Olive oil is one of the must-have ingredients in your kitchen for cooking and sautéing, providing excellent flavor and good health for your family. The problem is that not all olive oils are created equal, and those health benefits can be outweighed by poor quality processing or even GMOs in your olive oil. Let’s take a look at why it is good for …
School Chicken Nuggets: A Closer Look
What's in school chicken nuggets? Apparently that can be a hard question to answer. It took a Freedom of Information Act to get a Chicago school district to answer "chicken nuggets." After some more pressing, the school district came back with an incomplete 28 ingredient list. It took some serious work, but our Mamavation founder was able to get …
12 Inflammatory Foods
There are a number of ways in which food can affect our bodies. It can give us energy, impact how we feel, and change our health. Foods can have both positive and adverse affects, so it's important that we look at what we're eating. One of those adverse affects can be an inflammatory response. Inflammation is the body's attempt to remove something …
Real Food Lunchbox Recipes: How to Survive School Lunch
It's back to school season and everywhere kids are likely dreading it. They don't want to leave carefree summers behind for homework and a scheduled daily routine. Meanwhile, parents are secretly rejoicing that they have a bit more time to themselves after carpool duty. But, perhaps parents and children are dreading one of the same things– school …
Marketing To Children: 9 Ways Junk Food Giants Target Children
Hooking your kids on junk food is a billion dollar business. According to a recent study by the Federal Trade Commission, the food and beverage industry spends nearly $2 billion a year on targeted marketing to children and teens. That’s some serious dough—and it’s not just going toward Sponge Bob TV ads. In fact, the many ways the food industry …
Iced Tea Culprits: These Brands Can Sour Your Summer
This time of year often means refreshing iced tea to cool your child’s thirst as she plays hard in the summer heat. But not all iced tea brands are equal! While common sense dictates that brewed tea, sugar and water should be all you need in a glass, many brands do much more than just add a little natural preservative to make the shelf. And far too …
Saving Money on Organic Groceries: The Ultimate Guide
As more consumers are discovering the benefits of eating organic, the demand is growing. As a result, organic foods are becoming readily available in grocery stores, big box stores, and almost anywhere you can buy food. Sales of organic food are showing double digits increases annually. It's more available and more affordable than it's ever been. …
Food Ingredients Banned in Other Parts of the World
Have you ever given thought to the foods in other countries? Are they the same as what we eat here in the United States? You may be surprised to find out that many foods overseas are reformulated. Why would companies make more than one version of the same food? Because the safety of some of the ingredients in our food has been called into question …
The Dangers of Soda: 10 Reasons Your Kids Shouldn’t Drink Soda
Many of us have opted for healthier choices for ourselves and our family. It certainly isn't an easy process to break bad habits and relearn everything you've been taught about food. This is why it's even more important to stop bad habits before they start, whenever possible. We gave you 10 reasons to dump diet soda, which can be the hardest …
Superfoods :50 You Should Be Eating
The food we eat can impact our bodies in many different ways. Superfoods are those unique foods that benefit our health in more ways than one. They contain a myriad of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and more. See why the foods below are a great addition to your diet. 50 Superfoods 1. Chia Seeds- These tiny black seeds are loaded with …
Don’t Scream For This Ice Cream
Ice cream, ice cream, we all scream for ice cream, but not for toxic ice cream! Summer is here and that means our kids will be clamoring for sweet, refreshing ice cream. There are lots of brands for moms to choose from and not all of them are as healthy as we’d like to think. After all, ice cream should be just milk, cream and sugar, right? Not …
Diet Soda :10 Reasons to Dump the Habit
Do you drink diet soda? Maybe you know someone who is hooked on the stuff. As a former Diet Coke fiend, I can still recall the week long withdrawal I had when I finally kicked my habit 5 years ago. I had terrible pounding migraines, was irritable, and generally all around miserable until it got out of my system. It only reassured me further that I …