unsweetned coconut flakes Archives

Store bought yogurts typically contain tons of added sugar and unnecessary additives. Most brands have jumped on the Greek Yogurt bandwagon, however a lot of the flavored versions contain GMO’s (modified corn starch), and preservatives (potassium sorbate). I have even seen mono and digycerides (hidden trans fat), natural and artificial flavorings (unknown ingredients), and fake sugars all packed into seemingly harmless Greek Yogurt.

The best thing to do is buy a plain yogurt and flavor it yourself. You will be surprised how much better this tastes then any of the already flavored stuff! If you’ve tried the Pinned It, Did It cookie dough Greek Yogurt and liked it, this one is even better! Almond butter can be expensive but I’m telling you, it is so worth the extra dollar or two. I could eat almond butter out of the jar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and be happy about it!

I should also mention to choose your chocolate chips wisely. Most chocolate contains soy lecithin as an emulsifier, and most soy is GMO. Here are the chips I use. A few chips go a long way!

One of the first highly refined products I removed from my household was non-dairy creamer. I’m not sure why people love this crap so much. I mean, the name says it all.. non-dairy. So, let me get this straight.. it looks like cream, and we put it in coffee, but it is non-dairy? That should be a huge red flag, but for some reason millions of people are using this stuff everyday. I don’t think I could think up a product worse then this! It rivals Uncrustables, but even Smucker’s isn’t using cottonseed oil and trying to pass it off as a dairy product. Not to mention if you’ve ever had this stuff, IT NEVER GOES BAD! They even put it into little plastic capsules and who knows how long those sit around before anyone consumes them. Even bacteria and mold hate non-dairy creamer. Let’s look at the ingredients in a flavored Coffee-Mate non-dairy creamer:

Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, and Less than 2% of Sodium Caseinate (a Milk Derivative) (Not a Source of Lactose), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Mono- and Diglycerides, Dipotassium Phosphate, Cellulose Gel, Color Added, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan. Gluten free.

Here is the breakdown of these ingredients:

Partially Hydrogenated Soybean/Cottonseed Oil: TRANS FAT alert!! Not only are they using Soybean oil, they are also using Cottonseed oil, one of the most highly refined and worst oils for human consumption. Cottonseed crops are known for the use of high levels of pesticides and this cheap oil has no business in our food supply. If you see any product that labels cottonseed oil as an ingredient put it down and do not purchase from that brand again!! I cannot stress this point enough. In my opinion this is one of the worst ingredients seen in products on grocery shelves today.
Natural and Artificial Flavors: This is a huge unknown as they are not required to state what these ingredients actually are. I want to know exactly what I am consuming so I stay far away from both natural and artificial flavorings.
Mono- and Diglycerides: An emulsifier and hidden form of trans fat.
Color Added: Well yeah I guess when you are trying to make oil look like cream you would add color!
Carageenan: Potential carcinogen and very controversial ingredient because it is natural. There are a ton of natural things that are not suitable for consumption, so we do stay away from products that contain this ingredient.

If you are used to drinking coffee and looking for an alternative, you have a few choices. I would strongly recommend not even finishing the bottle in your refrigerator. Your health is more important then the money you spent on the creamer. Just pour it down the drain and give the bottle to your kids to play with in the bathtub. Yes, it is that bad people! Here are your options:

Make your own: Yes, you can make your own creamer and it only takes 5 minutes! I’ve made my own using half and half. I will put the recipe at the bottom for my Chocolate/Coconut Creamer. I would suggest using Organic half and half because some regular brands contain mono and diglycerides and carrageenan.
Use a natural sweetener like honey or maple syrup with Organic half and half.
Switch to lattes. This is the route I went. I got a Nespresso machine because I already knew I loved Espresso and it saved me the $3-4 I would spend at Starbucks. The machine pays for itself after a few months of use if you are a Starbucks regular!