Completely You is a syndicated service that I carry, and I'm happy to have it--truly! Barbara Ruhs and I agree on a number of things, but we have some disagreements as well, and I feel that I wouldn't be doing my readers a service--nor accurately reflecting TNH's editorial stance--if I didn't register those disagreements here.

I'm not a trained nutritionist. Most nutritionists would consider me on the fringe, in fact. We eat butter. We eat lots of animal fat, coconut oil and palm oil. I avoid soy like the plague. We use 100% non-homogenized milk--yep, with the cream on top.

So here is my list of alternatives to the alternatives.

Instead of soy milk...If you can't tolerate cow or goat milk, try almond or rice milk. If you CAN tolerate dairy, by all means--eat dairy. It's good for you. (All of my objections to soy are summarized here.)

Instead of soy dogs, fake meat and so on...Try tempeh. Tempeh is a fermented soy product, and as such avoids almost all of the problems with non-fermented overly processed soy foods like tofu and fake meats. There's nothing natural about a soy dog; just read the packaging. A good rule of thumb: If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it.

Instead of granola bars and crunches of any kind...Try homemade trail mix. We use a mixture of (home-processed) nuts and dried fruit. Even the "healthiest" of these kinds of treats have a great deal of sweetener in them, and often contain things you really don't want to be eating. They're also very high in carbs, and eating too many carbs can set your children up for a lifetime of weight problems.

Instead of flavored yogurts, no matter how healthy...Try homemade or storebought plain whole milk yogurt with your own flavorings. We put a spoonful of fruit preserves or a little maple syrup and vanilla in ours. It's cheaper, has all the beneficial live cultures in it, and has less packaging.

Basically, my message is this: Kid-friendly doesn't have to mean it comes in a box ready-made. If you have a lot of food in boxes at your house, I ask you to rethink your approach to food. You can save money and your health by not buying pre-processed stuff. Sure, it's more effort, but in the long run it's so worth it. You *can* get into a rhythm of doing these things that keep kid-friendly foods convenient and accessible. And isn't the entire point of what we're doing at home to provide the best we can for our families?

Lynn Siprelle, Editor