The Great Moral Dilemma
Sometimes those days just happen. Sometimes they happen two days in a row.
Clogged toilet? Check.
Jammed zipper on one of my favorite dresses? Check.
As a result, no time to shower? Check.
What I did have time for: the last of my leftover pancakes from Kath’s Whole Wheat Yogurt Recipe!
Layers of smashed naner, peanut butter, real maple syrup and pancakes make for a delightful breakfast. The pancakes are somehow light yet still substantial. Love it.
Work thankfully was less chaotic today and more relaxed. Snackage time consisted of another orange (obvs) before a lunch sprawl of a spinach, cucumber + cilantro pesto sammie, carrots and a Special K Blueberry Fruit Crisp Bar…
Special K Blueberry Fruit Crisp Bar, you ask?
Why yes of course! The lovely people over at Foodbuzz and Special K sent me a box of goods containing 1 box of their new blueberry fruit crisp bars and 1 box of their new Special K Low-fat Granola to taste test for this little thing I like to call my blog. Here are the goods…
I was really excited to try these products until I remembered one thing: TBHQ.
Buying Special K products in the past, I’ve grazed the label and found some mysterious preservatives I wasn’t quite sure of. After a quick Google search, I came to realize that the preservatives in these products were definitely no good (which I why I stopped buying their products more than a year ago). Here is a little rundown of what kind of preservative action we have going on…
What Michael Pollan doesn’t mention is that TBHQ is also used in rat poison. Uh-huh, you read that right.
Insert moral dilemma here.
Do I post pictures of these products but not eat them? Do I feed these chemical-laden goods to my co-workers to get rid of them (and hope they don’t die)? Do I suck it up, ingest chemicals and try the products out for the sake of the blog?
Obviously, the answer can be seen from the above lunch picture. Don’t hate me for being a pansy and forsaking my morals for the blog. Really, if you think about it, it’s all your fault anyways 
.
To top off my day of immorality, I thought I would finish lunch with a high fructose corn syrup-laden cup of milk hot chocolate…
Isn’t it ironic?
A cup of HFCS-laden hot chocolate in a promotional HFCS-laden Twinkies mug on a “healthy living + food” blog. Alanis has it so right…it IS like rain on your wedding day…sort of.
Don’t ya think?
I cleaned up my act with my afternoon snack: organic plain yog + Fair Trade/Organic banana + Special K Low-Fat Granola (which may have BHT but no TBHQ).
To cleanse my body (and soul for that matter), I made a extra veggie-ful three-course dinner.
For tonight’s appetizer, we have organic spinach sauteed in olive oil + garlic and sprinkled with salt…
And for the main course, how about a plate of organic cheetahs with a side of organic beets, all roasted in organic coconut oil and sprinkled with a touch of sea salt?
And for dessert, the rest of the box of TBHQ-filled blueberry fruit crisps slathered with peanut butter.
I blame the clogged toilet.
Tags: beets, carrots, orange, pancakes, spinach, yam, yogurt
January 21st, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Dang lady. I never have even looked at the Special K ingredient list in that light before. Kind of scary, and kind of unappetizing. I need to go check out my regular Special K w/ Red Berries that I love.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:44 pm
“organic cheetahs with a side of organic beets, all roasted in organic coconut oil and sprinkled with a touch of sea salt”–that’s perfect. I’ll take a double order.
Rat poison. How pleasant. Thanks. Now that I received 2 free boxes of Special K from Spesh K and FoodBuzz. Yikes. Hello garbage.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:51 pm
WHAT THE HELL? Rat Poisin? CRAZY!! Good thing I try to steer clear of these things. My rule of thumb….buy nothing that has an ingredient list longer than my grocery list.
Sorry you had another bad day, but just think, tomorrow is Friday and the weekend will be here and life will be grand!
As always, much love to you my dear!
January 21st, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Beets and cheetahs yum! Interesting about the special-k ingredients, definitely makes me want to not buy them. But if I had them in my house I would eat them too!
