Fooducate: Why I love this clean eating tool.

A friend of mine introduced me to Fooducate several months ago and it has become one of my favorite things.
It's available for apple and android, and it is free!

I love free.
I love feeding my family good food.
I also do most of my grocery shopping with two toddlers in tow and this means I'm subject to emotional, impulse buys in the grocery store. Sure, I know why hydrogenated oils are bad, and I have vowed in my heart of hearts not to let HFCS cross my threshold if I can help it. But when I've been in the grocery store for 2 hours and I'm ready to just go ahead and cry along with my 1 and 2 year old, I lose my mind a little. These are the moments when Lucky Charms get bought, and Nesquick, and Kraft Mac & Cheese.

And no, I'm not buying these things to hush up the kids.
My inner self is an eight year old and these are my comfort foods.

So how does Fooducate come in?

Well, it's in my pocket. Because it's on my iPhone.
And all I have to do to come back to earth is scan a barcode and fooducate talks me down.

First, there's a rating. I don't always buy the best of everything, because I can't always do that within my budget. However, I don't buy anything under a "B" rating as a general rule. Keeping that guideline for myself in place really helps when it comes to those mindless, impulse buys.
There is also a list of the high and low points of the product underneath. They list the good things, like if a product contains something great like chia or if the company has pledged against using GMOs. Then there are these little red exclamation points, the Fooducate kiss of doom, that point out things like artificial dyes, unsavory ingredients, and high sugar content. Also listed, are explanations of ingredients that are controversial but not widely taught about, like carageenan (commonly used even in healthy products like almond and coconut milk).

Basically, I love that Fooducate takes the guess work out of trying to make healthy choices.
Of course, the best way to eat clean is buy as many unadulterated products as you can. Unproccessed is always the better choice. However, because this is real life and sometimes time constraints require that we feed our family from a box, I highly recommend the Fooducate app.

Try it. Let me know what you think.


Until next time,

Jessica

P.S.  You should be prepared to spend at least 30 minutes after downloading this scanning every product with a barcode in your kitchen. Ask me how I know.