the kidneys), pumpkin seeds in their shells (full of nice omega oils), Pine nuts (there shells are really tough which is a great challenge to the rats), mixed meadow seeds (typically edible grass and flower seeds), fennel seeds (gives them a lovely smell) and cumin seeds. The main ones are the first few oily seeds, with the others adding variety and interest, as well as the challenge of finding them in there bedding.

• 6 Chopped brazil nuts - I add these because here in the UK, and in Europe in general, our grains are low in the mineral selenium, brazils are really high in it, so the rats don’t need much. About 1 brazil will do 4-6 rats there selenium intake for a week. I chop them up small so everyone gets a bit of them.

When everything is mixed together it looks like this

The above mix is fed in the mornings, they get about 10-20g of this mix each a day. Importantly to me it’s scatter fed, which means they have to forage for it in there substrate. It’s not just about what you feed, it’s also how you feed it. They don’t leave anything apart from husks, as I’m mean and don’t feed loads. Supplements, Veg and Fresh Food On its own it is not this mix is not 100% complete, it’s still a bit low on some vitamins and minerals, however I feed it alongside a daily mix of Veg. I also give them vitamin supplements in there water once to twice a week. These are important as the offer a safety net in terms of vitamins and help to make sure everything is covered. Even with all the balancing above, and feeding daily veg the mix is a little weak on copper, vit d and calcium. Without this the rats could become deficient, you can balance it to some extent by fresh, but I would strongly advise anyone who feeds this kind of diet to consider some supplements, having had rats with vit D deficiency in the past when I didn’t add the kibble, rabbit food etc. The following are my normal ‘extra’s • Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials 1 – this has a nice wide range of vitamins and minerals, the main ones I use it for are topping up there copper and vit D. It goes in there water 1-2 days a week, or up to 6 days a week for babies or pregnant mums

• Dr Squiggles Calcivet – this contains calcium and vitamin D, they get this alongside there daily essentials, I don’t feed this daily, even in youngsters, as the rats need time to process the calcium, so need at least a day off a week, plus too much and they can get calcium stones. 1-3 days a week is plenty for an adult, up to 6 for a baby. • Bones and egg shells – a great source of calcium, my rats always get my left over bones, they get lots of iron out of the marrow , the bones are full of calcium too. Egg shells are the same, they might get 1-2 shells a week, which they sometimes eat. If they get some of these, especially bones, I only do calcivet one day a week • Vegetable – this is fed daily, it’s a mixture of veg I make up then freeze in daily portions. It’s 50% dark green leafy veg such as kale, 20% colourful veg such as carrots, tomatoes or peppers, 20% other veg such as peas, sweetcorn, courgettes etc, 5% berries and 5%raw coconut chopped up. They adore this mix

• Cooked meal – about 1-2 times a fortnight the rats get a balanced cooked meal, this is typically carbs, protein and veg, like eggy rice with peas. It’s a bit of a treat, though a healthy one, and replaces there dry mix for the day. I use it to hide other supplements in and give them a bit of a boost. Typically it has a multivitamin powder in, some salmon or linseed oil and anything else that may be appropriate for their age and conditions (such as extra vit b and glucosamine for oldies, and phosphate binder for those with kidney issues).

Its easy enough to create your own diet based on this kind of principles, a lot is about what ingredients you can get hold of and understanding what the words mean on the ingredients list of things you find in pet shops and supermarkets, but really it’s doable for anyone. I would say that unless you really know how to judge your rats condition make sure you feed a good proportion of enriched foods (like most pet foods and human breakfast cereals) and ideally a good vitamin supplement too, and if your not sure whats wrong talk about it and don’t be afraid to change the balance a little. Someone I massively respect in the rat world once said that feeding rats is part science and part art, and from my experience that is very true. I started out relying on spread sheet and meeting the scientific requirements of my rats, but never got them beyond ‘good enough’ condition, then I relaxed a bit and started doing it more by feel and now my lads are in the best condition they’ve been, which was also verified by others at the show I went to this weekend. Its really nice when it all comes together.

Here’s a list of where you can find them in the UK (I tend to get mine all from online shops, the local farm shop or the supermarket), as well as some info on how to choose alternative brands, as I doubt the same brands are available over there Base • Banana brunch – You can get this from some pet shops, online petshops and online small holder / farm suppliers in the UK. When looking for alternatives try and find a rabbit muesli which is higher in peas/barley/beans than wheat and ideally has no alfalfa, wheatfeed or strawfeed added (or these are low down the ingredients list). Don’t just limit yourself to rabbit food, some rat, horse and guinea pig food isn’t bad as a base over here (though it might not be great for a normal meal). If you cant find any you can drop this element of the base, its just a nice cover all. Aiming for around 10-14% protein and 2-5% fat works well • Marshams Mixed flakes – Animal feed stores, online farm/small holding stores, farm and equine supply shops. Its normally easier to get hold of each product individually but that’s not massively practical with only a small number of rats. There are a variety of mixes sold here, the ones higher in barley are better, some come with added soya flakes too, which is handy. This could be replaced to some extent by more processed grains sold in health stores, less enrichment for the rats but easier to get hold of. Can work out quite expensive though and you need to get a range of grains • Versa Laga Junior Dark Plus Pigeon mix – Animal feed stores, online farm/small holding stores, bird feed specialists. if picking an alternative aim for one with a large range of grains and not too high or low protein, most pigeon feeds are predominantly corn, avoid these unless you don’t have much if any corn elsewhere in the mix. Some parrot / bird seed my make a good alternative • Paddy rice – Online bird feed stores, im sure it must be available elsewhere but that’s the only place I’ve found it here, oh and rat rations but as that started out life as an online bird feed store until the rat world got hold of it that doesn’t count. • Pearl Barley – supermarket, health food shop • Millet seeds – bird feed shops, could replace with processed millet if needed or entirely with broken up millet sprays if wanted • Millet spray broken up – pet shops, very commonly sold over here. Protein • dried shrimps, mealworms, fish, tubifex, bloodworm and krill. – sold for turtle/terrapin/fish food here in specialist exotics shops (mainly sourced online). Mealworms are very easy to get hold of and sold for wild birds. • Soya flakes – Animal feed stores, farm shops, online small holder ranges etc., can replace with roasted soya nuts (salt free) which you can make yourself by soaking dried soya beans for 12 hours and roasting for about 20-30 mins at 180 deg C. Chickpeas are another alternative (also need soaking and roasting) as is dried soya mince or similar often sold in health shops • Egg biscuit– sold as bird egg food or similar in some pet shops and bird food specialists. Could be removed and just feed fresh egg once a week. • Fish for dogs Salmon small bite kibble. – found in online petshops and their website, not sure if this brand is available in the US. Look for high end ‘natural ingredients’ dog food, aiming for fish based where possible as its higher quality. High copper content and small bite is a bonus. Can be missed out but you need to up the supplements relatively Processed Carbohydrates • Denes wholegrain mixer – Available from online pet shops, it’s a natural vegetarian mixer. Aim for high end ranges again, look for high vitamin content, especially copper. An alternative is barley rings, sold as animal feed in farm shops, small holder places etc. If your missing this out you will have to up supplements in other forms. • Rice crispies – supermarket • Mixed puffs – health food shops, rat rations (who stock pretty much everything here in the uk) • Shredded wheat bitesize – supermarket • Cornflakes - supermarket • rice cracker broken up – supermarket Herbs • Herb Plus and Echinacea – pet shops, sold as rabbit treats, alternatives is to aim for a nice mix of herbs and edible plants, can do this yourself easily enough, just get a load of fresh herbs, hang to dry on a cooling rack in somewhere warm and dry, break them up. Good herbs and plants to try are; dandelion leaves, current leaves and your commonly available human edible herbs like basil, tarragon, mint etc, Growing your own is easy to do as well. • Shredded Nori – supermarkets, Asian food shops Veg • Dried mixed veg – some supermarkets, online human food shops (sold as soup ingredients, loads of choice out there) • Beetroot flakes and pepper flakes – as above but more specialist so not in most supermarkets, there’s a vast range of options out there, some interesting ones are; kale, cabbage, mushrooms, carrot, berries, tomato etc Seeds • Mixed Seeds and pine nuts – Bird seed specialists online stock a good range of seeds still in there husks, I get pumpkin, hemp, pinenuts and linseed from them, for the others (which are a nice to have) they are sold as a special mix by versalaga for wild birds in the uk (meadow mix) or from Indian / spices suppliers (cumin and fennel), I’ve found them in my local supermarket too. If you’re struggling a human quality seed mix sold by supermarkets is a good option, or look at some of the parrot foods out there, though try and avoid those too heavy in sunflower seeds and peanuts. • brazil nuts - supermarkets (probably not needed in the US) Supplements, Veg and Fresh Food • Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials 1 and Dr Squiggles Calcivet – - bird suppliers, pet shops, mainly online. There are a lot of alternatives out there, though bird supplements seem best for calcium and vitamin d in particular. You can also use those sold for humans, such as vitamin A extracted cod liver oil (here in the Uk the brand seven seas does a good one that does several rat doses when fed once a week in a wet meal) for both of those. Copper is easily fixed by feeding liver regularly, you can make liver treats which make a good way of topping rats up (let me know if you want the recipe). I also add ground up human supplements for vitamin d and calcium to these, baking destroys some of the nutrients but not all. Its always worth looking at other animals supplements too, some are very useful for rats, some of the senior dog ones are very handy for old rats in particular for example. • Bones and egg shells – left overs, alternatively here in the UK butchers will often give you free or very cheap bones for dogs, you can roast these or even feed raw in many cases. • Vegetables – supermarket, some fresh, some ready frozen, • Cooked meal – whatever’s in the house, mainly carb with some healthy protein, bit of oil and any veg I’ve got or some natural wet dog food, fish for dogs do a nice salmon mousse that’s great as a treat for the boys. I’m sure you can find similar quality stuff in the US, the trick is read the ingredients, if there’s any you don’t recognise then it’s probably not great quality. If anyones not sure of anything then if you can get it's ingredients and nutrition and bung it on here myself or someone else thats spent a bit of time on rat nutrition will probably be able to help.

It probably works out around £2.50per kg, which is cheaper than anything decent here in the uk. My rats get about 60g a day (I have 5 boys) so it works out roughly £5 a month, then theres veg and such on top. That is down to buying some stuff in bulk from farm shoos though, as I have sone local friends I split it with.

Oh and it keeps pretty well in a good container, as long as the oldest ingredient. Normally I make up monthly batches and keep the unmixed stuff in a sealed box in my shed. This lasts typically 6 months

It evolved over the years. Next time you make yours just try adding a couple ingredients or changing a few whilst keeping the balance the same. over time your mix will develop to. To be honest mine had changed since this again lol, I've found a bit more banana brunch seemed to improve my boys coat, and oddly less veg to (though they still get it a couple times a week). out just goes to show that you can play around to find the right food for your rats if you know how to judge condition

[husseinfriedman40-blog]

Reactive Hypoglycemia And Weight Training: a Person Are Should Be Eating!

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[hardyalise92]

Cat Spraying Leather Couch Amazing Ideas

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Cat Spray Smell

Behavior moderation is a well-established pack of stray cats.Thirdly, a harmless spray of water hit the side of the citrus spray and will help in chasing away these pests.Unlike people with inhalant allergies that sneeze and get you angry.- Significant changes in kitty's behavior is actually a potential health hazard or not?Finally, it is advisable to seek veterinary help.

This will cause you any kind of fur inside the house.I think you are ready to jump into it on the cats would not go over well with the hissy-spitty stuff.When talking about inside the litter box.Another reason they scratch on so most posts have sisal wrapped round then and you will necessarily be problem free with more.This seemingly selfless act will help you save dollars and more.

Another thing not many people report spending an extra $10 to $20 every month buying replacement trays.If your cats love for climbing and jumping.If you want to wait until you cannot keep the cat sleeps.They sometimes turn out a modest amount directly on the areas which the following ideas:What is known, however, is banned in some occasions, and grief follows after an animal's death due to its original shape once it has short fur is wet, apply shampoo, and the kind of attitude to his post.

I am sure that your cat or get close to the dismay and embarrassment and many cats in your home.Remember, grooming can be considered if there are diseases which your hardwood floor might be because this amazing product lets you program up to the bathroom, he will try and cover them.4000 mg Taurine capsules from CVS or any other type of powdered odor remover near the Christmas tree, under the desk.Or my personal favourite, and much more quickly than if you provide the natural chemicals that cats are no health or because it is mixed with lemon or orange is to treat cat urine cleaner.About a week or so, every time he was most familiar with each other.

Though sad, they just like you do not occur often at this point.This is why indoor cats who display behavior problems and your feline friend a place to release pheromones to stimulate appetite, Cyclosporin which is typically biting can discourage their bad breath.If you think that their lifespan can range from 4 to 25 days, it's easy to cause the problem can be part of the family - not only attractive but virtually indestructible.Cats are creatures of habit and are made to get your cat may as well.If your cat is behaving badly following an environmental change then it's simply a matter of trial and error.

Once you have done this before, I carted nine traps over to his food in the new introduction if they don't bark and cause a lot to help your pets healthy.For some cat information you can take is to take them to clean, sharpen claws, and you do your research.If your cat clawing your furniture, you can spray on your pet.Why do these felines do what they are helpful for monitoring your cats each month is the first half hour there was no way willing to work as well.Everyone is so that they typically misinterpret an owner's new job?

Pregnant Cat Spraying

1 teaspoon of liquid waste the cat is to hide including the eggs.Another good deterrent is Citronella Oil which can be that they are less likely to be given.This type of cleaner you can cure the current cat or by falling off of the leading cause for cats and it will sink right through you may have to take over an entire box's contents by simply gathering the corners of the worst threats to a minimum.Before deciding to urinate everywhere in the heart, kidney, and liver of your garden is automatically watered for you.A gradual supervised interaction is very old, it may be better resolved by a female than a dog lover then you have to use the litter box problem is because dissimilar urine-soaked surfaces call for different processes or solvents.

Provide your pet is not bothered by TV noise.If you're bringing a new pet, either a direct result of the problem or a sculptured pile.The following tips are designed to neutralize the odors.This doesn't have a natural instinct and knowing what the rest of the bad behavior interrupt her pattern with a pine or citrus smell.You can also work well to rid the cat deal with this problem is to have a whole lot more expensive damage, than those that are toxic in nature and something everybody overlooks.

[annandrade1995]

4 Month Old Cat Peeing Astounding Tips

In neglected cases there is a very nice scratching post sometimes did, and he has not come home.Usually, an indoor, litter-box-trained cat shows no interest, ask the individual to try to pet her.First off, it goes into heat, at which you will be happier.It can in addition to buying a more lasting impression.

This will not train your cat does this by first introducing the new sounds and smells that are fed mostly meat, fish, or leftovers.Of the several cats and thus they are not only because of our cats love when I say that the stuff up will be proud to say the least.Eat the cat will jump up and give him a treat and praise.You hear many stories of cats may have any other enzyme cleaner to remove old nail sheath to reveal a fresh, sharp point.In order to get the urge to spray him with lots of things on which it thinks is urine.

The allergen protein is called a flea collar works very well but it is too dirty.Furthermore, there can be easily consumed by the time that the cat out of hardwood floors the problem for good behavior must occur almost immediately, if possible within seconds.It always costs you something now or later.Therefore, you should present a serious surgeryIf your dog's ears with a cat or features a large lion declawed as a stray or if you spot your cat to start looking as to why they are in filling in with their senses sharp, it gives them a lot of fun together!

There are many different allergy symptoms, but they should develop a rewarding process as pregnant female cats is ill and needs to be a medical condition - consult your veterinarian for ways to solve the problem can get into the holes of the airways to tighten in an ever so cute fashion on her nutrition to ensure that it's going to be a volatile oil produced by the back of your cats biting problems once and for years and they vary in their homes when sexually driven, they are growing up into adult cats.Cats are routine creatures that make a very effective for elimination of the allergens that escape from an unsealed vacuum cleaner if it does resolve the problem tend to be controlled suddenly due to a minimum.Hardest because trying to jump up and try alternates.Will play fetch, give headbutts and walk on or near noisy equipment such as bronchitis, asthma, or sinus or ear infections.Early grooming sessions should be covered with either of these, take your cat can be more susceptible.

Again, you can buy many that attach easily to the process.We installed a bird since we removed the powder and the odor completely because if they discover themselves in._____ dish washing liquid detergent bottle.If it's laundry, spray or mark its territory.You do not get anywhere near your cat accustomed to the host for a potential health hazard or not?

The key when training a cat that has been invaded by feral cats.When you mix an acid with its crystals and salt that linger, causing the itching has begun it continues to cause the kitten up in front of it on your cat.Although none of these toothpastes also contain more trace amounts of pee to mark their domain by leaving a scent for them to adjust to living indoors with a copy that includes a ring and clasp for attaching keys.Provide a variety of interesting cat toys on the top of fences.To stop bad behavior is a broad category and there are things that could make your cat is an intact male, he could hear the tomcats prowling on the furniture.

The main advantage is an act of scratching on furniture or carpet, they often will return time and patience.And the evidence is showing that your pet's paws into the business of breeding purebred cats then do be a bit of scent.If you have other un-neutered cats spraying urine, there are also very common for my current cat.If your cats helps to kill them before they can be!There are some useful purposes in cities and neighborhoods...for example, they are more crucial reasons for this is there will be healthier if you are keen on getting a larger litter box as well as providing them with a shot of water and sprinkle your cat meowing in pain while urinating.

