With a closer look at what we eat to avoid the chemicals introduced by manufactures we have run up against some very interesting challenges.  We grow what we can and buy locally grown when possible.  We also read the labels on the foods we buy.  At first this was a daunting task, but the more we learned the more concerned we became.  MSG, Carrageenan, synthetic food colorings, high frutose corn syrup and some perservatives are just plain wrong.  We could not believe the problems these chemicals could cause and the fact that manufactures continued to sell products with such chemicals.  They are not only bad they are unnecessary making it even worse.

As we took on the challenge to buy as few of these chemicals as possible our first fear was the our life would be bread and water and we were unsure of those.  As it turns out we have found an array of great companies that believe the customer is important.  And we have discovered how to make many things that only a couple of years ago we might have imagined impossible.

Not only are most things possible to make at home, most came from homes originally and were commercialized and synthized to last on store shelves or to be made more “cheaply.”  We have had great fun making marshmallow, marshmallow cream and Fluff along with caramels, toffee, tempering chocolate and any number of other delights that yes are loaded with sugar.  Let’s face it if we don’t go face first in the sweets, now and then they are good and put a smile on your face.  We know how to make many great meals and healthy foods from scratch.  We have learned to mimic many of the foods we thought we might die without and found we can match or beat the taste everytime.

We delight in the fact that we have yet to find a product we like that we cannot replicate.  In our industralized society we have moved far afield from our roots and the essentials of cooking.  We have lost many recipes that filled our homes with rich vibrant aromas and wet the palette.  Cookbooks today often talk of assembly and cake mixes, bread mixes or stuffings in a box.  What happened to flour, salt, sugar, water and yeast or baking powder.  They are still there and are the base for many mixes among the list of chemicals we do not need.

Want to make candy and not have the sugar crystalize.  You don’t need corn syurp, just add a litte acid to the sugar and it cannot crystalize.  High fructose corn syrup cannot be processed into food so it goes instantly to fat.  You heard right the old saying “goes right to the hips,” fits here.  Want to lose inches without diet or exercise cut out all the high fuctose corn syrup.  NO you can’t eat everything else in sight, but if you drink sodas, eat common candies, eat icing, pickles, pie fillings or ice cream products to name a few; you are ingesting high fructose corn syrup and posting it to your body instantly as FAT.

If you are moody, it may be your food.  MSG, Carrageenan and synthetic food coloring along with a few preservatives are mood altering.  Have a few chemicals and the paranoia sets in or maybe a little anger.  Maybe a touch of attention deficit disorder.  Stop beating your childern and take them out of the closet.  Untie them from the tree out back.  There not bad you are feeding the mood altering drugs.

It appears the old saying, “We are what we eat!” may be true when it comes to chemicals in our food.  Our future in eating healthy lies in our past.  Those recipes our grandparents made may have been the most nutritious.  They certainly were far more healthy then the monolithic food producers that feeds us now.

Talk about knowing what they were doing.  Did you know you can make wonderful candy out of the rinds of citrus fruit like grapefruit, orangeslemons and limes?  Did you know the egg shells you throw away ground up with a touch of lemon is the calcium for your diet.  Or that Watermelon rind makes a great jam?  Did you know the weed Stinging Nettle can be used for Renet in making cheese or that you can make vinegar from apple peels and water?  By the way vinegar in the store is 95% water and only 4 to 5 percent vinegar.

You can eat far healthier and in the process reduce your grocery bill by 30 to 50% while keeping food from turning into instant fat and avoiding all those nasty side affects like killing “unwanted” brain cells.

I need all the brain cells I have and could use a few more.  Its all about your roots and where your food comes from.  It does not come from a can or a cardboard box nor a glass jar or a foil bag.  How was it made before it got commercialized?  We get the biggest kick out of beating the food chain and enjoy it all the more when we prove we can do what they do better.  Cooking from scratch is not that difficult and in fact can be a lot of fun.  Now, with the economic downturn home cooking is a great way to save money.  And don’t forget if you save a dollar that is a dollar fifty you would have had to earn before taxes.  Yes, fifty cents on the dollar goes to taxes, income, sales tax, personal property, fuel tax it all ads up.  And what you save does not require a contribution to medicare or medicad.  By the way most of those coupons you get for food products you more than likely do not want.  Check the product before you buy it.

Make your health a priority, you only have one life it is more enjoyable if you can live it in good health.  To that end we hope to publish our first book volume 1 ”The Science of Cooking Without MSG,” by the end of July.  In it we share our research, experiments and an accumulation of recipes that we enjoy.  It is great food and tips for success that will have you eating many of your favorites without the negative chemicals.  It covers a number of chemicals beyond synthetic MSG.  Volume 2 is already under development and will cover the deserts, snacks and sweet candies.  Volume 1 covers the basics in cooking and a variety of recipes to cover sustain you in style with meals that please eveyone. We include a number of sources in these volumes on where to buy safe foods and foods in volume allowing you to profit from your healthy eating. 

We look forward to your questions and ideas.  If you know of a company that is going the extra mile to do the right thing post thier WEB site in your comments.  Unless it is inappropriate we will post it.  This effort with your help will be far more effective.  You can help with research, cooking experiments, writing articles, editing or just spreading the word.  If you would like to help drop me a line at John@rmtrain.com.