MSG: your enemy

So what is the deal with MSG?    You may have heard something about it, about how it makes some people violently ill, and now it is finally time for you to find out just what the big deal is. 

Let me clue you in. 

MSG is short for monosodium glutamate or sodium glutamate.  It is used as a food additive but it is marketed as a flavor enhancer. MSG is normally obtained by fermenting carbohydrates which come from starch, sugar cane, sugar beets, and  molasses.  AND, you may be very allergic to it.  This includes MSG that is found in plant growth enhancers or in  fertilizers or fungicides that have been approved for spraying on crops.  It is known to cause severe asthma if you are allergic to it, and even if you are not allergic to it, that blood pressure problem you may have or the flu-like symptoms after eating, the migraine headaches may all related to MSG.  Maybe you are struggling with your weight, your child has learning disabilities or behavioral disorders. MSG has been linked to all of these things, even glaucoma and retinal degeneration.

When caused by MSG, the root of your illness  lies in the destruction of brain cells, possibly years before gross obesity, stunted growth, learning disabilities, behavior disorders, and/or retinal degeneration are first observed.

When MSG was injected into rats as part of a research experiment, they found that it tripled the amount of insulin that the pancreas created causing the rats to become obese.   Nobody wants this. 

So, where do we start?  We stop eating at Taco Bell, KFC, Applebees, TGI Fridays. We stop eating Cambells Soups,  Hamburger Helper, frozen food and Kraft salad dressings.  We always look at labels and keep our eyes open for hydrolyzed vegetable protein which is another name for MSG.  

We start by making a conscious decision to eat healthier for ourselves and for our families.  To eat foods that have no preservatives, additives or MSG.  We change our eating habits and we change our spending habits.  Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive.  Wildtree’s product line can make it easy for you.  With products like Wildtree’s Grapeseed oils, marinades & sauces, slow cooker sensations, soups and stews you can reform your eating habits and feel safe after every meal.  Why take the risk? Visit www.jsullivan.mywildtree.com and start changing your life today. Jill will even come to your house and talk to you about all of this.   Let Wildtree help you start making a difference in your life.

Mercury found in High Fructose Corn Syrup

For those of you who are still not convinced about how bad high fructose corn syrup is for you, I can fill you in on the latest scare.

High Fructose Corn Syrup was just tested and found to contain MERCURY.  You know, that stuff we used to play with in chemistry class because it was silvery and bubbly but that we were warned not to ever touch or eat because we could die.   Another big mercury food scare came out a few years ago with the seafood industry.  You may recall seeing those EPA and FDA signs everywhere in the grocery store that warn pregnant and nursing women against eating certain kinds of fish because they were found to contain high levels of mercury.Well, now they may have to put warning signs at the checkout register warning about the majority of food products in the store since almost everything you buy that’s processed and preserved nowadays contains HFCS.

The Institute for Agrigulture and Trade Policy, whose goals include “limiting the release of mercury and other toxic pollutants that fall onto farmland and enter the food supply,” reports that products where it found detectable mercury levels included Coca-Cola, Yoplait strawberry yogurt, Nutri-Grain strawberry cereal bars, and Smucker’s strawberry jelly. The top offender on their list was Quaker Oatmeal To Go.  Apparently, the FDA has known about this since 2005, and an retired FDA researcher just decided to publicize this information this week.  They found that nearly one in three of 55 brand name foods contain mercury; most common in dairy products, dressings and condiments.

**This is yet another reason to switch over to Wildtree’s Ketchup, Honey Mustard, Wildberry Dressing, BBQ Ketchup, Asian Ginger Plum Dressing, Wildtree Wildly Blueberry Jam, Strawberry Jam, and actually any Wildtree marinades and sauces.