January 21st, 2010 at 8:01 pm
GROSS! thanks for sharing that info.
i’m not going to lie, i think i would get a little creeped out eating out that bowl with the cat on the bottom
January 21st, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Yikes. How can 4 letters be so scary? I think one of those are in Reeses, too. What has the world come to?
January 21st, 2010 at 8:09 pm
holy sh!t those pancakes swimming in that maple gloriousness just gave me a breakfast boner. hrm.. thanks for the info on TBHQ. i had no idea and that freaks me out a tad. on a lighter note, that twinkie cup is freaking AMAZING. just like you. roasted beets? well i never. and another rad dish~ is that a sex kitten staring back at me beneath that spinach??? and yes we do need to catch up soon. i feel like ive been going a mile a minute these days. happy friday to you miss thang. i sure love ya!
January 21st, 2010 at 8:12 pm
I’ve never had a good experience with Special K products, and I was tempted to try these bars after they were reviewed on another blog, but after reading about all their “lovely” additives, I’ll pass. Dang you FDA!!
January 21st, 2010 at 8:45 pm
LOL my dad eats Special K every single morning for breakfast. I am going to send him a link to this post
January 21st, 2010 at 8:54 pm
That is SO scary about the special K. Rat poison? EEK!
I think that mug is adorable!
<3 jess
xoxo
January 21st, 2010 at 8:55 pm
BEETS! I love beets! Gahhhhh
I don’t eat Special K prods for the same reasons you usually don’t, but it doesn’t mean that my inner foodie/curious george-monkey self doesn’t wonder what certain products taste like! Thanks Holly, for taking one for the team. Youz a trooper. (and I highly doubt you’ll grow a third nip or lose a brain cell from your experimentin’, in case you needed some rationalization)
Better day tomorrow – it’s Friday!
January 21st, 2010 at 8:56 pm
I love stuff roasted in coconut oil. Did you look for the spray? I actually roasted mushrooms with the spray and it was amazing.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Aw babycakes, I’m sorry you’ve had a couple of crummy days! At least your Twinkie mug is adorable!
January 21st, 2010 at 9:14 pm
I’m personally glad you ate the bars BECAUSE the amount of TBHQ will be so miniscule that you will not be affected. Also, if the food and drug administration allow it, it can’t be that bad (or so we’re told). Anyways, when you become afraid of too many minute ingredients, you can develop unhealthy thinking and eating habits. Everything in moderation, right?! Just my personal thoughts
.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:02 pm
While I don’t usually get processed stuff like that anyway, if people were dropping dead left and right, Kelloggs would lose money and thus pull the product. So since none of the original taste testers keeled over, I think you’re safe
January 21st, 2010 at 10:06 pm
I used to think that Special K products were so healthy…until I learned about preservatives and chemicals
The twinkie mug may be a bad influence, but it is kind of cute!
January 21st, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Well, my dear Holly, you ARE the Healthy EVERYTHINGtarian, and that includes a tiny bit of rat poison and HFCS. A little dose here and there will not result in you instantly keeling over to die. lol. I think you ARE playing well to your morals….You eat mostly healthy, but hey, when free food is involved, a little deviation is ok, too!
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:27 am
Thanks so much for the post! I was having a bit of a moral dilemma day yesterday regarding what I eat–its so hard to avoid all the junk they put in food! Thank you for being honest about it. None of us are perfect!
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:11 am
haha. That is pretty nasty. It is a good think that eating one isn’t going to kill you! I’m almost done with that book, and I love it! Now, give the rest of those bars to your co-workers!
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:12 am
oops,good thinG! Sorry, yoga is supposed to make you think clearer, and all I can think about is food right now! Off to eat lunch!
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:12 am
Huh. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m too poor to buy branded anything. Especially individually wrapped anythings. I always thought it was strange to shell out so much for 100 calories of HFCS and preservatives–even though I’m not as scared about the “rat poison” aspect as a normal person would be. I spent my undergraduate years in a chem lab, where I quickly learned that everything in the world can kill us in a certain concentration. You don’t want to know what happens if you ingest too much iron….
