Wednesday, June 4, 2008

sugar spiked formula


i have actually had to sit with this for a week before i felt like i could write this post and not rant like a lunatic. the new york times recently reported that similac's organic formula actually has significantly more sugar in it than all other formulas on the market. wait. what? i don't even let my 3 year old drink juice that isn't watered down. i have been giving jasper this formula since she was 8 weeks old thinking that i was doing the 'right' thing by giving her formula that was created with organic milk. but apparently all i was giving her a sweet tooth and a propensity for obesity. awesome. similac is the only organic formula that uses cane sugar (parent's choice and earths best, two other organic formulas, use organic lactose which is less sweet) but similac maintains that is 'wasn't optimizing for taste'. yeah, whatever.

here is the scariest part of the entire article, which caused me to round up all unopened formula canisters and return them immediately to target:

"The sweeter taste of Similac Organic was observed by a professional sensory-tasting panel, commissioned by The New York Times to do a blind tasting of eight nationally available formulas, soy and dairy, organic and not. Seven of the formulas were as sweet as unsweetened apple juice, said Gail Civille, the director of Sensory Spectrum, which performed the tests. Ms. Civille said Similac Organic was the sweetest, with “the sweetness of grape juice or Country Time lemonade."

COUNTRY TIME LEMONADE? oh no. oh no no no.

you should have seen the poor guy at target when i dumped 4 canisters and 3 liquid containers and he said 'is anything wrong with it?'

aren't you glad you don't work at the target returns counter?

i am happy to report that jasper is loving her new formula.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

modern organic bedding

our kids spend over 50% of their little lives in bed. our favorite retailer and green guru, jennie at crunchy granola baby says 'if you are going to go organic, go with organic cotton in all of their bedding. mattress, mattress pad, sheets; the whole kit and kaboodle'. but, if you are like me and like beautiful modern patterns, you are out of luck right? think again my funny friends. i have found some super cute organic bedding designers and here are 2 of my fav's:

1. pixel organics - these prints are so childlike and fun. the print at the top of the post is called 'lions and tigers and kitties, oh my!' it reminds me somehow of the retro barkcloth fabric, but in a new fun + funky way. i love it with the chartreuse walls. ( i actually just love the word chartreuse and i really don't find that many ways to use it in casual conversation)



2. argington bedding - this modern furniture designer has created a line of organic bedding that is so beautiful. the pattern at above is their butterfly print with complementing pattern in twigs. it's just so girly and pink i can't stand it. they have an adorable dinosaur pattern for those with boys.

both companies boast that their cotton is 100% certified organic and they use low impact dyes and regenerated polyester that doesn't off gas. pixel organics even states that the fill on their comforters may have been your plastic water bottle from last month. as if you still use those. please.