When I was asked to join a virtual briefing with today's sponsor, ConAgra Foods via The Motherhood blogger group, I immediately said yes. While I do consider myself a savvy consumer, I know I have more to learn, especially when it comes to additives and preservatives in our food. While I will receive compensation for my time, all opinions in this post are based on information I learned during the briefing and are my own. 

Providing our family with good for us food has become a lot more complicated the last few years.  Gone are the days when you just went to the produce section and picked up a head of lettuce. Now you have choices, sometimes too many choices.

It gets even more confusing when you leave the produce section and start buying staples.  The store isles are usually full of label readers, just like me trying our best to pick the healthiest food we can afford.  I always look for the sugar, calorie, protein numbers, but one of the important factors I may be overlooking is Antioxidants. 

Getting to know Antioxidant facts:

Antioxidants are our helpers. We have many antioxidants naturally produced in our body every day. 

• They prevent oxygen from damaging other molecules.  
• They can slow the aging process. 
• They boost your body’s natural defense /immune system, combat heart disease and other diseases.  
• They also protect our cells and function in foods to protect oils from damage that can lead to rancidity. 

These are all very good things- we want Antioxidants to show up in our bodies every day and the best way to get them there is to eat them. 

Antioxidants in Food:

Natural:

Certain foods contain natural antioxidants like Vitamin E (Alpha-tocopheral).  Vitamin E is found in nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables like my spinach salad here. 

Another natural antioxidant you’re sure to recognize if you are a food label reader like me is Ascorbic Acid, a.k.a. sodium ascorbate, a.k.a. Vitamin C.  Strawberries are loaded with Vitamin C! 

Sometimes those very clinical, almost chemical sounding names we find on our labels are really nothing to be worried about. 

Man Made:

Learning about man made Antioxidants was the highlight of the virtual briefing with ConAgra Foods. The more we learned and asked as a collective group of bloggers, the more I realized I wanted to know more! 

ConAgra Foods did a wonderful job explaining man made antioxidants are and why we may find them on our food labels and in our food.

You may have seen one these before on your labels:

BHT: A tasteless, colorless man made antioxidant is used to help maintain freshness in grain-based foods like crackers and cookies.

TBHQ: A tasteless, colorless man made antioxidant used commonly to keep vegetable oils and other packaged foods fresh.

I would love to share the whole Q & A section with you because I’m sure you have your own questions about man made antioxidants- but that would be a very large blog post to read so I’m going to share ConAgra Foods information below.

Natural v. Man Made Antioxidants and why they are used from ConAgra:

If you'd like to learn more about Food preservatives,check out 6 Facts about Preservatives video.

My Take Away:

My take away from the conversation was that whether natural or man-made, all antioxidants are safe for our food and our bodies when eating a balanced diet. Antioxidants help us enjoy the foods we love without having to compromise on taste or quality.

Why Yoplait Greek Yogurt?

I will admit it- I’m picky when it comes to traditional breakfast foods. If a cereal is high in sugar (over 11 grams a serving for me) or high in carbs, I may eat it, but I’ll be starving soon after because of the way my body metabolizes that fuel. I have to have a healthy, tasty protein source and folks; it doesn’t get much taster that this peach Yoplait Greek 100 calorie, fat free yogurt with a small serving of high fiber granola on top and an apple. 

With 11 grams of protein and just 8 grams of sugar, the peach Yoplait Greek 100 calorie yogurt is a tasty, healthy breakfast food or anytime snack that I know is going to have staying power. 

All of the Yoplait Greek 100 calorie yogurts are only 2 Weight Watcher endorsed points and come with real fruit on the bottom. I can’t wait to try the Apple pie, Blueberry and Strawberry Cheesecake in this line.  I just know they will be as creamy, tasty and thick as the peach flavor. Just look at how my spoon stands up in it. 

If I start getting bored with my breakfast options again on #WeightLossJourney, I’ll just head on over to Yoplait’s recipe section. (insert link) Filled with recipes for all of Yoplait’s yogurt varieties, I’m sure to find many that look tempting, like the apple pie yogurt cup! 

