In the realm of the alternative food market I have a passionate history.

Thanks really goes to Lanee, a business peer, who first introduced me to the concept of hidden sugars, dyes and chemicals in foods. At that time, I had absolutely no idea! When I found out I felt so betrayed by the food industry. Such misrepresentation.  I then became a zealous label reader, a blabber of all wrongs about everything that everyone else was eating, a food coop connoisseur and much much more.

It took me an entire 2 yrs to shift my everyday pantry to a clean alternative pantry - everything from cereal, peanut butter, crackers to bread. When Whole Foods came to town, the first pilot store to open in the midwest, I was there and I lovingly worked for that company for three years until I was injured in a car accident ( my first ). 

One of my very favorite product discoveries was Natural Ovens Breads, Bagels and Cereal.  

Natural Ovens Bakery sold its wonderful company to a Chicago bakery that makes the buns for Burger King. This sale occurred one year ago. 

WHY did the bread get all squishy like all the other breads on the market?
 
WHY did it all of a sudden burn when I toasted it?  

I decided to actually read its label.  Needless to say, I will no longer be purchasing this bread and the link will be removed from my side bar. I will never recommend this bread to anyone ever again

I should back track because in its day - Natural Ovens of Manitowoc was a gift to all who struggled to find whole grain bread goodness with nothing hydrogenated or sweetened with sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup about it.  I even attended a Natural Ovens Convention in Milwaukee with my sister --- we were such groupies for this company. I personally heard owner Paul Stitt speak to his commitments to providing quality bread, and by gosh since 1976 he was actually doing it. Paul Stitt helped me understand the process of hydrogenating something or altered fats, he spoke to making choices about what we put in our bodies. I shared what he taught me, in my signature workshop Healthy Choices for Children.  I put together that class to help other moms understand how they too could make alternative decisions about feeding their families. I have been an advocate for his breads and his company for 19 years!

Paul Stitt you hugely disappoint me. How could you have sold out like this? How could you sell your company?  Why is it you didn't sell this company and make whoever took it over foster all that you built and strived for?? 30 years of strident example all shot to sugar hell. I can't tell you how upset I am.

The ingredient now found in ALL Natural Ovens Bread products is called crystalline fructose. This is basically a derivative of high fructose corn syrup. Its fructose component is actually even more concentrated than high fructose corn syrup, additionally crystalline fructose has arsenic in it - excuse me arsenic?  Not to mention heavy metals, mercury, lead and chloride. The entire reason we want to avoid high fructose corn syrup is that it's very very hard on the liver - this explanation and much more is beautifully explained and referenced here

I don't claim to understand the entire bio-mechanics of why certain things are bad, nor do I always have the abilty to explain it exactly right.  I don't believe that to be my role. I do feel that I can be an example of someone who decided to clean up my families diet. The list is long of things that were not good, and so one by one I stopped eating the bad things.  I strived to do as much as I could do in my home and make the cleanest choices possible with the resources I had,  My resource was a book called Diet for a Poisoned Planet.  Back then the internet wasn't something I had access to.

Nowadays you have oodles of information at your fingertips.

If this information I shared with you today is intriguing to you...start being a conscientious consumer, start asking questions, and stay away from crystalline fructose.   Say No to Natural Ovens and share this information with folks you care about.


mmmmmm homemade bread flickr image credit

Karen Hanrahan ~ Wellness Educator/Nutritional Consultant/Blog Author
708.482.0678 ~ Websites: Nutrition Weight Loss, and Green Clean as seen on Oprah

Member of BNI - West Suburban BNI: "Chapter Mentor"
Member, Board Member and Programming Chair of West Suburban Women Entrepreneurs