CHICAGO MOMS LEARN ABOUT FACTS VS FADS

Lindsay Mitchell

Mar 18, 2014  |  Today's News

Through the Illinois Farm Families program, a partnership with IL Corn, IL Beef, IL Pork, IL Soybeans, IL Farm Bureau and Midwest Dairy Association, moms from the Chicagoland area are learning more about food and food labels based on scientific information instead of food fads and hype.

During a February 22 tour of Ulta Foods in Wheaton, IL, moms enrolled in the Illinois Farm Families “Field Mom” program talked about the differences between natural, organic, locally grown, and hormone free labels.

One of the moms described her personal goal as “The goal of the day was to learn more about food labeling and maybe learn how to shop a little better. For me, the most interesting part of the day was the workshop given by Jodie Shield, MEd, RDN, LDN, and President and Founder of Healthy Eating for Families, Inc.”

Your checkoff funding is helping these urban moms and family food purchasers understand more about food and how it’s grown, starting at the farm and ending at the grocery store.

One key take-away from the day: “Jodie has a way of talking about food to feed our families that makes it all seem very simple, demystified, and straightforward. What I took away from her was this. Instead of zooming in our lens and focusing our time and attention on the buzzwords of the day (such as natural, organic (pesticides), GMO, Hormone Free, and grass-fed, to name a few), we should zoom out and re-frame our view to look at what matters so much more, the bigger picture, which is getting more fruits and vegetables onto our kids plates and cutting back on the sugar and saturated fat we put in their little bodies.”

Read more about these Chicago mom’s first impressions!

Zoom Out! By Heather Guido

How Comfortable are you With The Food You Feed Your Family? By Cortney Fries