GMOs & Cheerios: WDYT

kristin172429

Is anyone else concerned about GMOs?  I wish there was labeling legislation.  There are no long-term human studies, so I sorta feel like we are all guinea pigs.  In doing some research. I've found info that General Mills is a big user of GMO in their products.  So many people feed their babies Cheerios.  This really bugged me and I ended up finding an organic, non-GMO version.  What are your thoughts?  Do you trust GMOs or do they worry you, too?

heymommy

What does GMO stand for? I know I had seen talk about this just have not had time to look it up.

laura.noel

heymommy:

What does GMO stand for? I know I had seen talk about this just have not had time to look it up.

Genetically Modified Organism.

I am usually better informed, but I'll admit I have yet to do my homework on this one. J eats Cheerios, but he doesn't get them often, because he prefers Plum Organics puffs. 

MollySm

I agree with Ainslie on this one.  We eat well.  We eat a variety of foods from a variety of cultures.  And everything in moderation.  We also live on a budget, so Lucia is eating some sort of O's, the store brand.  I haven't looked up GMOs in it, though I'm assuming if Cheerios have them, so do these.  

I do try to eat locally as far as fruits and veggies and whatever else we can afford to eat locally.   So that's the one thing I do pay attention to, though I'm not perfect at it.  

jju_stb_jju

I agree 100 with ainslie here! DS eats everything we do and I am not worried about much although I'm pretty laid back in my parenting and how we are with ds!!

Amberrrr

Nah, I bet I ate GMOs when I was a kid, and I turned out just fine.

pinkshades05

I'm not too concerned. GMO's could mean anything. You would want to know what exactly they are modifying before you can make a judgment about them.

Lena122

Until he is at least 1 years old I'm doing my best to make sure that 95 of his food is homemade and organic. He eats Happy Baby organic puffs.

He does eat Cheerios occasionally at Mom Mom's house and he'll occasionally taste our food, as long as it's healthy, but pretty much all that he consumes for nutrition is as healthy as we can make it.

After he a year old I'll start to become more lenient although I'll still pay an extra couple of bucks to get the organic option if there is one.

Their nutrition is so important right now because they're growing and developing so quickly that it's worth it to me to do what I can right now. He won't eat like this forever, but at least for right now.

Jen0204

I agree with Ainslie.  I'm pretty particular about what the girls eat now in that I try to avoid giving them things like ice cream or french fries or things like that - mostly because the few times they've had them they've thrown up - but I don't worry about GMOs at all.  Their "meals" are all healthy and mostly organic, but only because my cousin works for the parent company to Earth's Best so we get their organic food cheap.  We haven't bought organic versions of any of their snacks (puffs, yogurt bites, mum-mum, Cheerios, etc.).

You mentioned that you wish there was more legislation on this - I'm completely uninformed about all of this, but aren't foods like Cheerios tested or monitored by a government agency?  I tried googling it, but all I found were articles on Cheerios being approved as a "drug" to help lower cholesterol.

heymommy

I guess it does not bug me. Maybe it does a little but not enough to make me change things. I pretty much living in survival mode most of the time and dont have time, the focus etc to really pay attention to these things. Really the only things I avoid food wise is all fast food chains other than CFA and Wendy's frostys and prepackaged foods like frozen meals and lunchables, packaged lunch meats brightly colored and chocolate cereals.

I don't buy organic. The only thing I have to avoid is soy with my older DD.  

lancyjo

Ainslie325:

They don't concern me.  I also drank coffee and diet pop and ate sushi, hot dogs, lunch meat, and peanut butter occasionally throughout my pregnancy, though, so take my input with a grain of salt.  

I don't seek out "organic" or "natural" foodstuffs (because the label means little to me), and, though, I generally eat healthfully and am pretty focused on fitness, I just don't spend a lot of time worrying about genetically modified grains, yeasts, etc.  (or the great corn syrup vs. cane sugar debate, for that matter).  For me, "all things in moderation" seems like a reasonable enough approach. My threshold  for concern is admittedly higher than some, but I don't find the idea that we're scientifically engineering grains and yeasts concerning (though I find the extent to which people make the process out to be harmful or sinister pretty incredible given the dearth of data--some of the websites out there are pretty rhetorically terrifying). 

+1

cheese.fiend

We try to steer clear of products containing GMOs as much as possible, for the same reason we try to buy organic and local, and pay attention to our meat's rating on the animal welfare scale... Not because I feel eating the organic, non-GMO Cheerios is just SO MUCH BETTER for L {sure there is some nutritional benefit, but admittedly, not much}, but because I strongly believe in voting with my grocery purchases. Big Agri has essentially ruined the healthy farming and ranching system in our country, and I like to support companies, farmers, and ranchers that are doing their part to turn the situation around. I am strongly in support of CA's efforts to require more informative food labeling, and I hope the rest of the country follows suit. 

JessieJH

I actually am concerned about genetically modified foods. Still- it doesn't keep me up at night. Katherine is still primarily a breastfed baby, but she does have solids and I feel that especially for the first 12 months I'm going to keep her on organic fruits and veggies and organic mum mums and puffs. More and more she is eating what we have for dinner, but DH and I eat a healthy diet and favor organic products as well.

Even with that I think there is so much other stuff that is so much more worrisome. I worry more about if there will be peace when she is an adult or (on the dietary front) if she will have good habits that can help her to avoid this crazy obesity crisis we seem to be surrounded by (definitely I have seen it in my extended family).

pennyandandy

JessieJH:

I actually am concerned about genetically modified foods. Still- it doesn't keep me up at night. Katherine is still primarily a breastfed baby, but she does have solids and I feel that especially for the first 12 months I'm going to keep her on organic fruits and veggies and organic mum mums and puffs. More and more she is eating what we have for dinner, but DH and I eat a healthy diet and favor organic products as well.

Even with that I think there is so much other stuff that is so much more worrisome. I worry more about if there will be peace when she is an adult or (on the dietary front) if she will have good habits that can help her to avoid this crazy obesity crisis we seem to be surrounded by (definitely I have seen it in my extended family).

All of this. They are so hard to avoid nowadays-you have to nearly avoid anything with soy altogether. The cain sugar vs. high fructose corn syrup thing bothers me more. It all bothers me, I guess, that these companies think it is okay to feed our kids and ourselves made up crap.