My daughter's are 15 and 12 now, so I am way past the baby food stage. Honestly, this wasn't even on my radar until Taryn Pratt of Gourmet Kitchen Works reached out to me and shared about the high levels of toxins in baby food. I don't know how I missed this article, but if you go to Google and search it, it's in almost every single parenting magazine.

I was so thankful that Taryn reached out to me about sharing this on the podcast. She is a fellow master of public health just like I am, and so she is also super health conscious so we had a lot to talk about!

I just loved their products so much, I actually decided to add them to my store, because I know how hard it is to find products like food mills, or even some really awesome food choppers. You can check them out at www.detox.design/thebox. Then just click on safe products and go to the kitchen tab and you will see all these stainless steel, very minimal plastic based cooking gadgets and utensils. These are of the highest quality and also safe for you to use with your kids at home.

Toxins in Baby Food. What you need to know about heavy metals and high levels of toxins in packaged baby food and what you can do to avoid them. 

Megan: Tell me a little bit more about your daughter and how you got into thinking about heavy metals and baby food?

Taryn: When I went to Nellie’s four month appointment, the pediatrician asked me if I was going to be making my own baby food or buying it. I had never even considered making my own baby food. So I said, “Well, what do you suggest?”, and she's like, “Just buy it. Moms always get so overwhelmed. It's not worth it.” But then I learned about this report we’re going to talk about, and I discovered that I could make high quality baby food, that actually saves me money, and it only adds an extra 15 minutes a week.

Megan: I chose to make it too, because honestly, it was really not that hard. I just kept thinking about the quality of the foods that I was putting into the baby food and saving money. Back then they didn’t have pouches for everything, everything came in little tiny glass jars. So I think the price may have been even higher, and there really wasn't organic baby food. So tell us about the report.

Taryn: The US House of Representatives released a report in February and they tried to have these companies fix things, but not all the companies did. On September 29th of this year, they released another report, and I wanted to just share a quote from the chairman of the subcommittee because it's pretty alarming.

“My subcommittee's investigation has pulled back the curtain on the baby foods industry and each revelation has been more damning than the last. Today's report reveals that companies not only underreport the high levels of toxic content in their baby food, but will also knowingly keep toxic products on the market. The facts speak for themselves. And the fact of the matter is the baby food industry has consistently cut corners and put profit over the health of babies and children.”

 So that is pretty intense, right? BeechNut, Gerber, Plum Organics and Sprout Organics were all found to have toxic levels of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and cadmium. You can't have 0%, because heavy metals are in the Earth's crust, so they're going to be in the soil, they're going to be in our organic baby food and organic vegetables that we buy. But also a little bit more is added in with the manufacturing. I just know that I can help my baby even just a little bit by getting rid of all the manufacturing and processing and help give her more nutrients. We talked about how they heat it to super high temperatures, which kills nutrients and actually the taste too.

Megan: That quote is so alarming!  I do want to say too, if you have babies, or you have toddlers, or you have five year olds and you did not make your own baby food, take a deep breath, it's okay. As moms, we often hold ourselves to this ridiculously high standard. Just know that you did the best you could with the knowledge that you had at the time. And now that you have knowledge like this, it's time to make changes. Maybe if you don't have babies, you're not going to make baby food, but you're going to make changes in different ways that are going to impact your children's lives. It's just so alarming that the baby food industry, just like so many other industries out there, are putting their profits above our health. I just did an episode on toxic fabrics in clothing. That again opened my eyes to the fact that we are killing ourselves and this earth by our manufacturing processes. Baby food is a perfect example.

Taryn: Yeah, for sure. And I have some tips on how to prevent these heavy metals. Number one, is to serve a variety of foods. Number two, wash fruits and vegetables in cold water. Root vegetables, like your sweet potatoes, carrots, and beets, peel those before you cook them. And then switching up your grains. Rice has a lot of arsenic and I feel like all of those teething crackers are rice crackers. I’m only going to give my daughter that once in a while.

Megan: Do you have any tips on making baby food easier?

Taryn:  I felt super overwhelmed, I didn't know where to start. I mean, it's a pretty daunting task when you're used to the last six months of just nursing your baby or giving them formula. So I ended up talking to my mom and that's when she told me about this product called the Flotte Lotte food mill. It's actually our best selling product, not just for baby food, just in general to have a really good high quality food mill. A lot of times online, they tell you to use a blender, but so many times I use a blender to make my own smoothies and I find big chunks in there and it’s a choking hazard. Our store has a bundle that includes a one millimeter insert, so you can put the food in there and it'll be teeny, teeny, tiny, perfect, pureed food, there'll be no big lumps. Another thing that I think you'll probably really love that we're including this thing called the Silicomart Cubo freezer mold. So it basically looks like an ice cube tray, but it's made out of high quality silicone straight from Italy. So it won't have any of those bad chemicals that could leach into the baby food. If you fill it almost to the top, then it makes four ounces, which is exactly what comes in the baby through jars so it works out perfectly. We put together a whole recipe book, based on their age with tips from the CDC and the Mayo Clinic, a PDF on five secrets to stress free homemade baby food, a how to video of how to make your own baby food using these products, a list of our favorite products of everything you'll need from to bibs, high chairs, silicone bowls, and spoons. I made these little cute templates of baby food labels so you can write the date that you put it in the freezer, and you write on the date of when you move it to the fridge. Unlike the store bought ones, these are only good for two to three months in the freezer, and then a couple of days in the fridge. One tip that I thought was really great is if it's getting close to that expiration date, and you have too much, you're not gonna be able to give it to your baby, just stick it in a smoothie for yourself or use it as a soup base for yourself if it's a vegetable. Just like your Detox By Design: The Home Method program, we put together this bundle to help moms not be overwhelmed making baby food and learn that it really actually can be fun and super fast and easy. 

Megan: So cool. So if you want to go check it out the link is bit.ly/babyfoodbundle. I make so many blended soups and my blender is actually made of plastic and every time I put hot food in there, of course I'm worrying about the plastic. Is there a place where people can find out more about Gourmet Kitchen Works and all of your products?

Taryn: You can find us on Instagram or Facebook.  I'm always trying to share helpful tips on how to eat healthy on Instagram. Sometimes we’ll do a five day health challenge where you can join in the Facebook group and choose your own goals and try to strive to be healthy physically as well as mentally and emotionally. 

Megan: Awesome. Thank you so much for opening our eyes to heavy metals, and just the things that we can do to help reduce our exposure in our cooking. Again, if you want to go and check out these awesome kitchen gadgets, I have them on my website at www.detox.design/thebox and if you want to get that baby bundle, just grab it at bit.ly/babyfoodbundle.