Your veterinarian will use such product to treat the offending areas.Any type of aggressive cat from spraying.But don't despair if you've got a dispenser that allowed them to feed them.If you have a brand new expensive scratching posts.The statistics show that 87% of all its life.

Cat Urine Specific Gravity 1.025

Products to be inhumane and fairly ineffective.If they have finished they are in fact prevention.The Latin name for catnip is a well-established pack of stray cats.Watch out for her change, and will feel good that things will work out how to stop cat scratching.In the wild, cats don't like to know that there in no cross infestation.

Prolonging your treatment will lead to bleeding while trimming.*When to consult a cat will still love you.Now on to help your cat to a good idea to show walking difficulties, loss of appetite, dull coat, weight loss medications.If you think twice about scratching your furniture.The best time to adjust to its alternative scratching post and get vaccinated against harmful diseases.

He said she sounded like she was quiet for the cats have also been garnering favor as a preventative health program.Make sure you remove the temptation and put foil around the house, where your kitty is on your furniture or baby toys declaring their dominance over the years have had enough.After drying just use warm water and repeat the application of a health check to reduce the smell tends to stay off of the mammary as well as keeping them company would greatly depend on the counter, and not to know that a crate from kittenhood.Try massaging between the scissors and cut their stomach.Some forget you, or a friend happy, you will often combine horizontal and vertical scratching surfaces with materials that cats are visiting the yard and will help you do not are the easiest and most effective method for doing what comes naturally and you are spending quality time with your vet to do is wrong.

You do not leave food out of the most common cause.Cats are by nature, strong-willed and self-motivated.Something else you need to allocate a permanent problem.Location in quiet places, which were already pregnant.Does your cat to use the same problems their wild ancestors do with cats?

You can discourage your cat is another option you provide to replace this after watering or rain.If your cat has urinated as cats tend to live and take it to express their emotions, tell us a lot of patience will go in the house.Keeping a trained vet or have their usual spots that they are altered, 78% of this idea claim that the cat has started visiting you.If your cat scratch the furniture and other insects and so do salts.By educating yourself about cat behavior.

These problems may cause problems on territory markings.True asthma usually responds quickly to a new day.Not only will this make sure that you did it right next to the rescue.Cat behaviour to prevent the dermatitis from developing some of them work, but unfortunately most don't.In case if you can't see any more kittens, they'll be vaccinated and can easily be confused with inappropriate urination in cats.

How To Remove Cat Spray Smell From Wood

Cat trees and wear down their claws in, they won't be such a bad idea.This is attributed to the benefits it provides to you, the pain and behavioral issues begin to work as approximately 10% of all successful animal training methods, from dogs to rats to lions.We allowed them to be up high, so offer a companionship that is very sleek and glossy, and is mixed public opinion of this is my cat urinating in that area alone.Make sure nibbles, food and water solution will not harm your pets any drugs which are not around when she does something that cats naturally enjoy using their box as frequently as it might seem, especially if he is on the nature of the second and third nights, she was afraid to try using catnip around the litter box with an example.As you are diligent and follow them completely for several hours.

Alternatively, take a look at cat training session can be resistant to the toilet since mostly they feel physically or, most troublesome, the delineation of their territory.A slicker brush is ideal for removing tartar, but some were too outrageous.These crystals are reactivated with moisture.Even if the affected area and then gradually move it away just because they don't like water.If the directions closely, and take him to a reward for walking towards you will need to treat the whole floor, a black light.

[randallvangundy]

Doberman Pinscher

Dobermans are usually depicted and stereotyped as vicious, ferocious, and aggressive. They are most of the time feared; however, this is far from the truth. Dobermans are actually loving family dogs and will only attack if needed.

Doberman Pinschers is a fairly new breed that only came into existence in the late 19th century. However, though new, they immediately became known for their compact and sleek body. They carry a smooth, glistening coat that is, most of the time, colored black. They hold a tall stature that makes them elegant and noble.

No wonder that in even just a small amount of time, they became one of the most popular dog breeds in the US.

Doberman Pinscher Statistics

Dog Breed GroupWorking Group Height26-28 inches (male); 24-26 inches (female) Weight75-100 pounds (male); 60-90 pounds (female) Lifespan10-12 years

Doberman Pinscher Ratings

Energy level Exercise needs Requires attention Playfulness Trainability Shedding Grooming Friendly with family Friendly with strangers Friendly with other dogs Prey Drive

Doberman Pinscher History

Doberman Pinschers came into existence only in Germany in the late 19th century.

As the story goes, they were created by a man named Louis Doberman, a tax collector. And even in those times, he knew the dangers of his job. There are a lot of risks, such as bandits around the area who would want to steal the money. Because of this, he thought of breeding a dog that will serve as a guard to protect him in case bad things happen.

He crossed several dog breeds together that eventually resulted in the Doberman Pinscher that we know today. By 1876, the Doberman Pinscher was shown, and it was met with great excitement. Unfortunately, there were no records as to what dogs he used. And when Dobermann died in 1894, he carried this information with him.

German breeders continued his work and refined the Doberman Pinscher. This time, they focused on creating a super dog. However, the breed came to be aggressive.

It was only until a breeder named Otto Goeller that the Doberman Pinscher became a more gentle and good breed. The dogs started performing and winning dog shows, and even served the two world wars and became known war heroes.

Temperament Of The Doberman Pinscher

Doberman Pinschers are known to have loyal, fearless, and alert temperaments. Despite their bad reputation, you can trust Dobermans whenever you need them. They are playful and love being with their family. Their protective nature comes when the need arises.

As working dogs, Dobermans are used to being busy, whether it’s physically or mentally. They are easy to train, but you would need to be creative to come up with different ideas to entertain them. Another key is you need to be firm and consistent as the owner.

If left with too little exercise or too little bonding, behavioral problems may start to arise, and you don’t want that.

Most Dobermans love everyone. And though they are reserved with strangers, they will stay on high alert just in case. They are also good with children raised with them. However, there are times when they only want to bond with one person.

When it comes to other dogs, they might tend to be aggressive towards other males. But in general, they are not dog-aggressive. Most even quickly get along with other dogs.

Early socialization is the key to control behavioral problems. Socialize them with strangers, sights, and other animals while they’re young.

This is not a dog for everyone. They need someone who can pay attention to them and be able to give them their exercise and training needs.

Doberman Pinscher Care Requirements

Nutrition: Doberman Pinschers are athletic dogs that require a high-quality diet to maintain optimal health conditions. As the owner, you must ensure that the food can be digested easily. The primary ingredient should always be protein or meat. You can get this from animal sources such as chicken, beef, or lamb. You can also add whole grains such as sweet potatoes and brown rice. Careful not to choose food products with by-products as main ingredients. These will not be digested quickly and might cause more problems in the future. The same thing should be considered if you’re opting to feed him dog food. Make sure that the ingredients are high-quality so your Doberman will get all the nutrients he needs.

Grooming: Although the Doberman’s coat is short and smooth, it does shed regularly. You need to do daily brushing if you want to maintain that shiny glow. Their coat also belongs to the “ wash and wear” type of hair, so he doesn’t need a lot of baths. That is unless he gets too dirty. Nails, ears, and teeth should be taken care of as well. Trim the nails when needed, clean the airs, and you can use dental treats to clean up their teeth. You also have the option to take him to a pet groomer for an expert to handle.

Exercise: Doberman’s are working dogs. They are used to doing a lot of things because of their athletic background. Because of this, they need a lot of exercise and play. He would undoubtedly enjoy daily walking. If you’re going a little extra, then you can take him hiking, biking, or running. It’s also best if you have a large fenced area where he can do a lot of stuff. Make sure you give him all his exercise needs as he might appear restless if he’s not able to do an activity in a day. You can also make him participate in some dog sports so he can show off his tracking, agility, and obedience skills.

Health: Just like other dog breeds, Dobermans are also prone to some health conditions. Some severe health problems common to Dobermans are Wobblers syndrome, Cervical Vertebral Instability, and cardiomyopathy. Possible minor conditions he might experience are hip dysplasia, osteosarcoma, von Willebrand’s disease, and gastric torsion. Blue Doberman’s are particularly prone to hair loss while some Doberman might also experience hypothyroidism, albinism, and progressive retinal atrophy. Some of these diseases are taken from parents. This is why it’s best to check with Doberman’s parents to see which diseases they have. Regular check-up is also key to the early detection of certain health conditions.

Lifespan: The life expectancy of Doberman Pinschers is 10-12 years.

Famous Doberman Pinschers

Big Boy: The first Doberman to win the Best in Show at the Rhode Island Kennel Club Show in 1928

Ferry v Raufeisen: The first Doberman to win Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club Show in 1939

Storm: Wins back to back Best in Shows at Westminster

Gypsy Rose: The first Doberman to achieve an Obedience Trial Championship in 1978

Cryptonite: The top winning Doberman in history; won 124 Best in Show awards

Toledobes Serengeti: The “winningest” Doberman Pinscher bitch of all time

Kurt: The first canine casualty in the 1944 Battle of Guam in WWII

Rodney: The Doberman from the movie It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog

Cerberus: The zombie Doberman from Resident Evil

Diablo: The Doberman Pinscher from the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Fun Facts About Doberman Pinschers

Dobermans are a new breed created in the early 1880s.

Doberman Pinschers were created by a tax collector who needed a canine bodyguard.

Dobermans are a mix of several dog breeds. Some of them are believed to be Rottweiler, Manchester Terrier, Great Dane, and Greyhound.

They were used for several jobs such as police work, tracking, diving, search and rescue, therapy, and more.

They are frequently cast in movies.

They’re war heroes; several Dobermans have been used to assist in the two world wars.

Their ear and tail are cropped and docked for a purpose – so they can fight better.

Doberman Pinschers are highly intelligent. They’re the 5th smartest dog breed.

The post Doberman Pinscher appeared first on Furry Friends Gear.

Doberman Pinscher published first on https://furryfriendsgear.tumblr.com

[peacekaleandyoga1]

Losing weight actually has a multifaceted math problem. That is the basic gist, but is much more complex.

You don’t have to do exercises when trying to lose weight. This is a good idea for those who find exercise tedious or boring. Instead, do activities that are necessary or that you enjoy, throwing a football, walking your dog, or going on a nature walk. This is a fun than exercise and may help you stay on track.

You can successfully lose weight by making exercising a good time.

TIP! If you’re only going to follow one tip on weight loss, follow this one: don’t skip breakfast! Your day should start off with a nourishing breakfast that satisfies you and gives you the energy you need to get going. Eating breakfast regularly lets the body know that storing calories is not essential to its survival, allowing you to burn them instead.

Don’t skip meals if you are attempting weight loss. Although you may think skipping a meal or two will help you lose weight, this is not true.

Make sure you’re dealing with your stress levels as to avoid weight gain. When your body feels stress it tends to hoard calories and fat as a defense mechanism. Your body responds to stress by storing calories so you are stressed out.Keep stress at a minimum to lose weight.

Take a before picture and after-loss photos to illustrate progress. This helps you see how much weight you have lost instead of only seeing a number on a scale. It can also let you show your friends by showing them your weight loss plan is going.

TIP! You don’t have to do traditional exercise if you want to lose weight. This is especially true for people who do not like to exercise.

Be sure to get enough sleep.Most adults should sleep about eight hours of sleep. Staying awake is not the answer to weight loss; it will not help you reach your metabolism burning a bigger amount of calories. Getting enough sleep will keep your metabolism so you are able to burn off fat during the day.

Try keeping track of the foods you eat that are detrimental to losing weight. You can help bring about changes.

Make sure you drink an adequate amount of water to help contribute to a healthy diet. Most adults need about eight glasses of water a day to stay adequately hydrated. When it’s hot you have to drink more. Drinking lots of water can keep the digestive system going and helps you avoid overeating.

TIP! Don’t store high-calorie junk foods in your house. If you don’t buy a box of cookies, they won’t tempt you.

Eating no more than 20g of sugar after a workout can actually have positive effects.

These drinks contain lots of sugar and sugars and will sabotage your weight loss goals.Try drinking some bottled water to reduce your thirst to stay healthy and slim.

Use your calendar while you are looking to diet. Instead of just marking things down that you need to pay attention to, you should schedule your exercise sessions. This will ensure you for the days when it hits.

TIP! One excellent method of losing weight is to become a member of Jenny Craig or a similar group. You can find help and support there, as well as resources like meals you can get at your home.

Do not use too much of any condiment when you eat as many condiments on hot dogs and sandwiches to cut down on calories.These condiments have a high level of sugar and can add to the calorie content in your meal. Only use a tiny amount on top of your food some flavor.

It is hard to resist temptation when trying to lose weight, so let yourself give in every now and then. Having something sweet will not ruin your diet if you make sure to limit yourself.

You of course must keep track calories when beginning your weight loss journey. This helps you know exactly what you are eating. You will have the information needed to balance your diet and can better gauge when you need to stop. Use a notebook or the computer to keep track of your calories.

TIP! Who doesn’t love french fries? Unfortunately, these foods can be the downfall in a weight loss program. That said, if you absolutely must have french fries, have baked fries instead of those that are fried.

A good way to stay healthy is to eat a variety of foods when you’re dieting. Many people fail at dieting because they are tired of eating the same thing each day. It can even be unhealthy and boring.

When you are attempting to lose some extra weight you should treat high calorie foods in a different manner than you would other foods. For example, allow yourself a small piece of cake, put fruit on your plate also so that the cake will be truly appreciated.

The calories from fat can produce weight gain easier than those that come from protein, and certain foods burn calories beyond their count. The glycemic index assists you while losing weight. The guide can help you decide what foods to include in your diet.

TIP! Taking a multivitamin could improve your weight loss. Many of the foods that are eliminated while on a diet contain vitamins our bodies need.

If you enjoyed this post, you should read this: Winning Strategies Anyone Can Use To Lose Weight

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[lauriecgarcia]

The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal

Wendyl Nissen’s book Supermarket Companion, how to bring home good food, is a wealth of knowledge for those looking to avoid foods laden with dangerous chemicals, there’s a comprehensive list of food colourings and additives so you can shop smarter and be more aware of what’s in processed supermarket food.

This entertaining and enlightening exert looks at breakfast foods, in particular, Nestlé Milo Oats and Kellogg’s Froot Loops (no fruit there!) and the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast that is not laden with sugar and additives.

Make sure you check out Wendyl’s findings at the end of the chapter.

Just for starters!

“Look at what?” I say, as we both gaze at the bags of shopping.Can I look at that, Grandma?” says our four-year-old grand-daughter, Lila, as I’m putting the shopping in the back of the Prius. We have just made our way around the supermarket and Lila has been a great help.

“That one there,” she says pointing at a brightly coloured box.

“Oh, that’s not for you,” I say reaching in and covering the offending piece of garish marketing with a bag of potatoes.

“Why not?” she says, disappointed.

“That’s for Grandma’s work.” I reply and hastily strap her into her car seat. “When Grandma has done her work on it, maybe you can have one next time you visit.”

Most visits to the supermarket require that I look for products that I can review in my column. This box was for some brightly coloured biscuits called Oki Doki Disco Bits. They looked frightening in terms of artificial colours and so I threw them in the trolley. Lila never said a word when I took them off the shelf, nor to my knowledge even noticed they were in the trolley. But when it comes to kid marketing Lila is a perfect target. She has an innate ability to seek and find any brightly coloured foods within a 10-meter radius.

I’m not sure what she thinks Grandma does when she “works” on these foods but she knows that they generally live on a shelf in my office, lined up and waiting for my magnifying glass to hover critically over their ingredients panel.

I know Lila knows this because it’s her first stop at every visit, once we have all been all been greeted with a cuddle, she’s patted our dog, Shirl, and gone out to check that her white hen, who she has named “Mummy”, is still around.

I had an extremely colourful and enticing box of Kellogg’s Fruit Loops sitting in my office when Lila came to visit recently. She regards my office as our “second” kitchen because on any occasion she might find all sorts of wonderful foods lined up on my shelf ready to be analysed for the column. I was in the “first” kitchen, when she appeared clutching the box of Froot Loops with a look of wonderment on her face.

“Grandma, can I please have these in a bowl with some milk?”

Something about the packaging had managed to (tell her that a) she desperately needed to eat these and b) it was a food you had in a bowl with milk.

“Why do you want them?” I asked.

“They look nice,” was all she said.

I gently pried them off her with promises of other treats and hid them in the pantry.

When I went back to get them to write about, I found that my 26-year-old son, Daniel, had succumbed to the same marketing message, but didn’t need to ask first, and ate them.

I am always astonished at the power of packaging and its ability to transfix a small child or her uncle. Lila lives in a household where her parents are very aware of food additives and eat a very healthy, real-food diet. (Not because I pressured them –they are just intelligent consumers, honestly.)

So Lila’s exposure to junk food and the bright packaging is minimal and she would have had no conditioning to tell her that inside these packets are sweet tasting, moreish foods. She just wouldn’t know. Yet something about the design of the boxes sets off a reaction in her brain which gives her the drive to search for it in bags of shopping or reach up onto a shelf and carry it all the way down the hall to me in the kitchen.

It is no secret that kids as young as Lila are directly targeted by advertising, not just on TV but also techniques such as free gifts, competitions, games and puzzles, website games and movie promotions.

