The Grazing Mind

Mashed Potatoes, or Smashed potatoes? Early Americans fought many a battle over what to call the classic Thanksgiving potato dish.

Which side are you on?

You are allowed to eat Pumpkin Pie for breakfast everyday this week… seriously, it’s true

Every year, right around Christmas there are at least two things you can count on.

1. A Christmas Story will be shown on repeat, for 24 straight hours beginning Christmas Eve (Ralphie will almost shoot his eye out in every dang one of ‘em)

2. It’s a Wonderful Life will be on at least three television channels at any given time between Dec. 23, and Dec. 26

It’s a sure thing.

So why bring it up? Because we’re actually helping out with something along those lines this year; only with a little twist. We’re underwriting a special fundraising performance of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s holiday play It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry. And we’re giving half the proceeds from the December 8th performance to our friends at Community Food Share (an organization part of the Feeding America network (the nation’s largest hunger relief charity).

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry is set in a 40s radio studio, with five actors recreating Frank Capra’s classic film, It’s a Wonderful Life, in a live broadcast. It’s got commercial breaks, one of those old applause signs and the actors even do their own sound effects. I’ve heard from quite a few people around here that it’s a great performance, and a great time… not to mention it supports a great cause.

So if you’re in the area, pick up some tickets and enjoy the show. For details on the event, check out our website.

To learn 10 things you didn’t know about It’s a Wonderful Life, check out this website.

Generally, most people aren’t getting a healthy does of calcium in their diets, and they probably don’t even know it. So to help out, our Silk Soymilk products now contain 50 percent more calcium than conventional dairy milk*.

This includes all Vanilla, Chocolate, Very Vanilla and Original flavors; matching the amount of calcium offered by our Silk Pure Almond and Pure Coconut flavors.

And like all other Silk products, these added calcium options are verified Non-GMO by The Non-GMO Project, and are made from high-quality soybeans sourced only from North American farmers.

Silk has also teamed up with best-selling author Kathy Freston to spread the word about the importance of eating a plant-based, nutrient-rich diet. “Calcium is a nutrient that so many people do not get enough of, which is concerning since it provides many important health benefits,” says Freston. “Now that Silk’s soymilk line contains 50 percent more calcium than conventional dairy milk it is an easy and delicious way to help people meet their daily calcium requirements while getting all of the benefits of plant-based nutrition contained in every glass of Silk to boot.”

Check out our website to learn more.

*Silk refrigerated beverages, excluding organic soymilk, soymilk with DHA and aseptic soymilk, have 45% DV of calcium; dairy milk has 30% DV.  Dairy data from USDA National Nutrient Database for Standards Reference.  Release 23 (2010).  Data consistent with typical 2% milk.  

A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that not enough children and teens drink low-fat milk.  Instead, many are drinking 2 percent or whole milk regularly. However, recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, and the American Academy of Pediatrics state that all children aged two years and over should be drinking low-fat milk in order to avoid unnecessary fat and calories and to help prevent obesity.

Well guess what?  We’ve got a solution! To all the moms out there, packing school lunches and stocking cupboards and fridges nationwide: meet Horizon Organic’s lowfat milk boxes.  Not only are they convenient, but the delicious milk inside has changed from 2% to 1%, thereby reducing the amount of sugar, fat and calories in our plain, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla single serve milk boxes.

So lose the guilt and start handing these puppies out to the kids.  You can even sneak a few yourself guilt-free – the grown-ups around here have certainly been known to knock a few back ourselves…

Which WhiteWave products make the best whip cream for the holidays?

There’s good news for organic consumers coming out of Ohio recently. The State of Ohio has agreed that it will no longer pursue enacting a rule that would have limited labeling on organic dairy products. Our hope is that this outcome sends a message to other states that might consider similar anti-consumer labeling restrictions.

The Ohio decision follows a federal appeals court decision a year ago which reversed an Ohio regulation that would have severely restricted the organic milk industry’s ability to make clear claims about the composition of its milk. Specifically, Ohio had attempted to prohibit organic dairy producers from informing consumers, through product labels, that organic dairy products are produced without antibiotics, pesticides or synthetic hormones.

Ohio has now agreed to abandon the rule, reinforcing the federal appeals court’s finding that the First Amendment allows organic dairy producers to proudly state that their products are produced without antibiotics, pesticides or synthetic hormones. The court ruled in response to an appeal by organic milk processors on behalf of the entire organic community.

This decision is a clear win for the organic movement, and for consumers who want and deserve to know what it is and isn’t in the products they are purchasing.

Horizon is proud to be a member of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) which led the three-year fight against Ohio’s proposed labeling restrictions. Horizon, along with several other organic dairy companies, collaborated with the OTA over the past year in negotiation efforts that led to this decision.

