No More Enjoy Life Foods!

This was the thought that immediately went through my head after I read the latest announcement of the partnership with Mondelez International (here). I felt angry and betrayed- one of our family's favorite companies that we have trusted for so long has sold out. No reason to beat around the bush as I have never been one to hide my feelings well anyway. It's a never-ending battle. Why, why are so many companies beginning to join forces with all of these other companies?

Photo courtesy SnackSafely.com

(Pretend You Are a Fly on the Wall)

Me:  "WHAT?!! No! NO, NO, NO!!!!"
NutriKids:  "What mom, what's wrong?"
Me:  "NO!! Oh my God, NO!!!"
NutriKids:  "Are you ok? What is it?"
Me:  (shaking my head) "No, I'm not ok. This....I don't understand how or why...GRRRR!!! I need to go open this on my computer and read it!" (Ignoring NutriChildren, stomping upstairs, grumbling and shaking with anger).

As I began to weed through pages and pages of comments, I felt overwhelmingly isolated. I felt annoyed that others were commenting with what was (in my opinion at the time) just out and out brown-nosing for fear of being different and standing tall. How did all of these people not see that a merger between Enjoy Life Foods and Mondelez meant eminent allergy takeover? Why was nobody else flipping out about the possibility that our beloved allergy-friendly products would "remain the same" for now but deep, deep down I could not shake the horrible feeling that in years to come, we will all realize that GMO's had been silently worked into our most favorite foods?! And by the time we all find out, it will be too late.

So I commented, leaving my thoughts within a considerable professional level, silently removed my Official Enjoy Life Foods blogger button, unliked and unsubscribed. I silently moved on with my life. In the grand scheme of things, does my little Nutrimom voice truly matter?

Then, I Got the Call

Photo courtesy EnjoyLifeFoods

Just about the time I had calmed down, Joel Warady (CMO of Enjoy Life Foods) called me. Yes- me, the little Nutrimom voice that didn't matter. I listened, he explained and at the end of the conversation, I had to continue to do some soul searching. You see, as I explained to Joel, it's not so much that I don't trust Enjoy Life Foods but that I don't for one second trust Mondelez and why should I? Although I had my silent little rant at home and I swore up and down that I was ending our family's relationship with Enjoy Life Foods forever, my conversation with Joel made me put some of those feelings aside to dig down to see what it was that was truly upsetting me about the whole merger. I have to say that all of the stories and comments put together could not have helped me come to the my conclusion as much as my talk with Joel. Although I can't go into depth about what was discussed, I can tell you where I am at with this company merger today.

Holding My Breath
This is the only way I can describe how I feel now and how I will most likely feel for awhile. For now, I will step down off of my preconceived notions box and hand over my trust to the peeps at Enjoy Life Foods, hoping that they will hold my trust as dear as their own. For now, I will remember that Joel took the time out of his day to speak to me because I do make a difference just like every other person within our food allergy community. For now, I will wait patiently to see if what Enjoy Life Foods has promised to uphold continues to happen as such.

I realized that what I was feeling was almost like the loss of a family member (if that makes sense). Enjoy Life Foods has been with our family for a long, long time. When I began to look at all of the products that would no longer be with us, I felt as if a part of our family would be gone as well. Anyone without a food allergy may think this is ridiculous but safe products that a food allergy family can use and trust is a huge deal. As hard as it is for me to feel as if I am giving in, I have to urge everyone to listen to what their instincts tell them since mine have never steered me wrong. I am always telling people to listen and then decide but in this case, I didn't. In this case, it was more like heard and stomped away.

What I have learned is that if you don't allow yourself to listen to everything, you may never know what you didn't get to hear. I want to hear what's next, I want to see what will come out of this because after all was said and done, I thought about all of the things that I don't even know about yet that my family may actually be missing out on. That's the opposite of what I tell everyone- with limited options, we need to think outside of the box.

I'm here now and I'm listening~