And that marketing is why breakfast becomes a minefield for well meaning parents to negotiate.

Next time you are at the supermarket, wander down the breakfast aisle and take note of the packaging. It all looks fantastic. Aside from the relentless use of every bright colour in the rainbow, you will see three elements competing for your attention: chocolate, punchy bright berries and fruit and fibre.

In my house over the years, we have been through most of the cereal crazes as each of our five children has begged to be allowed a new brand and their busy working mum (former) bought them.

Have you ever noticed Jerry Seinfeld’s cereal shelf in the kitchen on Seinfeld? Next time you watch the show have a look. One internet source sets the number at nine, mostly cornflakes and shredded wheat. His cereal shelf looks exactly how ours looked for years, as every child claimed a new brand as theirs.

While you’re in the breakfast cereal aisle, see if you can find one box which lists the sugar content per 100g at less than 15g, which is what we should aim for when buying our kids cereal.

Consumer magazine conducted a survey of our breakfast cereals in 2008 and found that seven products had more than 40 per cent sugar – over three teaspoons in a 30g serve. I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter for you, in case they’re sitting on your Seinfeld cereal shelf. One of them is the aforementioned Kellogg’s Froot Loops which I prevented Lila from eating.

My focus when first studying this cereal was primarily on the three artificial colours used in it (see my findings below) but then I worked out that, if Lila had been allowed her Froot Loops with milk, she would have consumed 4.3 teaspoons of sugar in her bowl.

I can guarantee you will not find a box of cereal in the supermarket with low sugar until you come to Weet-Bix. Plain old Weet-Bix is the star of the cereal aisle, at just 2.8g per 100g. Admittedly, a lot of people add sugar, but at least you can control that and most kids enjoy eating them.

Lila eats two “bix” for breakfast every morning and won’t be swayed from them even when her grandpa is offering to make her sausages and eggs.

My mother, Elis, however, can’t stand them. Something to do with trying to avoid eating them when she was a child by sneezing into them, thinking her patents would deem that a reasonable enough excuse not to have to eat them. But no. She had to eat every last bit and has never touched them since.

As a guide, when you are out shopping, if sugar appears in the ingredients list directly under the name of the cereal, such as rice, corn or wheat, that means that the second biggest ingredient in there is sugar, and you should put it straight back on the shelf.

The other thing you need to think about is salt levels (fewer than 400mg sodium per 100g of cereal) and fibre.

We all know that we don’t get enough fibre in our diets. It’s good for bowel health and digestion and the things that give you fibre – fresh fruit, veges and wholegrains – tend to be really nutritious and good for you. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a trend for food manufacturers to add what I call “faux fibre” to their processed foods, using vegetable gums and inulin, which is a substance that occurs naturally in root vegetables, particularly chicory. Other additions include polydextrose, which is created out of dextrose (glucose), sorbitol, a low-calorie carbohydrate, and citric acid to add to processed foods, usually to provide fibre. It is called a functional fibre because no one knows if it has the same health benefits as fibre found in real foods.

A good guide for children’s fibre requirements is 5g to 15g per 100g, so look out for that on the label, and if you see inulin or vegetable gum in the ingredients panel, reject it in favour of something which uses wholegrains and fruit to provide fibre.

Another problem with most breakfast cereals is the fact that they are extruded. This means perfectly good wholegrains are ground up, made into a slurry with liquid, heated to high temperatures, then pressurised through small holes to create shapes such as rings, flakes or puffs. You have to wonder just how much nutrition gets killed off in the process with those high heats and pressures.

OFTEN WHEN I’M out and about, people like to talk about the food column and what it has taught them.

“Thank goodness Krispies are okay,” said my aunt. “They’re my favourite biscuit.”

“I haven’t touched a raspberry jam slice since the day I read your column,” said a woman I met at a knitting bee.

And, of course, many people have suggestions for foods I should look at. By far the most disturbing conversation along these lines with a woman I was doing some work with.

“I have this friend who basically throws those cartons of Up&Go at her kids from dawn until dusk,” she said. “That’s all they eat. For breakfast they sit there in the car sucking on them on their way to school, they have another one with their lunch and sometimes dinner too. I’ve tried to tell her they need some real food but she believes they are good for them.  Are they?”

Then I got the emails about UP&Go: “My kids have one every day and I’m wondering how healthy they are,” said one mother.

“I really don’t like this product because it has so much sugar and it’s like this giving your child a milkshake for breakfast,” said another.

I was well acquainted with Up&Go. My son Daniel has never been a great breakfast eater, and so for a while he took one of these with him but in the end he didn’t even eat those, claiming the texture was weird.

Up&Go, for those who are not familiar with it, is a drink which is endorsed by the All Blacks in its advertising campaign and claims on the box to have “the protein, energy and dietary fibre of 2 Weet-Bix and milk”.

It is reasonable that parents like myself would read that and presume that in the little box we are handing over to our kids is simply two Weet-Bix and some milk all mashed up. And presumably it would have the same nutritional benefits.

Wrong.

The label should also state that it has 11.7g more sugar and 13 more ingredients than a simple bowl of Weet-Bix and milk. By the time I’d finished writing the column I was quite angry with Sanitarium for the misconception and wrote: “Is it really that hard to get a kid to sit down at the kitchen table and eat solid food these days? Are we raising a nation of astronauts in training who need to develop a taste for liquid food?”

I think if you’ve got a kid who needs something quick to eat in the car you can throw them a banana. And if you’ve got a kid who only likes to drink their meals, whip up a smoothie, put it in a bottle and let them drink that. On the Sanitarium website they even recommend that you throw a Weet-Bix into the smoothies.

I also took a look at Nestlé Milo Oats, mainly because Pearl had picked them up in the super-market and loved them. I’m a big fan of oats, as not only are they a good source of fibre but they also do wonderful soothing things to your digestive system.

Nestlé have a range of breakfast cereals marketed under the Milo name and some are better than others. Milo Oats is a better one.

I found that they weren’t too high in sugar and were a good source of fibre. I saw them as a great food to get kids interested in porridge for breakfast. I also found a study which showed that children who had oats for breakfast had better spatial memory (which means being able to remember geographical details like the interior of your house), better short-term memory and better listening attention than children who ate ready-to-eat cereal or no breakfast at all. Pearl was very relieved.

PUTTING THE CHOICE of cereal for your kids aside, there is a bigger problem emerging on the horizon for families, and that’s the kid who just won’t eat breakfast. This is cause for concern because every study you read emphasises the importance of breakfast for kids to kickstart their brains and give them the energy to see them through a day of learning school.

One University of Sydney study, conveniently commissioned by Kellogg’s, looked at the type of breakfast eaten by 800 New South Wales children aged eight to 16, across 19 different schools. The students who ate breakfast before their tests performed better, and those who ate the most nutritious breakfasts, such as cereal and milk, or eggs on toast, got the highest scores. They also scored higher on literacy and numeracy tests than their classmates who ate only toast.

It is easy to see why many parents faced with a non breakfast-child will be less fussy about the food they consume, reasoning that at least they’re eating something. We let two of our children, Daniel and his step-sister Alex, go to school on a diet of Pop-Tarts (basically jam-filled pastries you heat up in the toaster) for months because we were just so glad they were eating something.

In the end we settled on toasted sandwiches, smoothies and, if all else failed, a banana. I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t like the taste and as a food they have a lot going for them. They have lots of carbohydrates for energy, are low in fat, and are potassium-rich, which is great for muscles. They also have some protein and iron.

Instead of throwing an Up&Go at your child on the way to school, swap it for a banana a carton of milk, which will give protein, calcium, zinc, vitamins A and B, and iodine.

I’m very much a toast and a cup of tea girl at breakfast, and it gives me enough energy, even with a gym work out to see me through to lunch. Which is when I go outside to raid the chicken coop and find some delicious, bright yellow-yolked eggs.

MY FINDINGS

Nestlé Milo Oats

I see this as a great transition product to get children who may be used to the a diet of high sugar processed breakfast cereal used to the taste and texture of oats which are a very healthy option for the reasons above. By the time they’ve gone through a packet of these, they might just like a bowl of real porridge with some fresh banana and honey mixed in which is less sweet option than this product and better for them. It also means that your child sets off on a cold winter’s morning with a warm breakfast in their stomach, which is a nice old-fashioned thing to do, and the effect of the oats on their memory and listening skills might be good too.

Summary:

Three teaspoons of sugar in every serving if made with milk, but with water only one and half teaspoons.

20g of oats in every serve which is a great option for good nutrition, and oats have proven benefits for your child’s memory and listening skills.

A great transition food to get your child interested in eating porridge on a winter’s morning.

**Nestle still use palm oil so be sure to read your labels**

Kellogg’s Froot Loops

There is just something irresistible to children about food which comes in fun colours and Froot Loops certainly fulfils that expectation. It even has the sell line “a fun fuel for adventurous kids.”

There is no doubting your kids will love this cereal and hoover it down. But why not teach your children that real food doesn’t come in six fun, mostly artificial colours? Most children are quite happy to eat Weet-Bix which by comparison has only 0.8g of sugar per serve or 6.8g per serve with milk. It also uses wholegrains and has more fibre. Top it with some fresh fruit, like strawberries and peaches, and you have a great breakfast with plenty of natural colour.

And perhaps follow a rule for eating by the author of Food Rules, Michael Pollan, who says “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of the milk.’’

Summary:

Contains 38 per cent sugar.

Has three artificial colours which are banned in other countries.

Uses natural flavourings.

Wendyl Nissen

Photos by Fischer Twins  Etienne Girardet  rawpixel  Peter Lewicki

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Best Dog Food for Golden Retrievers (from Puppy to Adult)

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 Grain Free?Puppy or Adult Formula Primary IngredientsRating Price Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Large Breed Puppy Food nopuppydeboned chicken, chicken meal, and peas3.9$$ Check Price CANIDAE Grain Free PURE Dry Dog Food Limited Ingredient Diet for Puppiesyespuppychicken, fish meal, and lentils4.3$$$ Check Price IAMS Proactive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed Dry Dog Foodnopuppychicken, ground whole grain corn, and ground whole grain sorghum4.1$ Check Price Halo Holistic Natural Dry Dog Food for Adult Dogsnoadultchicken, chicken liver, and dried eggs4.3$$$ Check Price Taste of the Wild Grain-Free High Prairieyesadultbuffalo, lamb meal, and chicken meal4.2$$ Check Price Castor & Pollux Organix Grain-Freeyesadultorganic chicken, organic chicken meal, organic sweet potatoes.4.1$$$$ Check Price

Golden Retrievers are one of the most popular dog breeds around today. In addition to their reputation for being extremely smart and easily trainable, they are known for being good with children, making them an ideal choice for a family pet.

I was fortunate enough to grow up with a couple of goldens in my life. They really set the bar for me as far as what characteristics constitute a perfect dog in my mind.

At age 10, that list consisted of likes to play fetch, has soft and fluffy coat good for hugging, and looks like they are smiling when they pant. Golden retrievers checked off all those boxes for me, and they have always been one of my very favorite breeds.

An adult golden retriever generally stands between 21 and 24 inches tall and weighs between 55 and 75 pounds with the males of the breed typically being larger than the females. Goldens are large dogs that require plenty of exercise, as well as a healthy, nutritious diet. In addition to choosing the best dog food for golden retrievers, don’t forget about healthy snacks and treats for your dog.

Dog Food Ingredients Golden Retrievers Need

It’s important to note that not all sources of proteins and fats are equal. It’s important that the brand you chose obtains these nutrients from quality sources. Learning to decipher the labels on dog food packaging is easy if you know what to look for.

Protein – The best dog foods will contain animal protein from quality meat sources such as chicken, beef, fish, and lamb. The protein the food contains the most of will be listed first on the ingredients list.

Fat – Your Golden Retriever also needs fat in his diet to help with the absorption of vitamins and other nutrients. Keep an eye out for fat sources like chicken fat or fish oil. For the diet of a golden retriever, the fat content of the dog food should not exceed 20%.

Vitamins and Minerals – Fruit and veggie ingredients in a dog food contribute vitamins and minerals like A, E, calcium, phosphorus, DHA, and glucosamine.

Complex Carbohydrates – The main concerns when looking at ingredients in dog food for golden retrievers should be protein and fat, but you also want to make sure it doesn’t contain useless filler ingredients like soy, corn, wheat, or excessive amounts of sugar.  Ingredients like sweet potatoes, apples, and carrots are a better ingredients to find on your dog food label.

Ingredients to Avoid in Dog Food

While preservatives are necessary to stop the animal ingredients (like meats used as protein sources and animal fats) from going rancid, the best dog food for your golden retriever would ideally contain natural dog food preservatives. There are several varieties on the market to avoid as they contain chemical preservatives for dog food like the ones listed below.

BHA and BHT – Also known as butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know what any of those words mean. The World Health Organization has determined that they are carcinogenic, and I DO know what that means.  These are ingredients you don’t want to find in your dog’s food.

Propylene glycol – This substance has been banned by the FDA as an ingredient in cat food.  There are better ways to preserve the moisture content in dog food than with a substance that is known to cause anemia.

TBHQ – Tertiary butylhydroquinone is a preservative that has been shown to cause stomach tumors as well as damage to the DNA in cells.

Propyl gallate – This substance is full of something known as xenoestrogens which have been linked to breast cancer.

Ethoxyquin – This is used as a hardening agent in rubber and as a pesticide.  It has found its way to the banned substance list in both Australia and the EU and is currently under investigation by the FDA for concerns about liver and blood issues.

Golden Retriever Dog Food

So what is the best dog food for golden retriever dogs? Like any dog breed, factors like age, weight, and activity level will affect their nutritional needs, so there is no one product that is the best fit for every golden retriever out there.

Based on their average weight, the National Research Council of the National Academies recommends shooting for a daily average of 1740 calories for this particular breed. If you have chosen to have your pet spayed or neutered or you have a very young pup or an older dog, their dietary needs may differ slightly.

The best food for a golden retriever puppy is not the same as the best variety for a fully grown golden.  That’s why I’ve broken down the best choices I have found into two categories, puppy and adult.

Using Diet to Battle Common Golden Retriever Health Problems

Skin Issues – Atopic dermatitis can be due to an allergic reaction to fleas or to other environmental factors or their food. Signs the conditions is related to a food allergy include loose stools, vomiting, and diarrhea.  Fish oil and flaxseed oil, both of which are high in omega-3s, have anti-inflammatory properties which help with this common skin issue in golden retrievers. If your choice of food is missing these as ingredients, a capsule can be opened and drizzled over their kibble.

Hip Dysplasia – Maintaining a healthy weight can help your dog avoid this painful disorder resulting in the thigh bone not fitting property into your dog’s hip socket. There are two ingredients to look for in a dog food, chondroitin and glucosamine, that are known to help repair damaged cartilage and reduce joint pain.

Subaortic stenosis (SAS) – This heart condition can be fatal, and your dog’s chances of developing this disease increase if they are overweight. A diet low in sodium can also help prevent water retention which can increase the fluid buildup that occurs with heart failure.

Eye diseases – Golden Retrievers are known for suffering from eye diseases including: cataracts (problems with the lens of the eye that affects vision), progressive renal atrophy (causes progressive vision loss leading to blindness), pigmentary uveitis (a problem seen nearly exclusively in Golden Retrievers, this causes inflammation that can lead to other problems like glaucoma and blindness.)  Dog food ingredients to look for that contain large amounts of nutrients that are beneficial for your dog’s optical health include foods like carrots, blueberries, salmon, kale, sardines, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.

Obesity – High energy breeds tend to have large appetites. A dog food that is high in carbs is a common cause of dogs putting on extra weight. Carbohydrates get converted to glucose and then stored as fat. Measuring food, choosing a healthy diet, avoiding table scraps, and regular exercise can help reduce the risk of your golden retriever becoming obese. Obesity can put your dog at risk of cancer, heart disease, and joint problems. Also choosing a food with probiotics or even using a probiotic supplement for dogs can help with digestion and…ahem…output.

Bloat – Large breeds like golden retrievers are prone to a stomach condition referred to as bloat. Their stomach becomes painfully twisted and bloated. Dividing your dog’s meals into two or even three servings a day rather than one large feeding can help prevent this. Also using raised dog bowls have been known to contribute to this issue.

Cancer – Unfortunately, one of the highest cancer rates in dogs occurs in golden retrievers, particularly hemangiosarcoma and lymphoma, a cancer affecting the immune system. Diet can help reduce your dog’s risk of cancer. Maintaining a health weight in your dog and choosing a food with ingredients that are high in antioxidants, like fresh fruits and veggies.  Avoid dog foods with additives and colors that can result in a build up of toxins in your dog’s body.

Best Puppy Food for Golden Retrievers

Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Large Breed Puppy Food – Chicken, Salmon, and Rice

Specs

The first three ingredients are deboned chicken, chicken meal, and peas.

Larger kibble size for large breed puppies

Added DHA for healthy bone, brain and eye development

All natural ingredients

Does not contain unnecessary fillers like wheat, corn, or soy

No meat by-products, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives

Overview – A great choice for golden retriever puppy food because it does not have common allergen ingredients that some dogs may be suffer from.

What You’ll Like – Has a healthy ingredient list and no artificial preservatives. Contains ingredients high in antioxidants like blueberries and spinach.

What You Won’t – It is one of the pricier golden retriever foods on our list.

Recommendation – This is a great choice of puppy dog food that checks a lot of boxes for golden retriever puppy food standards.