At WhiteWave, we strongly believe that consumers have a right to make informed purchasing decisions. This victory in Ohio will help ensure that consumers in Ohio can continue to look to labels to learn how their dairy products are produced.

The average grocery store stocks about 45,000 different products. That sounds like a lot of choice, certainly, but when it comes to one of most important choices of all – whether to choose food without genetically engineered (GE) ingredients – American consumers are still in the dark.

Although we require food manufacturers to list every ingredient in their products, we don’t require labeling to note whether those products contain genes from another plant or animal. According to a 2010 poll from Thomson Reuters, 93 percent of Americans want to see that policy changed. As a concerned father of three kids and the head of one of the country’s largest organic and natural brands, Silk, I am one of those Americans, and believe that the FDA should require the labeling of all products containing GE ingredients.

October is Non-GMO Month, making it the perfect time to elevate this issue and ensure consumers understand what’s at stake, what needs to change and how we can influence this change.

Many consumers may be surprised to learn that 80 percent of all processed foods contain ingredients created through genetic engineering. These processes combine the genetic code of different species to produce new food products like strawberries with flounder genes and corn that kills insects on its own. Because there is no requirement to label GE foods, these products look identical to their non-GE counterparts on grocery store shelves. Unless you purchase only organic food products, which under USDA standards can’t contain GE ingredients, there is no way to know whether the items in your shopping cart contain GE ingredients.

That should rightly concern many of us given the fact that GE foods carry documented health risks, including reproductive, immune, gastrointestinal and organ problems. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine is so concerned that it has encouraged all physicians to prescribe non-GMO diets to their patients, and the European Union, Japan and Australia all require labeling of GE products.

It’s time for the FDA to take action to require the mandatory labeling of GE foods. Consumers deserve the right to know what they’re eating and feeding their families, along with more control over their purchasing decisions.

To that end, we at Silk have partnered with hundreds of other businesses and organizations, including our sister company Horizon Organic, to pledge our support of the Just Label It! – We Have a Right to Know campaign. The campaign is focused on seeking consumer support for a petition to the FDA to require the mandatory labeling of GE foods.

In addition, earlier this month, concerned citizens and organizations also made their voices heard on this issue with the Right2Know March, a 16-day walk from New York City to the White House in support of a government-backed GE labeling standard.

These efforts are a great start in the fight for mandatory labeling of GE ingredients but the process may take a long time. So many of us in the organic and natural foods community are working to help consumers have more control now by enrolling our products in the Non-GMO Project, a multi-stakeholder collaboration committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices. To date, more than 900 products, including all Silk beverage products, have been verified through the program and carry the Non-GMO Project verification seal.

The work being done by companies like mine is starting to move the needle, but consumers hold the real key to change. In addition to purchasing products with The Non-GMO Project seal, they can visit  www.justlabelit.org and submit a comment in support of the mandatory labeling of GE ingredients. They can also support the cause by becoming educated on the issue and discussing it with friends, families and colleagues. The fastest route to bringing more choice to our grocery aisles is through the collective voice and purchasing power we hold as consumers.

Recently, the NPD Group released their 26th annual report on Eating Patterns in America.  Created by nationally recognized food expert Harry Balzer, the Eating Patterns in America report examines food and beverage consumption in-home and away-from-home and addresses health and nutrition, demographic shifts and the economic factors driving consumption.

As dry as that sounds, I’m always intrigued by the nuggets of information that come out of these annual report about what we, as U.S. consumers, are eating and our attitudes about food.

This year, I thought one of the more interesting tidbits was that nearly every American household now reports buying produce from a farmer’s market at least once a year. Room for improvement, but still, a pretty good indicator that more Americans are at least trying to support local farmers and farmers markets.

The report also showed that more of us are “buying” health in a pill.  More U.S. consumers are taking vitamins, mineral supplements or dietary aids on a daily basis than ever before. In fact, 54 percent of respondents reported using these products. That may also account for the rapid success and sustained growth of Horizon Organic’s milk enhanced with plant-based, vegetarian DHA-Omega 3.  Why not kill two birds with one stone – drink your milk AND feed your body a valuable nutrient that may help support brain, heart and eye health?

And finally, if you’re interested, here are some of the foods and beverages that U.S. consumers ate more of in 2010 than ever before:

• Pizza
• Fruit
• Salty Snacks
• Yogurt
• Breakfast Sandwiches
• Hot Cereal
• Iced Tea

I have to admit, I’m pretty sure I contributed to the uptick in pizza consumption….

This Friday, Horizon Organic celebrates its 20th anniversary. Why not wish them a happy 20th, and support one of our favorite partners, Farm Aid, at the same time?