It really does taste like a rootbeer float

The Weight Watcher Smoothie mix, 1 can diet root beer and 1/2 cup crushed ice, in the blender for two minutes. Tastes just like a root beer float according to some lady at the Weight Watcher meeting on Sunday. I tried it tonight and she was right. It really does. All for one Point.

It's too bad I discovered this after I started reading Omnivore's Dilemma. Last weekend I declared I was giving up all artificial, non-organic stuff. My husband just shrugged his shoulders, he remembers my vegetarian phase about twelve years ago. It lasted almost two years, but it was too hard and my hair started falling out...I gave up.

I haven't cleaned out all our cabinets yet, so I still have some of the Smoothie packets from several months ago (I don't like them just as a smoothie, they taste weird).

Have you ever read the ingredients on a box of those Smoothie mixes? Check it out:

I don't think those are whole, organic ingredients. I wonder why the "Yellow 5" is in there. Is that to give the shake the perfect color? Was it too white? Some of the stuff is actually sort of natural, although very processed. For example, carrageenan is derived from seaweed.

I wonder how they come up with this stuff, a combination of non-fat milk and natural and not so natural ingredients that tastes like a milkshake (or so they claim). Imagine that job, let's take some di-glycerides, mix it with some acsesulfame, add some tocopherols. I wonder how years of eating this kind of stuff affects our bodies.

Note: MizFit's comment cracked me up. The truth is, I may not be willing to do this clean eating 100%. While I was tossing and turning last night (couldn't sleep), I thought about what impact this change would make on my life. The truth, a lot of giving up stuff I love and extra work for me. I'd have to give up convenience foods, even ones from the "natural" foods stores. And exactly how will it affect my health at this point in my life at the old age of 53? Probably not much.

All things in moderation, right? I'll lean towards more whole foods and organic, and of course, free-range chicken and beef (grass fed beef), but an occasional chemically created root beer float for one Point, honestly, how can I pass that up?