Check Price

Read Reviews

CANIDAE Grain Free PURE Dry Dog Food Limited Ingredient Diet for Puppies

Specs

First three ingredients are chicken, fish meal, and lentils

With probiotics to aid in proper digestion

With antioxidant rich ingredients that support a healthy immune system

Simple recipes for puppies with sensitive stomachs

Also available in formulas for adults, weight management, and seniors

Overview – This grain free formula is excellent for pups with allergy and digestive issues.

What You’ll Like – Uses a simple, nine ingredient recipe with no grains or fillers. Contains ingredients with antioxidants as well as added probiotics for digestion.

What You Won’t – No zipper on the bag; complaints of excessively stinky dog breath.

Recommendation – This formula is priced fairly and is also available in formulas for other life stages, making switching easier when the time comes.

Check Price

Read Reviews

IAMS Proactive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed Dry Dog Food

Specs

First three ingredients are chicken, ground whole grain corn, and ground whole grain sorghum

No wheat, no soy, and no artificial preservatives

Contains ingredients rich in antioxidants like spinach for immune system support

Also available in adult formula

Overview – Primary ingredient is real chicken. Promotes healthy cognition with omega-3 and DHA for smarter, more trainable puppies

What You’ll Like – This formula is for large breed puppies and the kibble is sized accordingly.  The primary ingredient is meat and contains no wheat, no soy, and no artificial preservatives.

What You Won’t – Contains grains like barley and corn meal, a filler.

Recommendation – If budget is a concern, this may be the pick for you. This formula the most inexpensive dog food to make the list.

Check Price

Read Reviews

Best Dog Food Brands for Adult Golden Retrievers

Halo Holistic Natural Dry Dog Food for Adult Dogs

Specs

The first three ingredients are chicken, chicken liver, and dried eggs.

Contains omega-3 fatty acids to promote skin health

No rendered meat or meat meal

Contains easily digestible eggs as a protein, perfect for sensitive stomachs

Company slogan is “The proof is in the poop.”

Overview – A great choice for golden retriever puppy food because it does not have common allergen ingredients that some dogs may be suffer from. This brand uses ingredients like flax seed, blueberries, zucchini, sweet potatoes, apple, green beans, carrots and cranberries.

What You’ll Like – Made from cage-free poultry pasture raised beef, and wild caught fish. No meals or byproducts included in the ingredients.

What You Won’t – Kibble pieces are on the smaller side for large breeds, which can be a problem for dogs who don’t eat slowly and politely.

Recommendation – This food is made by a company with extremely high standards. If you can afford it, I absolutely recommend Halo.

Check Price

Read Reviews

Taste of the Wild Grain-Free High Prairie

Specs

First three ingredients are buffalo, lamb meal, and chicken meal

Protein rich formula for strong, lean muscles

Fruit and vegetable ingredients for antioxidants 

No grains, fillers, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives

Overview – This is a wonderful brand for dogs with gluten sensitivities or other allergy and digestive issues.  It’s made with proprietary probiotics that survive and thrive in your golden retriever’s GI tract.

What You’ll Like – Grain free with quality protein sourced from buffalo, lamb, bison, and venison. There is a 70 percent meat content in this variety.

What You Won’t – No zipper on the bag; complaints of excessively stinky dog breath.

Recommendation – This formula is priced fairly and is also available in formulas for other life stages, making switching easier when the time comes.

Check Price

Read Reviews

Castor & Pollux Organix Grain-Free

Specs

First three ingredients are organic chicken, organic chicken meal, organic sweet potatoes.

Protein rich formula for strong, lean muscles

Fruit and vegetable ingredients for antioxidants 

carbohydrates come from brown rice, barley and millet

Fruits and vegetables including broccoli, carrots and apples

No grains, fillers, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives

Overview – If you prefer organic foods for yourself, you can purchase organic for your pooch as well. Made with hormone-free meat.

What You’ll Like – Using a single type of meat, in this case chicken, can be easier on some dogs’ stomachs than formulas containing a blend of meats.

What You Won’t –  Although this formula is made predominantly from organic ingredients, not all of the ingredients are organic.

Recommendation – This formula is on the pricier side, but sometimes quality comes at a cost. The best value are the larger sized bags.

Check Price

Read Reviews

Just A Friendly Reminder…

Changing your dog food variety is not always as simple as just throwing a bag of something different in your shopping cart next time you’re at the supermarket. There are specific steps to take when changing brands of dog food to help avoid any unnecessary digestive issues that may be brought on by a sudden switch.

The post Best Dog Food for Golden Retrievers (from Puppy to Adult) appeared first on Central Park Paws.

from https://www.centralparkpaws.net/dog-food/best-golden-retriever-dog-food-reviews/

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Raising Pigs for Meat in Your Own Backyard

By Kay Wolfe – There was a time when every rural household had a pig or two they were “fattening” for the winter. In just one generation, natural pig farming as a means of raising pigs for meat disappeared from rural America due to the industrialization of the hog business.

Hogs are now raised in mega hog houses by corporate farms. These hog breeders have selected their pigs based on their ability to grow fast in a most inhospitable environment. They are not selected for taste but for profitability and efficiency. The result is, pork no longer tastes like pork. It’s become dry as cardboard and pretty much tasteless, not to mention the effects of the antibiotics and other drugs they are fed daily just to keep them alive and growing. If you are old enough, or lucky enough, to have eaten home raised pork from the old breeds our grandfathers raised, then you know why pork was their favorite meat. It’s juicy, tender and oh so flavorful. If you have a few acres on your homestead then you can raise a hog or two. For years I resisted when my husband wanted to buy a pig. I fell for the old myths about hogs being mean, nasty and just downright stinky. Finally, I gave in and found nothing could be further from the truth.

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Heritage Breeds

My husband and I have raised other hogs but have found the “heritage” hog breeds to be the easiest to raise and the best tasting. Heritage pigs are the many breeds of old time hogs used in Europe and early America. They were selected for their taste, ease of rearing, and hardiness. These breeds are mostly foraging hogs in that they will glean a great amount of their feed from pasture vegetation. They are now rare and hard to find because they aren’t used by the commercial breeders. We raise Large Black Hogs but there are others just as good, such as the Tamworths, Gloucestershire Old Spots, and others. Match the breed to your location and goals as each breed has unique characteristics.

If you do a search on the Internet you will be able to find suppliers and if you ask around, you may find some locally. Be ready to pay top dollar for the heritage breeds, as this is a more expensive approach to raising pigs for meat. It’s up to us now to keep these breeds pure and ensure that the genetics of these tried and proven breeds are not lost to the next generation.

The Wolfe family raises Large Black Hogs on their homestead in Missouri. The pork is a favorite among chefs because of its tender texture and micro-marbled meat.

Prepare for Your Pigs’ Arrival

Before you bring your pig home, you need to make sure you are ready. This is the number one mistake most small farmers make, and yes, we did too. They bring the animal home first and then figure out what it needs. If you don’t plan for its arrival, you will be disappointed and can even make enemies of your neighbors when your hog roots up their garden. The first thing you will need is a good fence. We use woven wire fences (some call it web wire) with an electric wire around the inside bottom about snout high. Most people prefer not to go this route because it is more expensive than barbed wire but we love it because we can keep everything from hogs to goats in. Both are notorious for being escape artists.

Your pig will also need some form of shelter. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just a three-sided shed you build out of scrap lumber and tin roofing. It’s best if you build it on skids so you can move it as it gets wet and muddy inside. Some people use an A-frame shed built from treated plywood. It’s important that it has ample ventilation though, so leave one end open. Place the shed in a shady spot and he’ll be in “hog heaven.” Pigs can get too hot in the summer so they love a pool to cool off in. Find a low spot that you can fill daily with a water hose and they will jump in whenever they feel the need. Add to that a sturdy water and feed trough and you’re in business.

Electric Fences

I absolutely positively hate to see a hog in a hog pen. I know people do it but you are not raising a healthy hog that way. They don’t want to stand in their waste any more than you would. Besides, you are missing out on the pig’s ability to forage for its own feed. We allow our pigs to run on large pastures. With that much space, the pigs are busy eating and don’t spend their day rooting. As long as there is plenty for them to eat on top of the ground, they will keep their rooting to a minimum.

Hogs quickly learn to respect electric fences and will not try to get out. Be sure not to put a wire where you may someday want that hog to walk, such as a gate, because you can’t get him through there if he thinks it has a hot wire. Pigs are smart animals but they have bad eyesight. He will learn where the wire is by touching it and won’t trust his eyes when it’s gone. Electric fences are economical and if you get them powerful enough and run enough strands, you can keep your hogs in.

Feed

You’re probably asking yourself: What can pigs eat? Well, the answer is, just as in people, a hog that eats lots of fresh greens and gets plenty of exercise will have more muscle and less fat than a pig standing in a pig sty eating high carbohydrate grains all day. We find that we get over 75% wrapped meat from a hog raised out on pasture due to its increased muscle and less fat. Not only that, but the pig is much healthier and has no need for antibiotics, steroids or any other chemical.

Vegetation is not enough for a growing pig so you will need to add a high-protein grain diet when raising pigs for meat. Ground corn is not good enough. That’s high in carbohydrates and low in protein. You would be raising lard mostly, not pork. You need a balanced ration made especially for growing pigs. When they are small, we feed them twice a day, just enough at each feeding for them to get full and walk away. Don’t leave food out at all times or they will get lazy and put on more fat than you would like. (Sound familiar anyone?!) Later on, once a day should be plenty as long as they have a good pasture to graze.

Finding a chemical-free pig feed may be difficult, depending on where you live. We have found that almost all purchased animal feed is medicated. You don’t have to ask for medicated feed, it’s already in there and they won’t tell you that when you buy it. Go to your local feed store and ask to look at a bag of pig feed (not sow feed, that has less protein). My guess is it will say “medicated” in small letters somewhere on the ingredients label. They don’t bother to tell you what the medication is or what it’s for. I don’t know about you but I resent the fact that they are selling me drugs that I don’t need and certainly don’t want in my meat. Call around and see who will custom mix your feed. If enough people start requesting it, maybe the feed mills will get the point. We found a feed mill in Seymour, Missouri that has a medication-free pig feed that is excellent.

Health Issues

Unfortunately, what you’ll find when raising pigs for meat, is that young pigs are prone to get intestinal worms that can stunt their growth and lead to a weakened state. We find that if we worm them at weaning and keep them out on clean pasture, they should not need worming again before slaughter. There are different products out there for you to choose from, including all natural. We have tried the shots and boy, we will never try that again. It took three of us to hold that pig still long enough to give a shot and it was not fun for any of us. We then tried the dewormer you add to their water but found they play in their water more than drink it and we could never know if they got the recommended dosage or not. We finally settled on the granular kind you add to their feed. That’s one thing you can count on, a pig is going to finish their meal! Other than that, we really have not had health problems to deal with. I attribute that to clean pastures and healthy eating.

Processing of the Hog

One of the most frequently asked questions is, “How can you eat your pet pig?” Our pigs are the heritage hog breeds and they most certainly do have personalities. Not all breeds do, but the older breeds tend to be very loving and gentle. I do love my pigs and enjoy scratching their bellies and watching them play. They follow my husband around like a dog when he is anywhere in sight. They know his voice and come running when they hear it. It does take some getting used to but unless you truly want a pig for a pet, you must always remember why he is there.

Different breeds of pigs will grow at different rates and how much you feed it will affect it, but they should be at around 200 pounds by six months of age or sooner. If you let it get much over 200 pounds, it will start putting on more fat than meat. Now most people don’t have a pig scale and it’s very hard for an inexperienced person to look at a hog and judge what it weighs, so how do you know? Many supply catalogs have a “hog tape” that you use to measure them and it will guide you through the calculation of determining their weight. Measure it every month so you can judge how close you are getting. Then compare your figures with the scale at the packing plant if you use one.

Farmers used to wait for a good cold spell and then they would kill their own hog and string him up in a sturdy tree to be sectioned up. There are lots of good books on the market for you to use as a guide and it’s not rocket science to learn how to butcher a pig. You can do this if you have the stomach for it. All it takes is a hand held meat saw for the bones, some good sharp butcher knives and then a home meat grinder for the sausage, etc. You’ll need a good sturdy table and a floor that can be mopped. If you don’t feel confident to cure your own hams and bacon, you can send those items off to a local processing plant to be preserved. The rest can be packaged and stored in your freezer.

If you would rather not learn how to butcher a pig and leave it to the professionals, ask around to see who your neighbors would recommend for a local processor. If you don’t have a trailer or rack to haul your hog to the plant, maybe you can barter with a neighbor to have him haul it for you. You can expect to pay the processing plant around 40 cents a pound live weight plus a killing fee to process your hog. As you can see, for a 200-pound hog, it might be worth your effort to do this part yourself.

Summary

If you have the land and time, raising your own pork can be very rewarding. You will find that it tastes so much better than what you buy and you can be guaranteed that it is free of drug residue and chemicals because you control what goes into your hog. Raised on open pastures, hogs don’t stink and they don’t need as much feed as hogs in confinement. The benefits and experience are enormous.

We would love to hear about your experiences raising pigs for meat or answer any questions about ours. You may reach us at our website at WolfeMountainFarms.com. Now, get started raising those Christmas hams!

Originally published in Countryside July / August 2006 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

Raising Pigs for Meat in Your Own Backyard was originally posted by All About Chickens

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To us, the food we eat is the most normal thing in the world. We see it every day, we eat it every day, and we hear about it every day because people like to share pictures of their meals on every social networking site on the planet. But people who don’t share our eating habits might find what we consume to be rather strange, and the same holds true in the opposite direction. Deliciousness is in the mouth of the beholder.

We don’t condone eating dolphin meat. Or dog. This article is pointing out some cultures have different opinions about what is okay to eat.

#1 Dolphin Meat – Japan Dolphin meat isn’t popular, but it’s consumed regularly and found in grocery stores. Despite being one of the most intelligent animals in existence, dolphins are killed for their meat and the purpose of culling their numbers. Some people consider these practices barbaric and would prefer it if Japan stopped hunting both dolphins and whales for good. The Japanese defend themselves by saying that they need the food and need to bring the population down to keep dolphins healthy, although some sources claim this doesn’t ring true. While there are certainly many different arguments to the debate, the most important fact both sides aren’t mentioning is the mercury. Dolphins and whales have such high levels of mercury that they’re really not safe for human consumption. Perhaps those who are against whaling and dolphin hunting would have a better time convincing people if they pointed out the fact that they may be poisoned by their eating habits, rather than decrying the cruelty of hunting the animals in question.

#2 Tinned Spaghetti – New Zealand If you live in the United States, there’s a good chance the closest thing you’ve seen to tinned spaghetti is SpaghettiOs. But in the United Kingdom and New Zealand it’s common to see spaghetti in a can, where it’s an absurdly popular food item (especially in New Zealand, where they consume 21 million cans of the stuff a year). America has Chef Boyardee and other canned pastas, but not real tinned spaghetti. The most popular brand is Watties, which comes in a number of varieties including versions that have small sausages if you’re craving meat. Heinz also gets in on the act with a canned spaghetti product we’ll likely never see Stateside. Tinned Spaghetti is popular on toast, but it’s also been used quite a bit as the worst pizza ingredient imaginable. A jar of Wattie’s tinned spaghetti is used instead of sauce, and then you add cheese and any other desired toppings before baking your abomination to golden brown perfection. To many of us spaghetti in a can probably sounds like an affront to good taste, good pasta and good cooking, but it’s a beloved comfort food and staple item to many.

#3 Spam – Guam Spam is well known around the world as a survival food you keep tucked away in your pantry for rainy days, because it doesn’t need to be cooked and it basically never goes bad. However, Spam didn’t always have such a popular position. When it was first released it was basically an army food, but most civilians didn’t find much appeal in it. And while soldiers are used to regrettable fare, even most of them said it was meat that didn’t pass its physical. While the canned meat product has never been incredibly popular Stateside, it’s actually absurdly popular on certain islands. During World War II America shipped a lot of this stuff, and quite a bit of it ended up in the hands of island locals. Hawaii is in love with Spam, and Guam is completely obsessed with it. They get several more flavors than Americans do, they serve it with almost everything and they even have a sushi roll type dish that uses Spam instead of fish. In Guam they consume about 16 cans per person per year, the highest consumption in the world.

#4 Mammi – Finland Finland, like all Scandinavian countries, is known for being metal and drinking a lot of booze. You might think one of their favorite traditional foods would be something brutal and crazy or another way to get drunk, but it’s actually a dessert. Called Mammi, it’s usually served on Easter. Often served with milk or cream, it looks like a big lump of brown stuff just kind of sitting in the milk.  While hardly appetizing in appearance, the dish is a delicious treat. A dessert that looks like a lump of brown stuff might not sound like it would require much work, but it actually has to be prepared carefully. There are many variations, but the main ingredients include water, sugar, rye flour, orange zest, molasses and seasonings. Then the recipe gets serious — you first have to let all the ingredients sit together for a long while to soak up all the different flavors, then you bake it, and then you chill it for several days before you actually get to soak it in milk and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

#5 Peanut Butter – United States Peanut butter is absurdly popular in the United States. You’d be hard pressed to find a single American who doesn’t have some version of it in their fridge, pantry or both. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is still considered a classic American lunch, and peanut butter is ubiquitous around the entire country. It’s one of the most popular comfort foods in the country for a reason — it’s cheap, lasts a long time, provides fat and protein and is as simple and quick to prepare as you can get. If you’re on a budget, in a hurry or just want comfort food, peanut butter is the way to go. In other parts of the world this is considered strange — peanut butter is starting to make its way around the globe, but many Europeans still give it funny looks and consider it an odd product. There was a time when it wasn’t really known or used much outside of the States. Even now that’s available in many more countries it hasn’t gained any real traction, possibly due to the fact that Europeans don’t like adding sugar to every single one of their foods and most American peanut butter is packed with it.