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:18 am
Holly can you pwease come make me pancakes? *batting eyes* Dang girl, sorry your past couple of days have been disasterous, but at least you have some good food, eh? I can never eat those types of cereal because they usually have soy in them. What I’ve discovered though, is most of the time, when companies are using soy as a filler(soy flour, protein, fiber, etc), they are manufacturing the product with a lot of unnecessary preventatives and funky chemicals as well. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good though
Love you Holly! xoxo
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:52 am
your eats always make me HANGGRRYYYY!! yummmmmmmmmm! im going to make pancakes.. TODAY!
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:00 am
Yikes. That is scary stuff! I need to check whether the UK Special-K has that in it- just googled, and nope. Ours is cleaner (and completely different taste/texture).
I’m cool with HFCS hot chocolate now and again…a healthy life is one of moderation, not restriction in my book.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:17 am
“Yum” to everything…that spinach, that pesto sammie, those beets (my fav…but I’m not so into the red-colored pee that ensues!)
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:53 am
Oh my word I LOVE beets and have never thought to roast them…why not??!! I can’t even wait to try this out.
Also, concerning special K. Do you remember when they were promoting the “Special K Diet” (maybe they still are…I don’t know) – well I fell victim to their ads, and was on that diet for like 6 months. I lost about a billion pounds and had to go to nutrition classes and get my life back together after that. However, even after all that nonsense…I still love special K. Not even that scary rat poison stuff deters me (although I haven’t had it in about a year) – I don’t blame you one bit…and I love the twinkie mug.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:51 am
Usually I’m an everything in moderation girl (HFCS included) BUT reading that made my stomach churn. Why do companies insist on putting crap (literally) in food? Drives me loco!
I hope you have a hap-hap-happy Friday, Miss Holly!
PS. Did you see what happened at the big event?! LOVE IT!
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:58 am
Holy yum breaky!
Ya rat poison?! Uhh no thankss!
Love cheetahs- tried em for the first time the other night… Fabulousooooo:)
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:22 am
Whoa I had no idea those scary ingredients were in special k! I think you should do some research on my sugar free maple syrup.. who knows what is hiding in there!!
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:01 am
rat poison? That makes me think of 9 to 5
Have you seen that movie? Oh, Dolly Parton.
I hope FRIDAY is better girl!!!
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:03 am
you know what? my hot chocolate is always HFCS…and I used to eat special k all the time. I didn’t stop because if weird chemicals though…don’t really know why I stopped.
SO EXCITED for our meet up!
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:17 am
it is totally fine that you ate that stuff- honestly, everything in moderation!! no worries.
xoox
shelley
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:37 am
i agree with some of the comments – everything in moderation =)
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:54 am
Hm. That is a toughie. In fact, it’s moral dilemmas like this one that caused me to put off becoming a “healthy living” blogger for so long. I don’t eat all organic. I eat meat…a good amount of it. And I eat packaged foods…not a ton, but I’m sure there are more chemicals thrown in there than I even realize or care to realize. I really hope that I get to the point where that is bothersome to me, and I guess it already is to an extent. But my healthy lifestyle has definitely been a journey, and I’m taking it one step at a time. I’m still the type of person who says “a little bit of that won’t kill you,” which over time could in fact bite me in the butt health-wise. Long story short? I have absolutely no sound advice for your moral dilemma, haha! Sorryyyy!
But now the million dollar question is, how did the granola taste?!
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Very interesting dilemma….can’t really say what I would do in that situation either…I think I’ll just stick with the cheetas!
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:28 pm
You should have claimed that chatting to me was dessert. I can be sweet….
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Ooooo I love cooked spinach with sea salt!
And beets, don’t even get me started – LOVE THEM!
XXOO
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:48 pm
why does it EVEN need to be in there…why.
even in miniscule amts. what possible good could it do? make it last on the shelves a tad longer?
it’s crazy what we buy and eat. me included.
xo
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Holy sh!t. I had NO idea what those chemicals were. And now I’m scared. That’s awful and gross! I was just going to type how I try to stick to mostly whole foods, but that’s a bag of doodoo.
