1. Posted by c11bar on Fri, Sep 22, 2006, 1:10 pm PDT

You've got to be kidding! Right?! Come on. All the sites you list above promote eating habits (such as "low-fat") that will cause health problems sooner and get you to think you need drugs. After all, most if not all the food companies listed above are subsidiaries of pharmaceutical companies. The organizations listed are really political organizations that do their bidding. Just my opinion.

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2. Posted by dlaciv12 on Sat, Sep 23, 2006, 9:50 am PDT

I agree, I usually come here for the comedy, but this one has to be the funniest!

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3. Posted by Catnap on Sat, Sep 23, 2006, 7:29 pm PDT

c11bar: Please think before you exaggerate ("All the sites" "most if not all"). How does LaLeche cause health problems by promoting breast-feeding?? Amy's Foods is not part of a conglomerate, pharmaceutical or otherwise, and their foods are EXCELLENT not to mention mostly organic. Their frozen spinach & cheese pockets are a great after-workout late-dinner fast food alternative.

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4. Posted by on Sun, Sep 24, 2006, 12:02 pm PDT

Hold off on the "frozen spinach and cheese pockets" for right now if you're in America. Watch out for anything containing fresh spinach/frozen spinach. That could be hazardous to your health right now.

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5. Posted by c11bar on Mon, Sep 25, 2006, 8:25 am PDT

For and eye-opener, read Sally Fallon's book review of a popular LaLeche League book. - "Now in its sixth edition, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has served as guide to thousands of women determined to do the best for their babies. And it is loaded with encouragement and practical advice about getting started at baby's birth, and continuing breastfeeding as baby grows. Unfortunately, the dietary advice in this book is terrible, so wrong that it is likely to undermine all the good that is intended in giving baby breast milk instead of commercial formula. Let's start with the first sentence in the chapter on nutrition. "If you already have good eating habits, there is no reason for you to make any major changes while you are breastfeeding." We'll look at what the authors consider to be good eating habits in a moment, but even when a woman's diet is very good, her body needs extra nourishment to build a healthy child during pregnancy and lactation. The feeding of special, nutrient-dense foods to pregnant and nursing women is a practice found among all traditional peoples. These special foods were invariably animal products, rich in fat, foods like fish eggs, shellfish, fish liver oils, carp, butter, whole milk, organ meats, bear fat, eggs and pickled bones. In China, for example, nursing women eat up to ten eggs per day, a "major" dietary change that ensures high levels of important vitamins and fatty acids in their milk. But according to La Leche League, women should avoid high levels of animal foods because "research has linked high-fat diets to heart disease and other ills." Nursing mothers should cut back on animal fats and eat more plant-based proteins, they say. "Any fat that is solid at room temperature (butter, margarine, vegetable shortening) should be eaten in moderation," is their advice, even though butter is an important source of nutrients and the trans fats in margarine and vegetable shortening are really bad news for the developing infant. "Safflower oil, canola oil, and soybean oil. . . are important for your health," say the authors, even though these invariably rancid oils contain nothing of benefit to the mother or her infant. All women have to do to have healthy breastmilk, say the authors of this book, is to eat a varied diet and avoid sugar, additives, highly processed cereals and grains, caffeine and soft drinks. Nursing women should also avoid salt, they say, even though salt is vital for the development of the baby's brain and nervous system. Human milk contains sodium chloride for a reason, but there won't be much there if the mother is avoiding salt. As for supplementation, only brewers yeast and B12 for vegetarians are recommended. Women can get vitamin A from carrots, they say, totally ignoring research indicating the increased requirements for vitamin A during pregnancy and lactation, and the difficulty of converting carotenes in plant foods to true vitamin A found in animal fats. Tofu, full of mineral-blocking phytic acid, is just as good a source of calcium as milk products, say the authors of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. As the national voice for breastfeeding, La Leche League has an enormous responsibility to provide nursing mothers with accurate information on diet and nutrition. Instead, the very women who have the will and intelligence to enact the dietary changes that will ensure the optimum development of their children are bamboozled into political correctness. Hints that breastfeeding by poorly nourished mothers shortchanges the nursing baby are sprinkled throughout the book--from pages devoted to dealing with fussy babies to the admission that breastfed babies are subject to tooth decay. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding needs an overhaul and a change of focus--from the promotion of breastfeeding for breastfeeding's sake to breastfeeding for healthy babies."

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6. Posted by Catnap on Mon, Sep 25, 2006, 2:45 pm PDT

“At this time, FDA has no evidence that frozen spinach, canned spinach and spinach included in pre-made meals manufactured by food companies are affected. These products are safe to eat.” -FDA "All of Amy's spinach is cooked more than the 160 F/15 seconds recommended by FDA which is sufficient to kill any E Coli bacteria. This cooking process is done prior to adding the spinach to Amy's products and there is no possibility of cross contamination at Amy's." -Amy's Kitchen

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7. Posted by Catnap on Mon, Sep 25, 2006, 2:57 pm PDT

Since the blog recommended the website, I found the following on the LaLecheLeague site: In recent years, research has confirmed that even if some nutrients are missing in a woman’s daily diet, she will still produce milk that will help her child grow. There is very little difference in the milk of healthy mothers and mothers who are severely malnourished. For example, if a mother’s diet is lacking in calories, her body makes up the deficit, drawing on the reserves laid down during pregnancy or before. Unless there is a physical reason for low milk production, a woman who breastfeeds on cue will be able to produce enough milk for her baby, regardless of what she eats. A breastfeeding mother’s body uses a combination of all the foods that she eats, completing them with nutrients stored in her body to produce the milk that she gives her child. What this means is that mother’s milk is made every time, following the same process and resulting in milk that has a fairly constant composition. If the mother’s diet is not adequate, it is her body that makes up the difference. If she is malnourished, this means that her body has to make up for the lack of nutrients in her diet when it produces the milk for her child. It has been seen that even in cases bordering on malnutrition in poor countries, the milk produced by these mothers satisfies the needs of the child, who will grow adequately if he is breastfed on cue. The overwhelming majority of women in the world who breastfeed follow imperfect diets at least part of the time. The concept of an "ideal" diet can vary from different families, cultures, economic situations, religions, and in different seasons. Yet, almost always, all over the world, in different epochs, even in situations of deprivation, mothers produce milk that helps their babies grow well. In a few words, a healthy diet, both for a breastfeeding mother as well as for most other people, is defined by the terms varied, balanced, and natural. A varied diet is one that includes an assortment of different groups of foods, without excluding any particular one. But even in the case of specific allergies or food intolerance, a diet that includes different types of food and varies from meal to meal, from day to day and from season to season, will help to reduce reactions that might arise with repeated consumption of large amounts of a particular food. The following are the main groups of foods that should be included in the daily diet. 1)Fresh vegetables and fruits (preferably those in season) of all types, eaten raw or cooked; 2)Different grains (wheat, rice, corn, barley, millet) preferably whole, in various forms, in the form of whole or broken kernels, as well as semolina and flour (and products made from them including bread and pasta); 3)Protein foods from animal sources (dairy products, eggs, meat and fish) and/or plant sources (lentils, beans, soybeans); 4)Small quantities of fats, preferably uncooked, cold-pressed vegetable oils. ......There were varied references cited in the article.

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