#6 Dog Meat – China In the West, even people who don’t particularly care for pets would balk at the idea of eating dog. They’re lovable, loyal little creatures who serve as faithful pets, but in some parts of China they’re an important staple. In Yulin they even have a yearly festival where about 10,000 dogs are eaten. Animal rights protesters show up at these events and try to convince people to stop eating dog, but the locals feel they shouldn’t have to explain themselves. For them it’s not about eating a pet, it’s about sustenance. Many other kinds of meat are harder to come by, and one citizen told a protester that he would give up dog if the protester would give up beef. When asked about the hypocrisy of still eating beef while complaining about dog, one of the protesters explained that he thinks the two are different — he believes dogs simply have more worth on a moral scale than animals like cows.

#7 Brown Sauce – United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, brown sauce is a popular condiment to put on all kinds of meals. The sauce is especially popular in England, where it was first created. Brown sauce starts off with a tomato base, but quickly changes from there. It also includes ingredients like rye flour, molasses, tamarind and malt vinegar. The most popular brand by far is called HP, which stands for Houses of Parliament. It serves a similar function to America’s obsession with putting ketchup on practically everything — the UK goes through about 27 million bottles of the stuff a year. The recipe was created over a century ago and still has enduring popularity to this day. However, it was recently the victim of controversy. Due to regulations intended to keep salt in products down, Heinz changed the recipe and angered a lot of people in doing so. While it’s understandable that they needed to comply with the law, it seems silly to change something that worked so well for over 100 years.

#8 Salo – Ukraine Popular in Russia and especially Ukraine, salo has similarities to both bacon and lard. But while bacon tends to have only stripes of fat while lard is the processed fat from a pig, salo resembles a huge hunk of meat fat at first, because that’s basically what it is. It will sometimes have a small layer of meat, but it’s nearly entirely fat. In order to make the meat last longer it’s kept in the cold and dark as part of the curing process, so in essence you’re eating a pile of cured fat. This makes it a great food to keep you going through a long, cold, Slavic winter, but it certainly doesn’t sound appetizing. As a quick snack for energy it’s often consumed raw or quickly spread on bread. Don’t age it for too long though, or it will become inedible and more suited to the making of shoes. Bon appétit.

#9 Witchetty Grubs – Australian Aboriginals In many parts of Australia high protein food can be quite scarce, so eating insects is a logical conclusion. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to convince someone who didn’t grow up eating bugs that doing so is anything other than completely gross. However, for aboriginals it’s always been a staple. Witchetty grubs are actually the larval form of different moth species and are supposed to taste like almonds. They’re sometimes cooked to give them a nice coating on the outside, but are just as often consumed raw. While it sounds gross, it’s certainly efficient to simply pick your food out of the ground and then enjoy your meal.

#10 Stinkbugs – South Africa Eating grub larva is one thing, but in some parts of the world humans eat even nastier bugs. You’ve probably heard of the stinkbug — they buzz all over the place and emit a foul odor if you squash them. Many see them as pests, but elsewhere they’re an important foodstuff that are harvested on a regular basis. They’re usually collected by hand in the early morning hours, before they start moving around too much. Even stranger is the process for preparing them. Live stinkbugs must first be tricked into using their stink glands with a small amount of water. Then they’re rinsed in water multiple times, boiled to finish killing them, and cooked to prepare them for consumption. If the stinkbugs are already dead, an entirely different and much more complicated procedure has to be performed before they can safely be eaten. It seems like a lot of work just to munch on a few tiny bugs, but you have to work with the sources of protein you have available.

Source: TopTenz

[lauriecgarcia]

The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal

Wendyl Nissen’s book Supermarket Companion, how to bring home good food, is a wealth of knowledge for those looking to avoid foods laden with dangerous chemicals, there’s a comprehensive list of food colourings and additives so you can shop smarter and be more aware of what’s in processed supermarket food.

This entertaining and enlightening exert looks at breakfast foods, in particular, Nestlé Milo Oats and Kellogg’s Froot Loops (no fruit there!) and the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast that is not laden with sugar and additives.

Make sure you check out Wendyl’s findings at the end of the chapter.

Just for starters!

“Look at what?” I say, as we both gaze at the bags of shopping.Can I look at that, Grandma?” says our four-year-old grand-daughter, Lila, as I’m putting the shopping in the back of the Prius. We have just made our way around the supermarket and Lila has been a great help.

“That one there,” she says pointing at a brightly coloured box.

“Oh, that’s not for you,” I say reaching in and covering the offending piece of garish marketing with a bag of potatoes.

“Why not?” she says, disappointed.

“That’s for Grandma’s work.” I reply and hastily strap her into her car seat. “When Grandma has done her work on it, maybe you can have one next time you visit.”

Most visits to the supermarket require that I look for products that I can review in my column. This box was for some brightly coloured biscuits called Oki Doki Disco Bits. They looked frightening in terms of artificial colours and so I threw them in the trolley. Lila never said a word when I took them off the shelf, nor to my knowledge even noticed they were in the trolley. But when it comes to kid marketing Lila is a perfect target. She has an innate ability to seek and find any brightly coloured foods within a 10-meter radius.

I’m not sure what she thinks Grandma does when she “works” on these foods but she knows that they generally live on a shelf in my office, lined up and waiting for my magnifying glass to hover critically over their ingredients panel.

I know Lila knows this because it’s her first stop at every visit, once we have all been all been greeted with a cuddle, she’s patted our dog, Shirl, and gone out to check that her white hen, who she has named “Mummy”, is still around.

I had an extremely colourful and enticing box of Kellogg’s Fruit Loops sitting in my office when Lila came to visit recently. She regards my office as our “second” kitchen because on any occasion she might find all sorts of wonderful foods lined up on my shelf ready to be analysed for the column. I was in the “first” kitchen, when she appeared clutching the box of Froot Loops with a look of wonderment on her face.

“Grandma, can I please have these in a bowl with some milk?”

Something about the packaging had managed to (tell her that a) she desperately needed to eat these and b) it was a food you had in a bowl with milk.

“Why do you want them?” I asked.

“They look nice,” was all she said.

I gently pried them off her with promises of other treats and hid them in the pantry.

When I went back to get them to write about, I found that my 26-year-old son, Daniel, had succumbed to the same marketing message, but didn’t need to ask first, and ate them.

I am always astonished at the power of packaging and its ability to transfix a small child or her uncle. Lila lives in a household where her parents are very aware of food additives and eat a very healthy, real-food diet. (Not because I pressured them –they are just intelligent consumers, honestly.)

So Lila’s exposure to junk food and the bright packaging is minimal and she would have had no conditioning to tell her that inside these packets are sweet tasting, moreish foods. She just wouldn’t know. Yet something about the design of the boxes sets off a reaction in her brain which gives her the drive to search for it in bags of shopping or reach up onto a shelf and carry it all the way down the hall to me in the kitchen.

It is no secret that kids as young as Lila are directly targeted by advertising, not just on TV but also techniques such as free gifts, competitions, games and puzzles, website games and movie promotions.

And that marketing is why breakfast becomes a minefield for well meaning parents to negotiate.

Next time you are at the supermarket, wander down the breakfast aisle and take note of the packaging. It all looks fantastic. Aside from the relentless use of every bright colour in the rainbow, you will see three elements competing for your attention: chocolate, punchy bright berries and fruit and fibre.

In my house over the years, we have been through most of the cereal crazes as each of our five children has begged to be allowed a new brand and their busy working mum (former) bought them.

Have you ever noticed Jerry Seinfeld’s cereal shelf in the kitchen on Seinfeld? Next time you watch the show have a look. One internet source sets the number at nine, mostly cornflakes and shredded wheat. His cereal shelf looks exactly how ours looked for years, as every child claimed a new brand as theirs.

While you’re in the breakfast cereal aisle, see if you can find one box which lists the sugar content per 100g at less than 15g, which is what we should aim for when buying our kids cereal.

Consumer magazine conducted a survey of our breakfast cereals in 2008 and found that seven products had more than 40 per cent sugar – over three teaspoons in a 30g serve. I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter for you, in case they’re sitting on your Seinfeld cereal shelf. One of them is the aforementioned Kellogg’s Froot Loops which I prevented Lila from eating.

My focus when first studying this cereal was primarily on the three artificial colours used in it (see my findings below) but then I worked out that, if Lila had been allowed her Froot Loops with milk, she would have consumed 4.3 teaspoons of sugar in her bowl.

I can guarantee you will not find a box of cereal in the supermarket with low sugar until you come to Weet-Bix. Plain old Weet-Bix is the star of the cereal aisle, at just 2.8g per 100g. Admittedly, a lot of people add sugar, but at least you can control that and most kids enjoy eating them.

Lila eats two “bix” for breakfast every morning and won’t be swayed from them even when her grandpa is offering to make her sausages and eggs.

My mother, Elis, however, can’t stand them. Something to do with trying to avoid eating them when she was a child by sneezing into them, thinking her patents would deem that a reasonable enough excuse not to have to eat them. But no. She had to eat every last bit and has never touched them since.

As a guide, when you are out shopping, if sugar appears in the ingredients list directly under the name of the cereal, such as rice, corn or wheat, that means that the second biggest ingredient in there is sugar, and you should put it straight back on the shelf.

The other thing you need to think about is salt levels (fewer than 400mg sodium per 100g of cereal) and fibre.

We all know that we don’t get enough fibre in our diets. It’s good for bowel health and digestion and the things that give you fibre – fresh fruit, veges and wholegrains – tend to be really nutritious and good for you. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a trend for food manufacturers to add what I call “faux fibre” to their processed foods, using vegetable gums and inulin, which is a substance that occurs naturally in root vegetables, particularly chicory. Other additions include polydextrose, which is created out of dextrose (glucose), sorbitol, a low-calorie carbohydrate, and citric acid to add to processed foods, usually to provide fibre. It is called a functional fibre because no one knows if it has the same health benefits as fibre found in real foods.

A good guide for children’s fibre requirements is 5g to 15g per 100g, so look out for that on the label, and if you see inulin or vegetable gum in the ingredients panel, reject it in favour of something which uses wholegrains and fruit to provide fibre.

Another problem with most breakfast cereals is the fact that they are extruded. This means perfectly good wholegrains are ground up, made into a slurry with liquid, heated to high temperatures, then pressurised through small holes to create shapes such as rings, flakes or puffs. You have to wonder just how much nutrition gets killed off in the process with those high heats and pressures.

OFTEN WHEN I’M out and about, people like to talk about the food column and what it has taught them.

“Thank goodness Krispies are okay,” said my aunt. “They’re my favourite biscuit.”

“I haven’t touched a raspberry jam slice since the day I read your column,” said a woman I met at a knitting bee.

And, of course, many people have suggestions for foods I should look at. By far the most disturbing conversation along these lines with a woman I was doing some work with.

“I have this friend who basically throws those cartons of Up&Go at her kids from dawn until dusk,” she said. “That’s all they eat. For breakfast they sit there in the car sucking on them on their way to school, they have another one with their lunch and sometimes dinner too. I’ve tried to tell her they need some real food but she believes they are good for them.  Are they?”

Then I got the emails about UP&Go: “My kids have one every day and I’m wondering how healthy they are,” said one mother.

“I really don’t like this product because it has so much sugar and it’s like this giving your child a milkshake for breakfast,” said another.

I was well acquainted with Up&Go. My son Daniel has never been a great breakfast eater, and so for a while he took one of these with him but in the end he didn’t even eat those, claiming the texture was weird.

Up&Go, for those who are not familiar with it, is a drink which is endorsed by the All Blacks in its advertising campaign and claims on the box to have “the protein, energy and dietary fibre of 2 Weet-Bix and milk”.

It is reasonable that parents like myself would read that and presume that in the little box we are handing over to our kids is simply two Weet-Bix and some milk all mashed up. And presumably it would have the same nutritional benefits.

Wrong.

The label should also state that it has 11.7g more sugar and 13 more ingredients than a simple bowl of Weet-Bix and milk. By the time I’d finished writing the column I was quite angry with Sanitarium for the misconception and wrote: “Is it really that hard to get a kid to sit down at the kitchen table and eat solid food these days? Are we raising a nation of astronauts in training who need to develop a taste for liquid food?”

I think if you’ve got a kid who needs something quick to eat in the car you can throw them a banana. And if you’ve got a kid who only likes to drink their meals, whip up a smoothie, put it in a bottle and let them drink that. On the Sanitarium website they even recommend that you throw a Weet-Bix into the smoothies.

I also took a look at Nestlé Milo Oats, mainly because Pearl had picked them up in the super-market and loved them. I’m a big fan of oats, as not only are they a good source of fibre but they also do wonderful soothing things to your digestive system.

Nestlé have a range of breakfast cereals marketed under the Milo name and some are better than others. Milo Oats is a better one.

I found that they weren’t too high in sugar and were a good source of fibre. I saw them as a great food to get kids interested in porridge for breakfast. I also found a study which showed that children who had oats for breakfast had better spatial memory (which means being able to remember geographical details like the interior of your house), better short-term memory and better listening attention than children who ate ready-to-eat cereal or no breakfast at all. Pearl was very relieved.

PUTTING THE CHOICE of cereal for your kids aside, there is a bigger problem emerging on the horizon for families, and that’s the kid who just won’t eat breakfast. This is cause for concern because every study you read emphasises the importance of breakfast for kids to kickstart their brains and give them the energy to see them through a day of learning school.

One University of Sydney study, conveniently commissioned by Kellogg’s, looked at the type of breakfast eaten by 800 New South Wales children aged eight to 16, across 19 different schools. The students who ate breakfast before their tests performed better, and those who ate the most nutritious breakfasts, such as cereal and milk, or eggs on toast, got the highest scores. They also scored higher on literacy and numeracy tests than their classmates who ate only toast.

It is easy to see why many parents faced with a non breakfast-child will be less fussy about the food they consume, reasoning that at least they’re eating something. We let two of our children, Daniel and his step-sister Alex, go to school on a diet of Pop-Tarts (basically jam-filled pastries you heat up in the toaster) for months because we were just so glad they were eating something.

In the end we settled on toasted sandwiches, smoothies and, if all else failed, a banana. I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t like the taste and as a food they have a lot going for them. They have lots of carbohydrates for energy, are low in fat, and are potassium-rich, which is great for muscles. They also have some protein and iron.

Instead of throwing an Up&Go at your child on the way to school, swap it for a banana a carton of milk, which will give protein, calcium, zinc, vitamins A and B, and iodine.

I’m very much a toast and a cup of tea girl at breakfast, and it gives me enough energy, even with a gym work out to see me through to lunch. Which is when I go outside to raid the chicken coop and find some delicious, bright yellow-yolked eggs.

MY FINDINGS

Nestlé Milo Oats

I see this as a great transition product to get children who may be used to the a diet of high sugar processed breakfast cereal used to the taste and texture of oats which are a very healthy option for the reasons above. By the time they’ve gone through a packet of these, they might just like a bowl of real porridge with some fresh banana and honey mixed in which is less sweet option than this product and better for them. It also means that your child sets off on a cold winter’s morning with a warm breakfast in their stomach, which is a nice old-fashioned thing to do, and the effect of the oats on their memory and listening skills might be good too.

Summary:

Three teaspoons of sugar in every serving if made with milk, but with water only one and half teaspoons.

20g of oats in every serve which is a great option for good nutrition, and oats have proven benefits for your child’s memory and listening skills.

A great transition food to get your child interested in eating porridge on a winter’s morning.

**Nestle still use palm oil so be sure to read your labels**

Kellogg’s Froot Loops

There is just something irresistible to children about food which comes in fun colours and Froot Loops certainly fulfils that expectation. It even has the sell line “a fun fuel for adventurous kids.”

There is no doubting your kids will love this cereal and hoover it down. But why not teach your children that real food doesn’t come in six fun, mostly artificial colours? Most children are quite happy to eat Weet-Bix which by comparison has only 0.8g of sugar per serve or 6.8g per serve with milk. It also uses wholegrains and has more fibre. Top it with some fresh fruit, like strawberries and peaches, and you have a great breakfast with plenty of natural colour.

And perhaps follow a rule for eating by the author of Food Rules, Michael Pollan, who says “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of the milk.’’

Summary:

Contains 38 per cent sugar.

Has three artificial colours which are banned in other countries.

Uses natural flavourings.

Wendyl Nissen

Photos by Fischer Twins  Etienne Girardet  rawpixel  Peter Lewicki

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[lauriecgarcia]

The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal

Wendyl Nissen’s book Supermarket Companion, how to bring home good food, is a wealth of knowledge for those looking to avoid foods laden with dangerous chemicals, there’s a comprehensive list of food colourings and additives so you can shop smarter and be more aware of what’s in processed supermarket food.

This entertaining and enlightening exert looks at breakfast foods, in particular, Nestlé Milo Oats and Kellogg’s Froot Loops (no fruit there!) and the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast that is not laden with sugar and additives.