You know what is crazier to me than eating chemicals? Eating animal flesh. Just saying…
On that lovely note, I’ma carry this discussion on over to our Gchat. I LOVE YOU!!!
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Ack! Sorry about the toilet and the zipper.
I would probably have made the same decision as you did. All in moderation!
Hope this weekend turns things around for you my dear!
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Ruh roh. I have some of those Special K products headed my way too. I figure that I’ll try them once–I think I can handle the occasional dose of chemicals;)
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:46 pm
I now have an odd craving for roasted beets…
I don’t freak out about chemicals in my food. I think if you’re eating at least one of those everyday, then there’s a problem. But every now and then is fine. While I think strange preservatives and chemicals in food is downright awful, saying it’s 100% completely off limits is a little harsh too.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Wow, I seriously need to check out labels a little better! (I was actually thinking of picking up some Special K Granola later at the store!) Thanks for the info, Holly!
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:21 pm
hey love! i have been meaning to comment but i keep forgetting (i read posts on my bberry google reader – not conducive to tiny text comments). point is. i have been thinking of ya, and since i am queen of the blah weather funks, hit me up if you ever wanna vent. although personally i think thats part of the joy of blogging…let it out homes bc we will all be here to listen, and im sure more people than you ever expected can totally relate.
ps totes appreciate the honesty about the special k bar. their company kinda bums me out too for the commercials about the girl that feels she needs to lose weight and shes like 100 pounds max…meh. whatevs.
happy friday
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Holly you have me LOL here! As I was starting to read your post to see you had special k – (and not having had the guts to read Pollan’s “in defense of food” – and therefore not knowing about that chemical) I was thinking about my thoughts about special k. It annoys me that they market the food as a healthy food that will help you feel full when all it is is unhealthy low-value carbs. HOWEVER I did buy those fruit crisps in a moment of sale inhibition. They aren’t bad tasting but not the type of thing I keep in the house very often (b/c any cookie type 100calorie item tends to get eaten by the boxful).
Well seeing that you are an “everythingtarian” I would say a little bit of this or that every once in a while is still within your right
Sorry I can’t meet up Wed
Hopefully yall will love each other so much you do it again and not on a wed 
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:56 am
This is why people should read blogs! I love this post because it really does mock “balance”….I want to say a little poison never hurt anyone, but I know that’s not right. I am PULLED to new products out of curiosity…and I probably would have bought those blueberry crisps…but check out my blog this week. You inspired me to make homemade ones that I could freeze and grab on the run!
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:55 am
[...] what I should really be eating. It was really comforting to see that Holly was having a similar debate over a box of Special K bars. And I probably would make the same choice she [...]
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:33 am
Oops. I pretty much lived on Special K with chocolate when I was in France. Talk about ironic, when they have the best bread in the world!
Here’s to a free-sliding zipper-filled weekend
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Let me first add that I am currently eating a mug-full of kashi honey sunshine and was inspired to do so by you!!! I’ve been craving these little cap’n crunch wannabes since seeing them on this blog a while back!
I admire that you just did the damn thang and tried the new special k products out! a little crap NEVER hurt anyone! these chemicals are “bad” for us when consumed on a daily basis, in great amounts–which although many people tend to do, you my friend…are not one of them!
PS–Now i’m really craving some roasted VEG in my life! And that mug is sooooo cute! Hey thereeeeee!
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:27 pm
there’s always time for breakfast, no matter how late I may be
I don’t eat Special K products, but I think every once in a while trying different things, especially for the blog, is cool! And hey, I use Splenda everyday…one packet ain’t gonna kill me (i don’t think)
January 24th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
[...] January 24, 2010 Filed under: K Cooks, healthy recipes — specialkphd @ 9:47 am Recently, The Healthy Everythingtarian educated me about the evils of processed treats containing TBHQ…including those lovely new special K [...]
January 25th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
[...] Special K 100 calorie bars (and I’m pretty sure a fair amount of scotch too). After reading Holly’s post about the crazy preservatives in Special K products, I got a nervous for the state of [...]