More good for you and your waistline Foods:

 

The#WeightLossJourney, #NewYearsResolution Giveaway:

Thanks to the generosity of General Mills, one lucky reader will receive a basket of Weight-Watchers endorsed products including salad tongs, a dressing emulsifier, and salad shears.

Terms:

Entering is easy using the Rafflecopter form below. No purchase necessary to win. My WAHM Plan is not responsible for prize fulfillment. General Mills will send gift package to winner. Must be 18+ to enter and reside in the United States. This giveaway is in no way endorsed affiliated or associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Media Networking Site. This event will end on 12:00 AM (EST) 1/21/15. 

Good Luck! 

Any visitor to our home will quickly learn that we are a cat family.  Our outside cat will greet you from her perch on the front porch, while our indoor cats will try to figure you out from one of their many window views.

These 3 cats are cherished members of our family and enrich our lives, so feeding them the best food for their age and stage is very important to us. That’s why I was thrilled when my cats were selected to try Wellness Dry Cat Food and Wellness Divine Duo's Formula wet food in partnership with BlogPaws. While I will receive compensation to thank me for my time, all opinions are my own. 

About Wellness Pet Food:

In business for over a decade, Wellness is a pioneer in holistic nutrition. Wellness seeks new ways to help pets thrive, educate people about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and support animal wellness programs. Wellness provides pet parents with a variety of thoughtful nutritional choices to create a foundation of well being. 

Overall, my cats are very happy with Wellness food. If you have cats, or are considering adopting in June for #AdoptaCatMonth, I invite you to visit the Wellness website to learn more about them and their mission. Wellness also has a line of products made just for dogs.

Please share in comments: Are you a Cat family too?

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Wellness and the Pet Blogger Network. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Wellness, but My WAHM Plan only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Wellness is not responsible for the content of this article. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

We are almost to school winter break here in middle Tennessee, which means my daughters have eaten their fair share of from home lunches that normally include sandwiches. So when Pop Chef approached me to sponsor today’s post by sending me a free set to try, I happily agreed to check them out.

About Pop Chef:

“Pop Chef is a new, fast and easy way to make fabulous edible creations. The secret is its 3-in-1 action- which shapes, pops and creates stars, circles, hearts and more without the mess or hassle of knives or cookie cutters. It’s a snack-tivity that’s even safe for kids to use. ”

With Pop Chef you can make:

Pop Chef sounds fun doesn't it? Not just for us Moms, but for our kids too. My teen and tween (who make their own snacks and the occasional lunch)- were eager to give Pop Chef a try. 

The Review:

While Pop Chef does work and it really is fun to use- we didn’t find it as easy as 

Nope. 

My daughter had to “coax” her piece of bread out. It still looked cute according to her, but it wasn’t in the perfect sun shape she hoped. She still said it was fun though.

I found the same to be true when I attempted to make flower ham and cheese sandwich bites for their lunches. Since my sandwich was over the recommended 1 inch thickness, it took a little bit of sweet talking to get the pieces out (see below) they didn’t “pop” out, but like my daughter I was having fun, so I continued.

Pop Chef works perfectly with firm fruit I’m happy to report! We all wish we’d gotten this at the height of summer fruit season because once we’d had success with our Bananas, we were eager to give other fruits a try. We’ll just have to wait for more fruit to come in season and then we are going to make a fruit Bouquet.

All in all, this is a cute, fun way to enjoy time with your kids and let them play with their food. It is well worth the $10 price tag to us. You may even want to pick one up for your teen or tween for a gift.

You can find out more about Pop Chef and other products by visiting them here and you can use my affiliate link below if you would like to purchase Pop Chef on Amazon.

I hope you found this review helpful. Please let me know in comments if you have ever used Pop Chef or if you'd like to.


Disclosure:

I received a free set of Pop Chef in the hopes that I would share my opinion of it on my blog. No other compensation was given as I felt it would interest my readers. Note: The Amazon link above is my affiliate link, which may mean compensation for me should you choose to purchase via it.