Make sure you check out Wendyl’s findings at the end of the chapter.

Just for starters!

“Look at what?” I say, as we both gaze at the bags of shopping.Can I look at that, Grandma?” says our four-year-old grand-daughter, Lila, as I’m putting the shopping in the back of the Prius. We have just made our way around the supermarket and Lila has been a great help.

“That one there,” she says pointing at a brightly coloured box.

“Oh, that’s not for you,” I say reaching in and covering the offending piece of garish marketing with a bag of potatoes.

“Why not?” she says, disappointed.

“That’s for Grandma’s work.” I reply and hastily strap her into her car seat. “When Grandma has done her work on it, maybe you can have one next time you visit.”

Most visits to the supermarket require that I look for products that I can review in my column. This box was for some brightly coloured biscuits called Oki Doki Disco Bits. They looked frightening in terms of artificial colours and so I threw them in the trolley. Lila never said a word when I took them off the shelf, nor to my knowledge even noticed they were in the trolley. But when it comes to kid marketing Lila is a perfect target. She has an innate ability to seek and find any brightly coloured foods within a 10-meter radius.

I’m not sure what she thinks Grandma does when she “works” on these foods but she knows that they generally live on a shelf in my office, lined up and waiting for my magnifying glass to hover critically over their ingredients panel.

I know Lila knows this because it’s her first stop at every visit, once we have all been all been greeted with a cuddle, she’s patted our dog, Shirl, and gone out to check that her white hen, who she has named “Mummy”, is still around.

I had an extremely colourful and enticing box of Kellogg’s Fruit Loops sitting in my office when Lila came to visit recently. She regards my office as our “second” kitchen because on any occasion she might find all sorts of wonderful foods lined up on my shelf ready to be analysed for the column. I was in the “first” kitchen, when she appeared clutching the box of Froot Loops with a look of wonderment on her face.

“Grandma, can I please have these in a bowl with some milk?”

Something about the packaging had managed to (tell her that a) she desperately needed to eat these and b) it was a food you had in a bowl with milk.

“Why do you want them?” I asked.

“They look nice,” was all she said.

I gently pried them off her with promises of other treats and hid them in the pantry.

When I went back to get them to write about, I found that my 26-year-old son, Daniel, had succumbed to the same marketing message, but didn’t need to ask first, and ate them.

I am always astonished at the power of packaging and its ability to transfix a small child or her uncle. Lila lives in a household where her parents are very aware of food additives and eat a very healthy, real-food diet. (Not because I pressured them –they are just intelligent consumers, honestly.)

So Lila’s exposure to junk food and the bright packaging is minimal and she would have had no conditioning to tell her that inside these packets are sweet tasting, moreish foods. She just wouldn’t know. Yet something about the design of the boxes sets off a reaction in her brain which gives her the drive to search for it in bags of shopping or reach up onto a shelf and carry it all the way down the hall to me in the kitchen.

It is no secret that kids as young as Lila are directly targeted by advertising, not just on TV but also techniques such as free gifts, competitions, games and puzzles, website games and movie promotions.

And that marketing is why breakfast becomes a minefield for well meaning parents to negotiate.

Next time you are at the supermarket, wander down the breakfast aisle and take note of the packaging. It all looks fantastic. Aside from the relentless use of every bright colour in the rainbow, you will see three elements competing for your attention: chocolate, punchy bright berries and fruit and fibre.

In my house over the years, we have been through most of the cereal crazes as each of our five children has begged to be allowed a new brand and their busy working mum (former) bought them.

Have you ever noticed Jerry Seinfeld’s cereal shelf in the kitchen on Seinfeld? Next time you watch the show have a look. One internet source sets the number at nine, mostly cornflakes and shredded wheat. His cereal shelf looks exactly how ours looked for years, as every child claimed a new brand as theirs.

While you’re in the breakfast cereal aisle, see if you can find one box which lists the sugar content per 100g at less than 15g, which is what we should aim for when buying our kids cereal.

Consumer magazine conducted a survey of our breakfast cereals in 2008 and found that seven products had more than 40 per cent sugar – over three teaspoons in a 30g serve. I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter for you, in case they’re sitting on your Seinfeld cereal shelf. One of them is the aforementioned Kellogg’s Froot Loops which I prevented Lila from eating.

My focus when first studying this cereal was primarily on the three artificial colours used in it (see my findings below) but then I worked out that, if Lila had been allowed her Froot Loops with milk, she would have consumed 4.3 teaspoons of sugar in her bowl.

I can guarantee you will not find a box of cereal in the supermarket with low sugar until you come to Weet-Bix. Plain old Weet-Bix is the star of the cereal aisle, at just 2.8g per 100g. Admittedly, a lot of people add sugar, but at least you can control that and most kids enjoy eating them.

Lila eats two “bix” for breakfast every morning and won’t be swayed from them even when her grandpa is offering to make her sausages and eggs.

My mother, Elis, however, can’t stand them. Something to do with trying to avoid eating them when she was a child by sneezing into them, thinking her patents would deem that a reasonable enough excuse not to have to eat them. But no. She had to eat every last bit and has never touched them since.

As a guide, when you are out shopping, if sugar appears in the ingredients list directly under the name of the cereal, such as rice, corn or wheat, that means that the second biggest ingredient in there is sugar, and you should put it straight back on the shelf.

The other thing you need to think about is salt levels (fewer than 400mg sodium per 100g of cereal) and fibre.

We all know that we don’t get enough fibre in our diets. It’s good for bowel health and digestion and the things that give you fibre – fresh fruit, veges and wholegrains – tend to be really nutritious and good for you. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a trend for food manufacturers to add what I call “faux fibre” to their processed foods, using vegetable gums and inulin, which is a substance that occurs naturally in root vegetables, particularly chicory. Other additions include polydextrose, which is created out of dextrose (glucose), sorbitol, a low-calorie carbohydrate, and citric acid to add to processed foods, usually to provide fibre. It is called a functional fibre because no one knows if it has the same health benefits as fibre found in real foods.

A good guide for children’s fibre requirements is 5g to 15g per 100g, so look out for that on the label, and if you see inulin or vegetable gum in the ingredients panel, reject it in favour of something which uses wholegrains and fruit to provide fibre.

Another problem with most breakfast cereals is the fact that they are extruded. This means perfectly good wholegrains are ground up, made into a slurry with liquid, heated to high temperatures, then pressurised through small holes to create shapes such as rings, flakes or puffs. You have to wonder just how much nutrition gets killed off in the process with those high heats and pressures.

OFTEN WHEN I’M out and about, people like to talk about the food column and what it has taught them.

“Thank goodness Krispies are okay,” said my aunt. “They’re my favourite biscuit.”

“I haven’t touched a raspberry jam slice since the day I read your column,” said a woman I met at a knitting bee.

And, of course, many people have suggestions for foods I should look at. By far the most disturbing conversation along these lines with a woman I was doing some work with.

“I have this friend who basically throws those cartons of Up&Go at her kids from dawn until dusk,” she said. “That’s all they eat. For breakfast they sit there in the car sucking on them on their way to school, they have another one with their lunch and sometimes dinner too. I’ve tried to tell her they need some real food but she believes they are good for them.  Are they?”

Then I got the emails about UP&Go: “My kids have one every day and I’m wondering how healthy they are,” said one mother.

“I really don’t like this product because it has so much sugar and it’s like this giving your child a milkshake for breakfast,” said another.

I was well acquainted with Up&Go. My son Daniel has never been a great breakfast eater, and so for a while he took one of these with him but in the end he didn’t even eat those, claiming the texture was weird.

Up&Go, for those who are not familiar with it, is a drink which is endorsed by the All Blacks in its advertising campaign and claims on the box to have “the protein, energy and dietary fibre of 2 Weet-Bix and milk”.

It is reasonable that parents like myself would read that and presume that in the little box we are handing over to our kids is simply two Weet-Bix and some milk all mashed up. And presumably it would have the same nutritional benefits.

Wrong.

The label should also state that it has 11.7g more sugar and 13 more ingredients than a simple bowl of Weet-Bix and milk. By the time I’d finished writing the column I was quite angry with Sanitarium for the misconception and wrote: “Is it really that hard to get a kid to sit down at the kitchen table and eat solid food these days? Are we raising a nation of astronauts in training who need to develop a taste for liquid food?”

I think if you’ve got a kid who needs something quick to eat in the car you can throw them a banana. And if you’ve got a kid who only likes to drink their meals, whip up a smoothie, put it in a bottle and let them drink that. On the Sanitarium website they even recommend that you throw a Weet-Bix into the smoothies.

I also took a look at Nestlé Milo Oats, mainly because Pearl had picked them up in the super-market and loved them. I’m a big fan of oats, as not only are they a good source of fibre but they also do wonderful soothing things to your digestive system.

Nestlé have a range of breakfast cereals marketed under the Milo name and some are better than others. Milo Oats is a better one.

I found that they weren’t too high in sugar and were a good source of fibre. I saw them as a great food to get kids interested in porridge for breakfast. I also found a study which showed that children who had oats for breakfast had better spatial memory (which means being able to remember geographical details like the interior of your house), better short-term memory and better listening attention than children who ate ready-to-eat cereal or no breakfast at all. Pearl was very relieved.

PUTTING THE CHOICE of cereal for your kids aside, there is a bigger problem emerging on the horizon for families, and that’s the kid who just won’t eat breakfast. This is cause for concern because every study you read emphasises the importance of breakfast for kids to kickstart their brains and give them the energy to see them through a day of learning school.

One University of Sydney study, conveniently commissioned by Kellogg’s, looked at the type of breakfast eaten by 800 New South Wales children aged eight to 16, across 19 different schools. The students who ate breakfast before their tests performed better, and those who ate the most nutritious breakfasts, such as cereal and milk, or eggs on toast, got the highest scores. They also scored higher on literacy and numeracy tests than their classmates who ate only toast.

It is easy to see why many parents faced with a non breakfast-child will be less fussy about the food they consume, reasoning that at least they’re eating something. We let two of our children, Daniel and his step-sister Alex, go to school on a diet of Pop-Tarts (basically jam-filled pastries you heat up in the toaster) for months because we were just so glad they were eating something.

In the end we settled on toasted sandwiches, smoothies and, if all else failed, a banana. I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t like the taste and as a food they have a lot going for them. They have lots of carbohydrates for energy, are low in fat, and are potassium-rich, which is great for muscles. They also have some protein and iron.

Instead of throwing an Up&Go at your child on the way to school, swap it for a banana a carton of milk, which will give protein, calcium, zinc, vitamins A and B, and iodine.

I’m very much a toast and a cup of tea girl at breakfast, and it gives me enough energy, even with a gym work out to see me through to lunch. Which is when I go outside to raid the chicken coop and find some delicious, bright yellow-yolked eggs.

MY FINDINGS

Nestlé Milo Oats

I see this as a great transition product to get children who may be used to the a diet of high sugar processed breakfast cereal used to the taste and texture of oats which are a very healthy option for the reasons above. By the time they’ve gone through a packet of these, they might just like a bowl of real porridge with some fresh banana and honey mixed in which is less sweet option than this product and better for them. It also means that your child sets off on a cold winter’s morning with a warm breakfast in their stomach, which is a nice old-fashioned thing to do, and the effect of the oats on their memory and listening skills might be good too.

Summary:

Three teaspoons of sugar in every serving if made with milk, but with water only one and half teaspoons.

20g of oats in every serve which is a great option for good nutrition, and oats have proven benefits for your child’s memory and listening skills.

A great transition food to get your child interested in eating porridge on a winter’s morning.

**Nestle still use palm oil so be sure to read your labels**

Kellogg’s Froot Loops

There is just something irresistible to children about food which comes in fun colours and Froot Loops certainly fulfils that expectation. It even has the sell line “a fun fuel for adventurous kids.”

There is no doubting your kids will love this cereal and hoover it down. But why not teach your children that real food doesn’t come in six fun, mostly artificial colours? Most children are quite happy to eat Weet-Bix which by comparison has only 0.8g of sugar per serve or 6.8g per serve with milk. It also uses wholegrains and has more fibre. Top it with some fresh fruit, like strawberries and peaches, and you have a great breakfast with plenty of natural colour.

And perhaps follow a rule for eating by the author of Food Rules, Michael Pollan, who says “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of the milk.’’

Summary:

Contains 38 per cent sugar.

Has three artificial colours which are banned in other countries.

Uses natural flavourings.

Wendyl Nissen

Photos by Fischer Twins  Etienne Girardet  rawpixel  Peter Lewicki

The post The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal appeared first on Wendyls Green Goddess.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8302119 https://www.wendyls.co.nz/low-breakfast-cereal/ from The Top Cleaner https://thetopcleaner.tumblr.com/post/180257617102

[lauriecgarcia]

The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal

Wendyl Nissen’s book Supermarket Companion, how to bring home good food, is a wealth of knowledge for those looking to avoid foods laden with dangerous chemicals, there’s a comprehensive list of food colourings and additives so you can shop smarter and be more aware of what’s in processed supermarket food.

This entertaining and enlightening exert looks at breakfast foods, in particular, Nestlé Milo Oats and Kellogg’s Froot Loops (no fruit there!) and the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast that is not laden with sugar and additives.

Make sure you check out Wendyl’s findings at the end of the chapter.

Just for starters!

“Look at what?” I say, as we both gaze at the bags of shopping.Can I look at that, Grandma?” says our four-year-old grand-daughter, Lila, as I’m putting the shopping in the back of the Prius. We have just made our way around the supermarket and Lila has been a great help.

“That one there,” she says pointing at a brightly coloured box.

“Oh, that’s not for you,” I say reaching in and covering the offending piece of garish marketing with a bag of potatoes.

“Why not?” she says, disappointed.

“That’s for Grandma’s work.” I reply and hastily strap her into her car seat. “When Grandma has done her work on it, maybe you can have one next time you visit.”

Most visits to the supermarket require that I look for products that I can review in my column. This box was for some brightly coloured biscuits called Oki Doki Disco Bits. They looked frightening in terms of artificial colours and so I threw them in the trolley. Lila never said a word when I took them off the shelf, nor to my knowledge even noticed they were in the trolley. But when it comes to kid marketing Lila is a perfect target. She has an innate ability to seek and find any brightly coloured foods within a 10-meter radius.

I’m not sure what she thinks Grandma does when she “works” on these foods but she knows that they generally live on a shelf in my office, lined up and waiting for my magnifying glass to hover critically over their ingredients panel.

I know Lila knows this because it’s her first stop at every visit, once we have all been all been greeted with a cuddle, she’s patted our dog, Shirl, and gone out to check that her white hen, who she has named “Mummy”, is still around.

I had an extremely colourful and enticing box of Kellogg’s Fruit Loops sitting in my office when Lila came to visit recently. She regards my office as our “second” kitchen because on any occasion she might find all sorts of wonderful foods lined up on my shelf ready to be analysed for the column. I was in the “first” kitchen, when she appeared clutching the box of Froot Loops with a look of wonderment on her face.

“Grandma, can I please have these in a bowl with some milk?”

Something about the packaging had managed to (tell her that a) she desperately needed to eat these and b) it was a food you had in a bowl with milk.

“Why do you want them?” I asked.

“They look nice,” was all she said.

I gently pried them off her with promises of other treats and hid them in the pantry.

When I went back to get them to write about, I found that my 26-year-old son, Daniel, had succumbed to the same marketing message, but didn’t need to ask first, and ate them.

I am always astonished at the power of packaging and its ability to transfix a small child or her uncle. Lila lives in a household where her parents are very aware of food additives and eat a very healthy, real-food diet. (Not because I pressured them –they are just intelligent consumers, honestly.)

So Lila’s exposure to junk food and the bright packaging is minimal and she would have had no conditioning to tell her that inside these packets are sweet tasting, moreish foods. She just wouldn’t know. Yet something about the design of the boxes sets off a reaction in her brain which gives her the drive to search for it in bags of shopping or reach up onto a shelf and carry it all the way down the hall to me in the kitchen.

It is no secret that kids as young as Lila are directly targeted by advertising, not just on TV but also techniques such as free gifts, competitions, games and puzzles, website games and movie promotions.

And that marketing is why breakfast becomes a minefield for well meaning parents to negotiate.

Next time you are at the supermarket, wander down the breakfast aisle and take note of the packaging. It all looks fantastic. Aside from the relentless use of every bright colour in the rainbow, you will see three elements competing for your attention: chocolate, punchy bright berries and fruit and fibre.

In my house over the years, we have been through most of the cereal crazes as each of our five children has begged to be allowed a new brand and their busy working mum (former) bought them.

Have you ever noticed Jerry Seinfeld’s cereal shelf in the kitchen on Seinfeld? Next time you watch the show have a look. One internet source sets the number at nine, mostly cornflakes and shredded wheat. His cereal shelf looks exactly how ours looked for years, as every child claimed a new brand as theirs.

While you’re in the breakfast cereal aisle, see if you can find one box which lists the sugar content per 100g at less than 15g, which is what we should aim for when buying our kids cereal.

Consumer magazine conducted a survey of our breakfast cereals in 2008 and found that seven products had more than 40 per cent sugar – over three teaspoons in a 30g serve. I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter for you, in case they’re sitting on your Seinfeld cereal shelf. One of them is the aforementioned Kellogg’s Froot Loops which I prevented Lila from eating.

