Clean Eating: Rat in Chef Boyardee Pasta or Whole Foods -What’s Your Choice?
I couldn’t help but be aghast when my colleague Cheryl sent me an article and video on Huffington Post today about a woman in Ohio who allegedly found a rat in her can of Chef Boyardee pasta! Yes, a RAT, you read that correctly. Clean eating, this is not!
You must take a moment to watch this video and tell me what you think — true or hype? Does it make your stomach turn like mine?
Honestly, it looks pretty darn authentic to me, but even if it’s not, it got me thinking about the quality of food we eat everyday and especially about eating canned food. It sure is convenient but for so many reasons, I limit my intake of canned foods to organic canned beans (no salt added), tomatoes and coconut milk. That’s pretty much it. Why so few items?
Let’s start with the fact that a huge portion of canned food would hardly fall in the clean eating category. Over processed and often full of too much sodium (think canned soup), calories or unhealthy fats, it doesn’t usually provide us with the essential nutrients we need. In addition, most cans are lined with BPA (bisphenol A) – a chemical in plastic that’s been linked to increased risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease in animals. Even in the healthiest of canned foods, you’re likely to find BPA.
Even if I wasn’t already focused on eating clean, whole foods, simply watching the video would be enough to make me pause and think about the choices I make. Am I making the best decisions? What, if anything, do I need to change? Honestly, it’s hard to have confidence in our food supply these days and this sure doesn’t help.
This is one more reason to eat fresh, clean foods. With a focus on more vegetables, fruit and whole grains, it’s hard to go wrong. That’s especially true if your food is locally grown and you know specifically where it’s coming from. But even if you eat frozen veggies, that’s a big step up from canned. Know what else? Even if I’m going to eat pasta, I’m sure not eating it from a can. How about a little extra time to cook some up with jarred sauce, at the very least? With some simple meal planning, any of us can reduce our dependence on questionable canned and processed foods and support a healthier lifestyle with more fresh, whole foods that boost our immune system and help stave off chronic diseases.
What will you do to minimize the impact of canned foods and eat more fresh, clean eating, whole foods?
Filed under: BPA, clean eating, Fruit, Organic Products, Vegetables, Whole Grains
Usually I assume this kind of hype is a scam, but they look like a nice, honest family who actually care about the poor rat that got canned.
It makes you think about how many rats are in the Chef Boyardee manufacturing plant that haven’t ended up in a can yet, yuck.
Yet one more reason to avoid processed food.
.-= Cheryl Heppard´s last blog ..Optimize Facebook Fan Pages =-.
It’s funny you should say that Cheryl, I found them to be believable too. Maybe it’s that midwestern charm. Of course if I can had found a rat in a can that I opened, I sure has heck wouldn’t have had a calm response like that! The green smoothie I just had sure fit the bill for me, whole foods all the way!
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the video but this post was very interesting. At this point in my life (age 32), I am very fit and a clean eater as much as possible. I do revert on occasion to frozen veggies: having them in the freezer is a nice go-to after a trip or something. And like you, I only eat organic, sodium-free canned beans, not even soup.
The thing is, I grew up eating canned veggies and the like–it’s the fare of choice for a large working class family and I think part of the story is why healthy, fresh eating can be so cost-prohibitive for some people/families. I think that is slowly starting to change but even I am shocked sometimes at the prices differences between, say, regular veggies and organic.
.-= Leanne´s last blog ..what if I couldn’t run? =-.
Once I found a grasshopper in a bag of frozen green beans. I called the company and they sent me a box to ship it to them plus coupons for several free bags of their frozen veggies. Yes, I still buy frozen and mostly that brand. But I still sometimes dump out the whole bag into a bowl just in case. It can happen with any company since there are grasshoppers and other insects in the fields.
I am the sister of the woman who bought this can. I myself am a vegetarian and have raised my kids “off” of this kind of food. This situation is real, however. My sister called me in a panic–freaking out and even threw up twice. She had to send pictures to the company and so I came over later and we filmed it. Of course the can was already opened. I had to psych myself up to do it. I found an old spoon and did the scooping. If you think the images are gross, you should have experienced the smell.
Best bet for food is fresh, local, organic, non-processed, and non GMO. Beware of ingredients you can not pronounce. It is not an easy task feeding kids healthy foods in an age when junk is all around and junk is cheap. Best wishes to all you parents out there.
Hi Sally,
Thanks so much for stopping by to comment and give us the inside scoop on what happened. Just unbelievable! And it must have been something dealing with this as a vegetarian.
Leanne, I hear what you’re saying about the cost of fresh vs. canned and frozen. I do think frozen veggies are a good choice if you can’t get fresh. It definitely can be hard when feeding a family. I think that even going from canned to frozen is a step in the right direction for many people. I always like to think of our health in terms of baby steps.
Debbie, it’s amazing that even in veggies we can find insects. At least I can understand the grasshopper but I just can’t get my arms around the rat.
Goes to show we must all be so conscious about what we’re putting in our bodies. Thanks to all of you for commenting!
.-= Wendy´s last blog ..Clean Eating: Rat in Chef Boyardee Pasta or Whole Foods -What’s Your Choice? =-.
There is a show on Discovery, “Life Without People.” I suggest you see if you can find the series and watch the episode about what would happen to grocery stores if people disappeared tomorrow.
Although I thought I fed my family healthy prior to watching this show (checked for organic, no added sugar, etc.), now my family eats healthy! I became disgusted by ANY processed foods. I now order organic whole grains and mill them myself. I make all our pasta, breads, desserts, etc from SCRATCH. I order all our dairy and meats from an amish farm in PA. I have learned how to make everything from onion rings and poppers to ketchup. The only thing we buy at the grocery store is the produce we can’t grow. But it is funny that what we eat would terrify any dieter, with our fresh from the farm heavy creams, cheeses, butter, yet we have all lost weight without trying (30lbs for me in about 4-5 months). Our food tastes better than ever and we have lost weight, even better we know exactly what is in our food and where it came from.
I also call this my “clean food.” Everyone should be so aware of what they are putting in their bodies.
Hi Lee!
Thanks so much for stopping by to share your comments. I’m so inspired by your amazing example of clean eating, that is fabulous! And how wonderful that you’re all eating better and losing weight.
Bravo on your efforts!
I have been searching the web recently to see if what happened to me is regularly occurring. I, too eschew canned food and eat plenty of fresh foods. But occasionally, I’ve enjoyed an “Original” salad from Carl’s Jr. On Sept. 16th at 11:20p.m. I ordered one to go, brought it home and had about seven bites. Then I started mixing the salad a little and my fork hit, what I thought might be, a glob of wilted greens which
h kind of bothered me to begin with. As I picked up the soggy blob to take it to the sink, I noticed a tail, legs, head, teeth, protruding intestines all lightly covered with my salad greens. It was a field rat. I threw it in the sink and the spit, scour routine began. I managed to call the restaurant just before they closed at midnight to warn them to check other salads. Since it was so late resources to answer my questions about possible dangers were scant. I had a very fitful night to say the least. The manager called the next morning and sounded a little guarded and said the HR person would call me. She did at 4:40 just before she left work, I suppose. More cool guarded tones. Of course I put the field rat and the salad in my freezer. I called the County Health inspector, I calLed the Corp. Office in Calif.. I took the field rat and salad to the restaurant to show a couple of young employees in order to impress on them to take extra care to look. No fu
Sorry, I have a Blackberry Storm and it will not allow me to finish this entry easily. Just to say be careful out there.