I am soooo a label reader, but we sort of half to be over here:

One person with diabetes plus one person with celiac disease equals a family of label readers. It is what it is.

Headed over to check out your post!

liz, what a informative and well written post! I had no idea about a lot of those findings. Thanks for writing this! I'm going to start doing better with reading labels for my family!

So your rule of thumb is to avoid the food if that ingredient is in the first 2 ingredients?

thanks, nicole!

maddie can't have it at all, and i'd say we've cut it out of over 90% of our food. 

i really cut back on Coke.  And we're not big dessert eaters, but clearly we'll have a frosted cookie or something from the candy aisle every so often.

Yes, I'm a label reader. HFCS, sugar, saturated fat, etc. Most of what I consider the basics.

My 13 year old son is also a label reader. His rule of thumb for HFCS is if it's one of the top 5 ingredients he doesn't (or rarely) eats it. Gotta love health class in the 7th grade :) He is also a big fan of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Between health class and what they serve for school lunch he started asking questions at school. Basically he was told to bring his lunch. Really?

Because I'm so proud you can read about him here http://jillconyers.typepad.com/life_as_i_see_it/2010/05/it-all-started-with-7th-grade-health-class--alec-questioned-the-school-about-why-they-teach-us-to-make-healthy-choices-but.html

that's so great that he's pushing the envelope and asking questions!  and it is soooo sad that was the response he got. 

sigh...

I read labels neurotically.  And we avoid all soda and most sweets too :)

Since I started trying to lose weight a couple years ago, I have learned so much about nutrition and I'm a maniac about reading labels now.

That was a great post, Liz.  I was such a good girl in college and then Coke snuck its way into my life.  Cherry is my nemesis.  I had an exceptional diet during pregnancy and bfing -- no soda, little HFCS, etc.  Somehow, through the stress of the past year I have gotten into some bad habits again. 

I have been able to keep the kiddo eating nearly all whole foods (it isn't hard when he loves his fruit and veggies).  The only thing he eats with HFCS is graham crackers and I have been offering them to him less often.  Anyone know of a brand w/o it?

I really need to do a better job at reading them! I find them really confusing and unless I'm just doing a scan for ingredients  I dont tend to look much.

My husband is much better- I need to do much more.