My focus when first studying this cereal was primarily on the three artificial colours used in it (see my findings below) but then I worked out that, if Lila had been allowed her Froot Loops with milk, she would have consumed 4.3 teaspoons of sugar in her bowl.

I can guarantee you will not find a box of cereal in the supermarket with low sugar until you come to Weet-Bix. Plain old Weet-Bix is the star of the cereal aisle, at just 2.8g per 100g. Admittedly, a lot of people add sugar, but at least you can control that and most kids enjoy eating them.

Lila eats two “bix” for breakfast every morning and won’t be swayed from them even when her grandpa is offering to make her sausages and eggs.

My mother, Elis, however, can’t stand them. Something to do with trying to avoid eating them when she was a child by sneezing into them, thinking her patents would deem that a reasonable enough excuse not to have to eat them. But no. She had to eat every last bit and has never touched them since.

As a guide, when you are out shopping, if sugar appears in the ingredients list directly under the name of the cereal, such as rice, corn or wheat, that means that the second biggest ingredient in there is sugar, and you should put it straight back on the shelf.

The other thing you need to think about is salt levels (fewer than 400mg sodium per 100g of cereal) and fibre.

We all know that we don’t get enough fibre in our diets. It’s good for bowel health and digestion and the things that give you fibre – fresh fruit, veges and wholegrains – tend to be really nutritious and good for you. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a trend for food manufacturers to add what I call “faux fibre” to their processed foods, using vegetable gums and inulin, which is a substance that occurs naturally in root vegetables, particularly chicory. Other additions include polydextrose, which is created out of dextrose (glucose), sorbitol, a low-calorie carbohydrate, and citric acid to add to processed foods, usually to provide fibre. It is called a functional fibre because no one knows if it has the same health benefits as fibre found in real foods.

A good guide for children’s fibre requirements is 5g to 15g per 100g, so look out for that on the label, and if you see inulin or vegetable gum in the ingredients panel, reject it in favour of something which uses wholegrains and fruit to provide fibre.

Another problem with most breakfast cereals is the fact that they are extruded. This means perfectly good wholegrains are ground up, made into a slurry with liquid, heated to high temperatures, then pressurised through small holes to create shapes such as rings, flakes or puffs. You have to wonder just how much nutrition gets killed off in the process with those high heats and pressures.

OFTEN WHEN I’M out and about, people like to talk about the food column and what it has taught them.

“Thank goodness Krispies are okay,” said my aunt. “They’re my favourite biscuit.”

“I haven’t touched a raspberry jam slice since the day I read your column,” said a woman I met at a knitting bee.

And, of course, many people have suggestions for foods I should look at. By far the most disturbing conversation along these lines with a woman I was doing some work with.

“I have this friend who basically throws those cartons of Up&Go at her kids from dawn until dusk,” she said. “That’s all they eat. For breakfast they sit there in the car sucking on them on their way to school, they have another one with their lunch and sometimes dinner too. I’ve tried to tell her they need some real food but she believes they are good for them.  Are they?”

Then I got the emails about UP&Go: “My kids have one every day and I’m wondering how healthy they are,” said one mother.

“I really don’t like this product because it has so much sugar and it’s like this giving your child a milkshake for breakfast,” said another.

I was well acquainted with Up&Go. My son Daniel has never been a great breakfast eater, and so for a while he took one of these with him but in the end he didn’t even eat those, claiming the texture was weird.

Up&Go, for those who are not familiar with it, is a drink which is endorsed by the All Blacks in its advertising campaign and claims on the box to have “the protein, energy and dietary fibre of 2 Weet-Bix and milk”.

It is reasonable that parents like myself would read that and presume that in the little box we are handing over to our kids is simply two Weet-Bix and some milk all mashed up. And presumably it would have the same nutritional benefits.

Wrong.

The label should also state that it has 11.7g more sugar and 13 more ingredients than a simple bowl of Weet-Bix and milk. By the time I’d finished writing the column I was quite angry with Sanitarium for the misconception and wrote: “Is it really that hard to get a kid to sit down at the kitchen table and eat solid food these days? Are we raising a nation of astronauts in training who need to develop a taste for liquid food?”

I think if you’ve got a kid who needs something quick to eat in the car you can throw them a banana. And if you’ve got a kid who only likes to drink their meals, whip up a smoothie, put it in a bottle and let them drink that. On the Sanitarium website they even recommend that you throw a Weet-Bix into the smoothies.

I also took a look at Nestlé Milo Oats, mainly because Pearl had picked them up in the super-market and loved them. I’m a big fan of oats, as not only are they a good source of fibre but they also do wonderful soothing things to your digestive system.

Nestlé have a range of breakfast cereals marketed under the Milo name and some are better than others. Milo Oats is a better one.

I found that they weren’t too high in sugar and were a good source of fibre. I saw them as a great food to get kids interested in porridge for breakfast. I also found a study which showed that children who had oats for breakfast had better spatial memory (which means being able to remember geographical details like the interior of your house), better short-term memory and better listening attention than children who ate ready-to-eat cereal or no breakfast at all. Pearl was very relieved.

PUTTING THE CHOICE of cereal for your kids aside, there is a bigger problem emerging on the horizon for families, and that’s the kid who just won’t eat breakfast. This is cause for concern because every study you read emphasises the importance of breakfast for kids to kickstart their brains and give them the energy to see them through a day of learning school.

One University of Sydney study, conveniently commissioned by Kellogg’s, looked at the type of breakfast eaten by 800 New South Wales children aged eight to 16, across 19 different schools. The students who ate breakfast before their tests performed better, and those who ate the most nutritious breakfasts, such as cereal and milk, or eggs on toast, got the highest scores. They also scored higher on literacy and numeracy tests than their classmates who ate only toast.

It is easy to see why many parents faced with a non breakfast-child will be less fussy about the food they consume, reasoning that at least they’re eating something. We let two of our children, Daniel and his step-sister Alex, go to school on a diet of Pop-Tarts (basically jam-filled pastries you heat up in the toaster) for months because we were just so glad they were eating something.

In the end we settled on toasted sandwiches, smoothies and, if all else failed, a banana. I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t like the taste and as a food they have a lot going for them. They have lots of carbohydrates for energy, are low in fat, and are potassium-rich, which is great for muscles. They also have some protein and iron.

Instead of throwing an Up&Go at your child on the way to school, swap it for a banana a carton of milk, which will give protein, calcium, zinc, vitamins A and B, and iodine.

I’m very much a toast and a cup of tea girl at breakfast, and it gives me enough energy, even with a gym work out to see me through to lunch. Which is when I go outside to raid the chicken coop and find some delicious, bright yellow-yolked eggs.

MY FINDINGS

Nestlé Milo Oats

I see this as a great transition product to get children who may be used to the a diet of high sugar processed breakfast cereal used to the taste and texture of oats which are a very healthy option for the reasons above. By the time they’ve gone through a packet of these, they might just like a bowl of real porridge with some fresh banana and honey mixed in which is less sweet option than this product and better for them. It also means that your child sets off on a cold winter’s morning with a warm breakfast in their stomach, which is a nice old-fashioned thing to do, and the effect of the oats on their memory and listening skills might be good too.

Summary:

Three teaspoons of sugar in every serving if made with milk, but with water only one and half teaspoons.

20g of oats in every serve which is a great option for good nutrition, and oats have proven benefits for your child’s memory and listening skills.

A great transition food to get your child interested in eating porridge on a winter’s morning.

**Nestle still use palm oil so be sure to read your labels**

Kellogg’s Froot Loops

There is just something irresistible to children about food which comes in fun colours and Froot Loops certainly fulfils that expectation. It even has the sell line “a fun fuel for adventurous kids.”

There is no doubting your kids will love this cereal and hoover it down. But why not teach your children that real food doesn’t come in six fun, mostly artificial colours? Most children are quite happy to eat Weet-Bix which by comparison has only 0.8g of sugar per serve or 6.8g per serve with milk. It also uses wholegrains and has more fibre. Top it with some fresh fruit, like strawberries and peaches, and you have a great breakfast with plenty of natural colour.

And perhaps follow a rule for eating by the author of Food Rules, Michael Pollan, who says “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of the milk.’’

Summary:

Contains 38 per cent sugar.

Has three artificial colours which are banned in other countries.

Uses natural flavourings.

Wendyl Nissen

Photos by Fischer Twins  Etienne Girardet  rawpixel  Peter Lewicki

The post The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal appeared first on Wendyls Green Goddess.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8302119 https://www.wendyls.co.nz/low-breakfast-cereal/ from The Top Cleaner https://thetopcleaner.tumblr.com/post/180238926847

[lauriecgarcia]

The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal

Wendyl Nissen’s book Supermarket Companion, how to bring home good food, is a wealth of knowledge for those looking to avoid foods laden with dangerous chemicals, there’s a comprehensive list of food colourings and additives so you can shop smarter and be more aware of what’s in processed supermarket food.

This entertaining and enlightening exert looks at breakfast foods, in particular, Nestlé Milo Oats and Kellogg’s Froot Loops (no fruit there!) and the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast that is not laden with sugar and additives.

Make sure you check out Wendyl’s findings at the end of the chapter.

Just for starters!

“Look at what?” I say, as we both gaze at the bags of shopping.Can I look at that, Grandma?” says our four-year-old grand-daughter, Lila, as I’m putting the shopping in the back of the Prius. We have just made our way around the supermarket and Lila has been a great help.

“That one there,” she says pointing at a brightly coloured box.

“Oh, that’s not for you,” I say reaching in and covering the offending piece of garish marketing with a bag of potatoes.

“Why not?” she says, disappointed.

“That’s for Grandma’s work.” I reply and hastily strap her into her car seat. “When Grandma has done her work on it, maybe you can have one next time you visit.”

Most visits to the supermarket require that I look for products that I can review in my column. This box was for some brightly coloured biscuits called Oki Doki Disco Bits. They looked frightening in terms of artificial colours and so I threw them in the trolley. Lila never said a word when I took them off the shelf, nor to my knowledge even noticed they were in the trolley. But when it comes to kid marketing Lila is a perfect target. She has an innate ability to seek and find any brightly coloured foods within a 10-meter radius.

I’m not sure what she thinks Grandma does when she “works” on these foods but she knows that they generally live on a shelf in my office, lined up and waiting for my magnifying glass to hover critically over their ingredients panel.

I know Lila knows this because it’s her first stop at every visit, once we have all been all been greeted with a cuddle, she’s patted our dog, Shirl, and gone out to check that her white hen, who she has named “Mummy”, is still around.

I had an extremely colourful and enticing box of Kellogg’s Fruit Loops sitting in my office when Lila came to visit recently. She regards my office as our “second” kitchen because on any occasion she might find all sorts of wonderful foods lined up on my shelf ready to be analysed for the column. I was in the “first” kitchen, when she appeared clutching the box of Froot Loops with a look of wonderment on her face.

“Grandma, can I please have these in a bowl with some milk?”

Something about the packaging had managed to (tell her that a) she desperately needed to eat these and b) it was a food you had in a bowl with milk.

“Why do you want them?” I asked.

“They look nice,” was all she said.

I gently pried them off her with promises of other treats and hid them in the pantry.

When I went back to get them to write about, I found that my 26-year-old son, Daniel, had succumbed to the same marketing message, but didn’t need to ask first, and ate them.

I am always astonished at the power of packaging and its ability to transfix a small child or her uncle. Lila lives in a household where her parents are very aware of food additives and eat a very healthy, real-food diet. (Not because I pressured them –they are just intelligent consumers, honestly.)

So Lila’s exposure to junk food and the bright packaging is minimal and she would have had no conditioning to tell her that inside these packets are sweet tasting, moreish foods. She just wouldn’t know. Yet something about the design of the boxes sets off a reaction in her brain which gives her the drive to search for it in bags of shopping or reach up onto a shelf and carry it all the way down the hall to me in the kitchen.

It is no secret that kids as young as Lila are directly targeted by advertising, not just on TV but also techniques such as free gifts, competitions, games and puzzles, website games and movie promotions.

And that marketing is why breakfast becomes a minefield for well meaning parents to negotiate.

Next time you are at the supermarket, wander down the breakfast aisle and take note of the packaging. It all looks fantastic. Aside from the relentless use of every bright colour in the rainbow, you will see three elements competing for your attention: chocolate, punchy bright berries and fruit and fibre.

In my house over the years, we have been through most of the cereal crazes as each of our five children has begged to be allowed a new brand and their busy working mum (former) bought them.

Have you ever noticed Jerry Seinfeld’s cereal shelf in the kitchen on Seinfeld? Next time you watch the show have a look. One internet source sets the number at nine, mostly cornflakes and shredded wheat. His cereal shelf looks exactly how ours looked for years, as every child claimed a new brand as theirs.

While you’re in the breakfast cereal aisle, see if you can find one box which lists the sugar content per 100g at less than 15g, which is what we should aim for when buying our kids cereal.

Consumer magazine conducted a survey of our breakfast cereals in 2008 and found that seven products had more than 40 per cent sugar – over three teaspoons in a 30g serve. I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter for you, in case they’re sitting on your Seinfeld cereal shelf. One of them is the aforementioned Kellogg’s Froot Loops which I prevented Lila from eating.

My focus when first studying this cereal was primarily on the three artificial colours used in it (see my findings below) but then I worked out that, if Lila had been allowed her Froot Loops with milk, she would have consumed 4.3 teaspoons of sugar in her bowl.

I can guarantee you will not find a box of cereal in the supermarket with low sugar until you come to Weet-Bix. Plain old Weet-Bix is the star of the cereal aisle, at just 2.8g per 100g. Admittedly, a lot of people add sugar, but at least you can control that and most kids enjoy eating them.

Lila eats two “bix” for breakfast every morning and won’t be swayed from them even when her grandpa is offering to make her sausages and eggs.

My mother, Elis, however, can’t stand them. Something to do with trying to avoid eating them when she was a child by sneezing into them, thinking her patents would deem that a reasonable enough excuse not to have to eat them. But no. She had to eat every last bit and has never touched them since.

As a guide, when you are out shopping, if sugar appears in the ingredients list directly under the name of the cereal, such as rice, corn or wheat, that means that the second biggest ingredient in there is sugar, and you should put it straight back on the shelf.

The other thing you need to think about is salt levels (fewer than 400mg sodium per 100g of cereal) and fibre.

We all know that we don’t get enough fibre in our diets. It’s good for bowel health and digestion and the things that give you fibre – fresh fruit, veges and wholegrains – tend to be really nutritious and good for you. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a trend for food manufacturers to add what I call “faux fibre” to their processed foods, using vegetable gums and inulin, which is a substance that occurs naturally in root vegetables, particularly chicory. Other additions include polydextrose, which is created out of dextrose (glucose), sorbitol, a low-calorie carbohydrate, and citric acid to add to processed foods, usually to provide fibre. It is called a functional fibre because no one knows if it has the same health benefits as fibre found in real foods.

A good guide for children’s fibre requirements is 5g to 15g per 100g, so look out for that on the label, and if you see inulin or vegetable gum in the ingredients panel, reject it in favour of something which uses wholegrains and fruit to provide fibre.

Another problem with most breakfast cereals is the fact that they are extruded. This means perfectly good wholegrains are ground up, made into a slurry with liquid, heated to high temperatures, then pressurised through small holes to create shapes such as rings, flakes or puffs. You have to wonder just how much nutrition gets killed off in the process with those high heats and pressures.

OFTEN WHEN I’M out and about, people like to talk about the food column and what it has taught them.

“Thank goodness Krispies are okay,” said my aunt. “They’re my favourite biscuit.”

“I haven’t touched a raspberry jam slice since the day I read your column,” said a woman I met at a knitting bee.

And, of course, many people have suggestions for foods I should look at. By far the most disturbing conversation along these lines with a woman I was doing some work with.

“I have this friend who basically throws those cartons of Up&Go at her kids from dawn until dusk,” she said. “That’s all they eat. For breakfast they sit there in the car sucking on them on their way to school, they have another one with their lunch and sometimes dinner too. I’ve tried to tell her they need some real food but she believes they are good for them.  Are they?”

Then I got the emails about UP&Go: “My kids have one every day and I’m wondering how healthy they are,” said one mother.

“I really don’t like this product because it has so much sugar and it’s like this giving your child a milkshake for breakfast,” said another.

I was well acquainted with Up&Go. My son Daniel has never been a great breakfast eater, and so for a while he took one of these with him but in the end he didn’t even eat those, claiming the texture was weird.

Up&Go, for those who are not familiar with it, is a drink which is endorsed by the All Blacks in its advertising campaign and claims on the box to have “the protein, energy and dietary fibre of 2 Weet-Bix and milk”.

It is reasonable that parents like myself would read that and presume that in the little box we are handing over to our kids is simply two Weet-Bix and some milk all mashed up. And presumably it would have the same nutritional benefits.

Wrong.

The label should also state that it has 11.7g more sugar and 13 more ingredients than a simple bowl of Weet-Bix and milk. By the time I’d finished writing the column I was quite angry with Sanitarium for the misconception and wrote: “Is it really that hard to get a kid to sit down at the kitchen table and eat solid food these days? Are we raising a nation of astronauts in training who need to develop a taste for liquid food?”

I think if you’ve got a kid who needs something quick to eat in the car you can throw them a banana. And if you’ve got a kid who only likes to drink their meals, whip up a smoothie, put it in a bottle and let them drink that. On the Sanitarium website they even recommend that you throw a Weet-Bix into the smoothies.

