Read those labels

I am once again reminded of how important it is to read labels on what I'm eating and giving to my kids! It is a time consuming, and sometimes irritating, task, but it really is important. I keep three skinny, rectangle drink holders - the kind with the spouts - in our 'fridge. This way, we have three drinks readily available, within the kids reach, and I don't have to continue to make more because they hold twice as much as a regular pitcher. Iced tea, watered-down juice, and usually homemade lemonade are favorites around here. Last week I switched out the lemonade for the new orange sports drink we are trying. I bought it in my last order, and it is supposed to be healthier than the regular gatorade. Duane is in the field a lot right now, so I thought a good, healthier electrolyte drink would be good. Confession, I didn't really read the label, just what they were saying about it. I missed the low calorie part. Low calorie always sends warning lights my way. I don't like chemical sweeteners. I've never counted calories, I have radically adjusted what I eat, but have never worried about calories, just whether something is healthy or not. Anyway, I was cleaning up my 'fridge last night - the spouts do drip a bit leaving juice and sticky residue on the bottom of my 'fridge - I couldn't get the orange sports drink to go away. It stained the inside of my white refrigerator. :( So, this prompted me to read the label to see what they are putting in this stuff. (Since we started drinking it, my kids have broken out in a mysterious, very itchy rash...but this could be due to something poking them while we were working in the garden...can't quite nail it down yet.) Ends up they are using beta-carotene and red beet juice. Not bad, no toxic food coloring there. This is good, but I bet that red beet juice just stained my 'fridge! Maybe they can recommend one of their cleaning products that will take care of this problem. :) However, I did see that in addition to fructose, they are using sucralose - otherwise known as aspartame - to sweeten the drink. Yuck! Not what I look for in a healthier drink. Bummer. Oh how I wish I had the money to go all organic. Oh well, another lesson learned right? Be joyful always...