Dried mango slices should look like this! And they should contain “mango” and NO other ingredients! Yum!

You have a craving for some candy, but you hold strong and refuse to give into the temptation of all of those artificial colors and flavors. You reach for some dried fruit, instead, and rest easy knowing that at least you’re eating something “natural,” right? Well, kind of…maybe…..sort of….it depends – – You MUST read the ingredients list!

Let’s take dried mango, for example… because it’s my FAVORITE!! 🙂

You wouldn’t think you’d need to even look for an ingredients list on something like “dried mango.” After all, isn’t it just self-explanatory? You’d think so…and that’s how it should be….but that’s not how it is!

Here’s an example of some dried mango I recently purchased at Trader Joe’s in Omaha (not that Trader Joe’s is necessarily any better/worse than any other retailer – believe me, they also sell versions of dried fruit that are not so pure as this example).

(click photo to enlarge)

(click photo to enlarge)

Ingredients list shows that the product contains just “mango,” which is all that I would use if I were to dry some mango at home (click picture to enlarge).

Compare that ingredient list to the one on the bag  below. Granted, there’s still some “real fruit” in there, as the front of the package suggests. However, there are a few other things in there that you might not suspect. What makes this mango so much different from the others that it needs artificial colors, etc. to be added!?!? I’m not sure I want to know!!

(click photo to enlarge)

(click photo to enlarge)

My advice: Look for dried fruits that contain nothing but fruit in the ingredients list! They are out there!

I dream of the day that I can pop into a gas station and grab a snack that doesn’t make me feel like crap! It seems that processed food is everywhere you look…even at the hardware stores for cryin’ out loud. I know SO many folks who are struggling to resist the processed temptations that surround them and to stick to eating real foods, but it can be a challenge…especially during the holidays. Click here to read an article written by one of my fellow Omahans about just what it takes to conquer such a dietary overhaul. Perhaps many of you can relate…

Has anyone seen the latest PediaSure commercial?? You know, the one with the kids playing soccer??? Well, here it is if you haven’t seen it:

Perhaps you’re left wondering what is in PediaSure that makes it so “nutritious”???
Ya, me too!!

Following is the list of ingredients from the PediaSure website for the “Vanilla SideKick.”
Is this really any way to fuel your child’s body??

WATER, SUGAR (SUCROSE), MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SOY OIL, SHORT-CHAIN FRUCTOOLIGOSACCHARIDES, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE; LESS THAN 0.5% OF: CELLULOSE GEL, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, POTASSIUM CITRATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, MAGNESIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SALT (SODIUM CHLORIDE), POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, CELLULOSE GUM, CALCIUM CARBONATE, CHOLINE CHLORIDE, ASCORBIC ACID, CARRAGEENAN, SOY LECITHIN, MONOGLYCERIDES, m-INOSITOL, POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE, TAURINE, FERROUS SULFATE, dl-ALPHA-TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, L-CARNITINE, ZINC SULFATE, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, NIACINAMIDE, MANGANESE SULFATE, THIAMIN CHLORIDE HYDROCHLORIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN, CUPRIC SULFATE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, FOLIC ACID, CHROMIUM CHLORIDE, BIOTIN, POTASSIUM IODIDE, SODIUM SELENATE, SODIUM MOLYBDATE, PHYLLOQUINONE, VITAMIN D3, AND CYANOCOBALAMIN.