Healthy hint of the week: Make the natural choice

Artificial dyes are in the news again. You've probably seen the pictures of the child's handwriting before and after he stopped eating foods with artificial colors by now (and by the way. How's this for irony: the news video linked above included an ad for Pillsbury Toaster Strudels. Yep, they have Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5.)
The FDA has decided not to ban these artificial colors, citing lack of evidence that there is a link between the dyes and hyperactivity in children. So it's up to us to decide whether or not to buy foods containing them.
I prefer not to purchase foods with artificial ingredients. Why would I want to eat something manufactured, when the real thing is so delicious, usually cheaper, and really, not that hard to prepare? I mean, am I really going to spend $2.99 on a 9 oz packet of Welch's "Fruit Snacks" which contain corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, natural and artificial flavors, carnauba wax, red 40, yellow 5 and blue 1 when I can just buy the grapes for $2 a pound? It doesn't make economical sense, or healthy sense.
My rule at home is, if it's got more than 6 ingredients and I can't pronounce at least one of them, it stays on the grocery shelf for some other sucker.
Here's what's in my house right now for snacking:

• bananas
• apples
• oranges
• Nature's Choice (Martin's brand of "natural" and organic foods) tortilla chips, pretzels, and microwave popcorn
• OK, I'll admit to the two boxes of Girl Scout cookies in the freezer.
• Almonds (my favorite cheat food)

Now and then I absolutely crave those orange Doritos. And as far as I'm concerned, now and then is when those things should be eaten. I'm not going to be a nut about it. But I'm not going to fill up my grocery cart with boxes of "food" instead of bags of good, juicy produce, healthy cuts of meat and fish, and beans and rice. If you don't like to cook, or are too busy, there are plenty of books and online resources for easy to make recipes. I like the rule for grocery shopping: shop the outer aisles for the majority of your food (dairy, produce, meat) and skip entirely the snack aisle. And I pretty much stick to my 6 ingredient rule.

So that's my rant for the day! See you at the grocery store!