The goal is 80%.

Not long ago I was thinking back to what one of my possible career goals was as a senior in high school. I was in an AP Biology class and I really liked it. I loved learning about plants, animals, etc. I was also really into Agriculture, but I wasn't sure I wanted to major in Agriculture in college. So, I started out majoring in Biology with the idea of either going pre-vet/pre-med or going into plant science and working on Genetically Modified foods. Back then I thought GMO's (genetically modified organisms) would be a good idea. I had this naive view of GMO's and that they would be used for good, for feeding the hungry people. I can see why I thought this, I grew up watching years of news stories showing American kids all the hungry and starving children in Africa. "You better eat all your dinner, starving kids in Ethiopia would love to have it!".

As I have gotten older I have learned a lot more, formed my own opinions and realized that everything I believed as a 17 year old was not all correct. Ha! Food has become a more important part of my life, specifically because now I am responsible for what my children eat. I have to make good choices for them because they don't have the power to. I started small. When they started drinking cows milk they did with gusto! I think it is still by far one of their favorite foods. So, I (and Matt) decided that we would only buy Organic Milk for them. If it 's the one food they are consuming the most of we should make it as best as possible.

Over time I have added more and more healthy options to our families foods. Now the list has grown and I have more strict criteria. I however am also realistic about it and am not going to not allow them to eat something that is "bad". I'm just going to try my best to not have it in my house where they eat 90% of their meals.

So, the goal for now is 80%. (I work in stats and in my industry 80% is considered significant, so I go with 80%).

So, 80% of all our food, my kids foods, etc. is hopefully:

Non-GMO
Organic
Pesticide Free
No Processed
No HFCS

80% is harder then one might think, especially with a family that is on the go a lot. I have to purchase foods at the grocery store. I simply don't have enough time to bake everything, make my own yogurt, cheese, etc. So I have over the past 6 months or so really searched for some sort of cheat sheet. And I have finally found something!

The Non-GMO Shopping Guide
http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/SG/Home/index.cfm

Which, by default most are organic and contain no HFCS.

So, check it out. Look at the Shopping Guide and try out some of the brands they recommend. And then, see if you can get to 80%! If we can, anyone can.