Wildtree’s purpose was to eat nutritious and healthy food affordably.  We all have choices and I am here to help you make good choices for you and your family.  If you have any questions about how I can help you eliminate HFCS from your family’s diet, please call me at (330)990-4775.   –Jill

Holiday Shopping Quagmire

If you are wishing for a happy and healthy Christmas, (but believe that those are hard to come by among holiday winter weather, shopping chaos and family stress), you need to take an online vacation to the Wildtree site.  Christmas is one of the most hectic events of the year and people tend to get really stressed out trying to plan for it.  For instance, after a long day of working or running errands, most people do not want to spend more money and more time in the kitchen in order to find time so that they can relax.  This is why I have some great ideas as to what you can be eating and feeding yourself, family and friends as you unwind every night.  For instance, Wildtree’s Slow Cooker Meals  include a delicious and very easy to make Red or Creole style Jambalaya; the Southwest Stew which is a really nice and spicy warm meal for cold wintery nights (this is excellent for vegetarians as well, since you can just add tofu) and hearty Turkey and Barley Stew which is an EXCELLENT choice for dealing with those Thanksgiving leftovers. 

Wildtree’s Alfredo Extraordinaire is also a fantastic choice for kids or vegetarians as well as meat eaters.  Why not throw some left-over turkey on noodles and end up with a gourmet meal in just minutes? I would also opt for Leslie’s Chili which includes a perfect blend of herbs and spices to designed to make that turkey chili one of the best post-thanksgiving meals yet; or Wildtree’s Red Beans and Rice which is a perfect warm southern blend designed to warm you right up after an outing in the snow.

As far as braving the holiday shopping chaos, I just won’t do it.  Rather than spending big bucks at the wine shop trying to figure out which wine to get my wine-o relatives who have everything, or making rounds at the mall, I will take a holiday vacation to the Wildtree website where it’s one stop shopping at prices that make me very merry. Besides, everybody needs to eat, and setting the table and the mood with Christmas cheer is what’s important this time of year. 

Some great gift ideas I will be keeping in mind for the red wine drinker in my family, is Wildtree’s European Dipping Oil-Chili, which would pair extremely well with a nice merlot, cabernet or zinfandel and is a way better gift idea than alcohol.  Wildtree’s European Dipping Oil Duo includes both the Tuscan and Garlic Dipping oils which would be great for white wine drinkers as well. All you or they would need to do, is grab some wine, cheese and baguettes and these dipping oils help set the mood. These dipping oils are among one of the most popular Wildtree items.  In fact, one of my buyers asks me for a straw when he calls to order them  so that he can just drink it out of the bottle.  The Garlic Lovers Gift Set is also a lovely and thoughtful gift for any hostess for a great price.

 In addition, Wildtree’s Holiday Gift Ideas list which includes all occastion gift sets not only bring elegance and delight to any table but are affordable and usable options for gifts. Better yet, you can just do all of over your shopping online or over the phone rather than braving the storm of chaos and of snow.  You can keep your family, guests and relatives happy with preservative free, all natural meals that will delight their stomachs and minds and make the holidays easy for everyone with these wonderful affordable gift sets from Wildtree!

The scariest Halloween costume

Recently, I finished reading Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, The Botany of Desire. In this book Pollan discussses the intimate relationship between people and plants. In telling the stories of four familiar plant species that are deeply woven into the fabric of our lives, Michael Pollan not only frightened me into becoming even more food conscientous than I already am, but it spurred me to pantry-cleaning, item replacing action. Besides Stephen King, I’d never read a book by anyone who had made a corn field seem more sinister. After doing a little more research, I came across an article where Pollan argues that corn is “wreaking havoc on everything from public health to foreign policy.” The article, entitled When Corn is King led me to my refrigerator and pantry where I began to review and consider all of my products with high amounts of corn syrup; ketchup and salad dressings being at the top of my list. Replacing my Heinz with Wildtree’s ketchup became a priority, in addition to replacing all of my generic corn syrup saturated salad dressings with even tastier more exciting alternatives like Wildberry Dressing or Balsalmic Vinaigrette

After mourning my own dietary ignorance for a little while-childhood memories of day trips to McDonalds turned sour, my expedient mindless shopping trips to the grocery store, I found the truth hurting just a little bit and came up with a great idea for the most terrifying Halloween costume of all…

(begin loud and scary organ music)

Mrs. Cornstalk