I also took a look at Nestlé Milo Oats, mainly because Pearl had picked them up in the super-market and loved them. I’m a big fan of oats, as not only are they a good source of fibre but they also do wonderful soothing things to your digestive system.

Nestlé have a range of breakfast cereals marketed under the Milo name and some are better than others. Milo Oats is a better one.

I found that they weren’t too high in sugar and were a good source of fibre. I saw them as a great food to get kids interested in porridge for breakfast. I also found a study which showed that children who had oats for breakfast had better spatial memory (which means being able to remember geographical details like the interior of your house), better short-term memory and better listening attention than children who ate ready-to-eat cereal or no breakfast at all. Pearl was very relieved.

PUTTING THE CHOICE of cereal for your kids aside, there is a bigger problem emerging on the horizon for families, and that’s the kid who just won’t eat breakfast. This is cause for concern because every study you read emphasises the importance of breakfast for kids to kickstart their brains and give them the energy to see them through a day of learning school.

One University of Sydney study, conveniently commissioned by Kellogg’s, looked at the type of breakfast eaten by 800 New South Wales children aged eight to 16, across 19 different schools. The students who ate breakfast before their tests performed better, and those who ate the most nutritious breakfasts, such as cereal and milk, or eggs on toast, got the highest scores. They also scored higher on literacy and numeracy tests than their classmates who ate only toast.

It is easy to see why many parents faced with a non breakfast-child will be less fussy about the food they consume, reasoning that at least they’re eating something. We let two of our children, Daniel and his step-sister Alex, go to school on a diet of Pop-Tarts (basically jam-filled pastries you heat up in the toaster) for months because we were just so glad they were eating something.

In the end we settled on toasted sandwiches, smoothies and, if all else failed, a banana. I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t like the taste and as a food they have a lot going for them. They have lots of carbohydrates for energy, are low in fat, and are potassium-rich, which is great for muscles. They also have some protein and iron.

Instead of throwing an Up&Go at your child on the way to school, swap it for a banana a carton of milk, which will give protein, calcium, zinc, vitamins A and B, and iodine.

I’m very much a toast and a cup of tea girl at breakfast, and it gives me enough energy, even with a gym work out to see me through to lunch. Which is when I go outside to raid the chicken coop and find some delicious, bright yellow-yolked eggs.

MY FINDINGS

Nestlé Milo Oats

I see this as a great transition product to get children who may be used to the a diet of high sugar processed breakfast cereal used to the taste and texture of oats which are a very healthy option for the reasons above. By the time they’ve gone through a packet of these, they might just like a bowl of real porridge with some fresh banana and honey mixed in which is less sweet option than this product and better for them. It also means that your child sets off on a cold winter’s morning with a warm breakfast in their stomach, which is a nice old-fashioned thing to do, and the effect of the oats on their memory and listening skills might be good too.

Summary:

Three teaspoons of sugar in every serving if made with milk, but with water only one and half teaspoons.

20g of oats in every serve which is a great option for good nutrition, and oats have proven benefits for your child’s memory and listening skills.

A great transition food to get your child interested in eating porridge on a winter’s morning.

**Nestle still use palm oil so be sure to read your labels**

Kellogg’s Froot Loops

There is just something irresistible to children about food which comes in fun colours and Froot Loops certainly fulfils that expectation. It even has the sell line “a fun fuel for adventurous kids.”

There is no doubting your kids will love this cereal and hoover it down. But why not teach your children that real food doesn’t come in six fun, mostly artificial colours? Most children are quite happy to eat Weet-Bix which by comparison has only 0.8g of sugar per serve or 6.8g per serve with milk. It also uses wholegrains and has more fibre. Top it with some fresh fruit, like strawberries and peaches, and you have a great breakfast with plenty of natural colour.

And perhaps follow a rule for eating by the author of Food Rules, Michael Pollan, who says “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of the milk.’’

Summary:

Contains 38 per cent sugar.

Has three artificial colours which are banned in other countries.

Uses natural flavourings.

Wendyl Nissen

Photos by Fischer Twins  Etienne Girardet  rawpixel  Peter Lewicki

The post The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal appeared first on Wendyls Green Goddess.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8302119 https://www.wendyls.co.nz/low-breakfast-cereal/ from The Top Cleaner https://thetopcleaner.tumblr.com/post/180172629972

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The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal

Wendyl Nissen’s book Supermarket Companion, how to bring home good food, is a wealth of knowledge for those looking to avoid foods laden with dangerous chemicals, there’s a comprehensive list of food colourings and additives so you can shop smarter and be more aware of what’s in processed supermarket food.

This entertaining and enlightening exert looks at breakfast foods, in particular, Nestlé Milo Oats and Kellogg’s Froot Loops (no fruit there!) and the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast that is not laden with sugar and additives.

Make sure you check out Wendyl’s findings at the end of the chapter.

Just for starters!

“Look at what?” I say, as we both gaze at the bags of shopping.Can I look at that, Grandma?” says our four-year-old grand-daughter, Lila, as I’m putting the shopping in the back of the Prius. We have just made our way around the supermarket and Lila has been a great help.

“That one there,” she says pointing at a brightly coloured box.

“Oh, that’s not for you,” I say reaching in and covering the offending piece of garish marketing with a bag of potatoes.

“Why not?” she says, disappointed.

“That’s for Grandma’s work.” I reply and hastily strap her into her car seat. “When Grandma has done her work on it, maybe you can have one next time you visit.”

Most visits to the supermarket require that I look for products that I can review in my column. This box was for some brightly coloured biscuits called Oki Doki Disco Bits. They looked frightening in terms of artificial colours and so I threw them in the trolley. Lila never said a word when I took them off the shelf, nor to my knowledge even noticed they were in the trolley. But when it comes to kid marketing Lila is a perfect target. She has an innate ability to seek and find any brightly coloured foods within a 10-meter radius.

I’m not sure what she thinks Grandma does when she “works” on these foods but she knows that they generally live on a shelf in my office, lined up and waiting for my magnifying glass to hover critically over their ingredients panel.

I know Lila knows this because it’s her first stop at every visit, once we have all been all been greeted with a cuddle, she’s patted our dog, Shirl, and gone out to check that her white hen, who she has named “Mummy”, is still around.

I had an extremely colourful and enticing box of Kellogg’s Fruit Loops sitting in my office when Lila came to visit recently. She regards my office as our “second” kitchen because on any occasion she might find all sorts of wonderful foods lined up on my shelf ready to be analysed for the column. I was in the “first” kitchen, when she appeared clutching the box of Froot Loops with a look of wonderment on her face.

“Grandma, can I please have these in a bowl with some milk?”

Something about the packaging had managed to (tell her that a) she desperately needed to eat these and b) it was a food you had in a bowl with milk.

“Why do you want them?” I asked.

“They look nice,” was all she said.

I gently pried them off her with promises of other treats and hid them in the pantry.

When I went back to get them to write about, I found that my 26-year-old son, Daniel, had succumbed to the same marketing message, but didn’t need to ask first, and ate them.

I am always astonished at the power of packaging and its ability to transfix a small child or her uncle. Lila lives in a household where her parents are very aware of food additives and eat a very healthy, real-food diet. (Not because I pressured them –they are just intelligent consumers, honestly.)

So Lila’s exposure to junk food and the bright packaging is minimal and she would have had no conditioning to tell her that inside these packets are sweet tasting, moreish foods. She just wouldn’t know. Yet something about the design of the boxes sets off a reaction in her brain which gives her the drive to search for it in bags of shopping or reach up onto a shelf and carry it all the way down the hall to me in the kitchen.

It is no secret that kids as young as Lila are directly targeted by advertising, not just on TV but also techniques such as free gifts, competitions, games and puzzles, website games and movie promotions.

And that marketing is why breakfast becomes a minefield for well meaning parents to negotiate.

Next time you are at the supermarket, wander down the breakfast aisle and take note of the packaging. It all looks fantastic. Aside from the relentless use of every bright colour in the rainbow, you will see three elements competing for your attention: chocolate, punchy bright berries and fruit and fibre.

In my house over the years, we have been through most of the cereal crazes as each of our five children has begged to be allowed a new brand and their busy working mum (former) bought them.

Have you ever noticed Jerry Seinfeld’s cereal shelf in the kitchen on Seinfeld? Next time you watch the show have a look. One internet source sets the number at nine, mostly cornflakes and shredded wheat. His cereal shelf looks exactly how ours looked for years, as every child claimed a new brand as theirs.

While you’re in the breakfast cereal aisle, see if you can find one box which lists the sugar content per 100g at less than 15g, which is what we should aim for when buying our kids cereal.

Consumer magazine conducted a survey of our breakfast cereals in 2008 and found that seven products had more than 40 per cent sugar – over three teaspoons in a 30g serve. I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter for you, in case they’re sitting on your Seinfeld cereal shelf. One of them is the aforementioned Kellogg’s Froot Loops which I prevented Lila from eating.

My focus when first studying this cereal was primarily on the three artificial colours used in it (see my findings below) but then I worked out that, if Lila had been allowed her Froot Loops with milk, she would have consumed 4.3 teaspoons of sugar in her bowl.

I can guarantee you will not find a box of cereal in the supermarket with low sugar until you come to Weet-Bix. Plain old Weet-Bix is the star of the cereal aisle, at just 2.8g per 100g. Admittedly, a lot of people add sugar, but at least you can control that and most kids enjoy eating them.

Lila eats two “bix” for breakfast every morning and won’t be swayed from them even when her grandpa is offering to make her sausages and eggs.

My mother, Elis, however, can’t stand them. Something to do with trying to avoid eating them when she was a child by sneezing into them, thinking her patents would deem that a reasonable enough excuse not to have to eat them. But no. She had to eat every last bit and has never touched them since.

As a guide, when you are out shopping, if sugar appears in the ingredients list directly under the name of the cereal, such as rice, corn or wheat, that means that the second biggest ingredient in there is sugar, and you should put it straight back on the shelf.

The other thing you need to think about is salt levels (fewer than 400mg sodium per 100g of cereal) and fibre.

We all know that we don’t get enough fibre in our diets. It’s good for bowel health and digestion and the things that give you fibre – fresh fruit, veges and wholegrains – tend to be really nutritious and good for you. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a trend for food manufacturers to add what I call “faux fibre” to their processed foods, using vegetable gums and inulin, which is a substance that occurs naturally in root vegetables, particularly chicory. Other additions include polydextrose, which is created out of dextrose (glucose), sorbitol, a low-calorie carbohydrate, and citric acid to add to processed foods, usually to provide fibre. It is called a functional fibre because no one knows if it has the same health benefits as fibre found in real foods.

A good guide for children’s fibre requirements is 5g to 15g per 100g, so look out for that on the label, and if you see inulin or vegetable gum in the ingredients panel, reject it in favour of something which uses wholegrains and fruit to provide fibre.

Another problem with most breakfast cereals is the fact that they are extruded. This means perfectly good wholegrains are ground up, made into a slurry with liquid, heated to high temperatures, then pressurised through small holes to create shapes such as rings, flakes or puffs. You have to wonder just how much nutrition gets killed off in the process with those high heats and pressures.

OFTEN WHEN I’M out and about, people like to talk about the food column and what it has taught them.

“Thank goodness Krispies are okay,” said my aunt. “They’re my favourite biscuit.”

“I haven’t touched a raspberry jam slice since the day I read your column,” said a woman I met at a knitting bee.

And, of course, many people have suggestions for foods I should look at. By far the most disturbing conversation along these lines with a woman I was doing some work with.

“I have this friend who basically throws those cartons of Up&Go at her kids from dawn until dusk,” she said. “That’s all they eat. For breakfast they sit there in the car sucking on them on their way to school, they have another one with their lunch and sometimes dinner too. I’ve tried to tell her they need some real food but she believes they are good for them.  Are they?”

Then I got the emails about UP&Go: “My kids have one every day and I’m wondering how healthy they are,” said one mother.

“I really don’t like this product because it has so much sugar and it’s like this giving your child a milkshake for breakfast,” said another.

I was well acquainted with Up&Go. My son Daniel has never been a great breakfast eater, and so for a while he took one of these with him but in the end he didn’t even eat those, claiming the texture was weird.

Up&Go, for those who are not familiar with it, is a drink which is endorsed by the All Blacks in its advertising campaign and claims on the box to have “the protein, energy and dietary fibre of 2 Weet-Bix and milk”.

It is reasonable that parents like myself would read that and presume that in the little box we are handing over to our kids is simply two Weet-Bix and some milk all mashed up. And presumably it would have the same nutritional benefits.

Wrong.

The label should also state that it has 11.7g more sugar and 13 more ingredients than a simple bowl of Weet-Bix and milk. By the time I’d finished writing the column I was quite angry with Sanitarium for the misconception and wrote: “Is it really that hard to get a kid to sit down at the kitchen table and eat solid food these days? Are we raising a nation of astronauts in training who need to develop a taste for liquid food?”

I think if you’ve got a kid who needs something quick to eat in the car you can throw them a banana. And if you’ve got a kid who only likes to drink their meals, whip up a smoothie, put it in a bottle and let them drink that. On the Sanitarium website they even recommend that you throw a Weet-Bix into the smoothies.

I also took a look at Nestlé Milo Oats, mainly because Pearl had picked them up in the super-market and loved them. I’m a big fan of oats, as not only are they a good source of fibre but they also do wonderful soothing things to your digestive system.

Nestlé have a range of breakfast cereals marketed under the Milo name and some are better than others. Milo Oats is a better one.

I found that they weren’t too high in sugar and were a good source of fibre. I saw them as a great food to get kids interested in porridge for breakfast. I also found a study which showed that children who had oats for breakfast had better spatial memory (which means being able to remember geographical details like the interior of your house), better short-term memory and better listening attention than children who ate ready-to-eat cereal or no breakfast at all. Pearl was very relieved.

PUTTING THE CHOICE of cereal for your kids aside, there is a bigger problem emerging on the horizon for families, and that’s the kid who just won’t eat breakfast. This is cause for concern because every study you read emphasises the importance of breakfast for kids to kickstart their brains and give them the energy to see them through a day of learning school.

One University of Sydney study, conveniently commissioned by Kellogg’s, looked at the type of breakfast eaten by 800 New South Wales children aged eight to 16, across 19 different schools. The students who ate breakfast before their tests performed better, and those who ate the most nutritious breakfasts, such as cereal and milk, or eggs on toast, got the highest scores. They also scored higher on literacy and numeracy tests than their classmates who ate only toast.

It is easy to see why many parents faced with a non breakfast-child will be less fussy about the food they consume, reasoning that at least they’re eating something. We let two of our children, Daniel and his step-sister Alex, go to school on a diet of Pop-Tarts (basically jam-filled pastries you heat up in the toaster) for months because we were just so glad they were eating something.

In the end we settled on toasted sandwiches, smoothies and, if all else failed, a banana. I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t like the taste and as a food they have a lot going for them. They have lots of carbohydrates for energy, are low in fat, and are potassium-rich, which is great for muscles. They also have some protein and iron.

Instead of throwing an Up&Go at your child on the way to school, swap it for a banana a carton of milk, which will give protein, calcium, zinc, vitamins A and B, and iodine.

I’m very much a toast and a cup of tea girl at breakfast, and it gives me enough energy, even with a gym work out to see me through to lunch. Which is when I go outside to raid the chicken coop and find some delicious, bright yellow-yolked eggs.

MY FINDINGS

Nestlé Milo Oats

I see this as a great transition product to get children who may be used to the a diet of high sugar processed breakfast cereal used to the taste and texture of oats which are a very healthy option for the reasons above. By the time they’ve gone through a packet of these, they might just like a bowl of real porridge with some fresh banana and honey mixed in which is less sweet option than this product and better for them. It also means that your child sets off on a cold winter’s morning with a warm breakfast in their stomach, which is a nice old-fashioned thing to do, and the effect of the oats on their memory and listening skills might be good too.

Summary:

Three teaspoons of sugar in every serving if made with milk, but with water only one and half teaspoons.

20g of oats in every serve which is a great option for good nutrition, and oats have proven benefits for your child’s memory and listening skills.

A great transition food to get your child interested in eating porridge on a winter’s morning.

**Nestle still use palm oil so be sure to read your labels**

Kellogg’s Froot Loops

There is just something irresistible to children about food which comes in fun colours and Froot Loops certainly fulfils that expectation. It even has the sell line “a fun fuel for adventurous kids.”

There is no doubting your kids will love this cereal and hoover it down. But why not teach your children that real food doesn’t come in six fun, mostly artificial colours? Most children are quite happy to eat Weet-Bix which by comparison has only 0.8g of sugar per serve or 6.8g per serve with milk. It also uses wholegrains and has more fibre. Top it with some fresh fruit, like strawberries and peaches, and you have a great breakfast with plenty of natural colour.

And perhaps follow a rule for eating by the author of Food Rules, Michael Pollan, who says “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of the milk.’’

Summary:

Contains 38 per cent sugar.

Has three artificial colours which are banned in other countries.

Uses natural flavourings.

Wendyl Nissen

Photos by Fischer Twins  Etienne Girardet  rawpixel  Peter Lewicki

The post The Low Down On Breakfast Cereal appeared first on Wendyls Green Goddess.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8302119 https://www.wendyls.co.nz/low-breakfast-cereal/ from The Top Cleaner https://thetopcleaner.tumblr.com/post/180132942137