Jaclyn Wajda
T/R 8:00
December 7, 2010
Big… Red… Box… CHEEZ IT! Most people may think CHEEZ-ITs are bad for them, but in fact every ingredient compliments each other and provides for the perfect snack. Looking at the nutrition label on the back of the package or bag of CHEEZ-ITs, one will notice a list of ingredients that might be considered unusual to them. But once these ingredients are researched, one will find that most of these ingredients lead to common ones that are on the food pyramid. Parents these days buy their kids food that is convenient for them not for their kids. They think “Let’s buy this, it’s a good for an anytime snack.” Most snacks aren’t like that, but CHEEZ-ITs are the opposite; they're a real snack. They have real cheese and use natural spices to make the flavor and coloring just right. Not only do they have natural flavoring, but they offer vitamins for healthy eating. Along with these great ingredients, CHEEZ-ITs are also baked not fried, which lets you enjoy all the ingredients put together without the extra fat added into it. The way the world works is that we buy processed food that has all these added preservatives that are supposed to make the food good. Sure they may make it look, taste, and smell good, but that doesn’t mean that they are good for our health. The truth is we don’t care about what we eat and how much of it we eat, only that it tastes good. We need to watch what we put into our bodies, no matter what it is. With CHEEZ-ITs, we can get our thiamin mononitrate (Vitamin B1), our small salt intake, and our dairy from the cheese using the skim milk. These ingredients aren’t used to substitute for the daily serving of milk, regular food intake with the right amount of sodium, or our daily dose of vitamins, but the makers of CHEEZ-ITs use these to reassure us that they are a healthy snack. Now if your lactose intolerant or a vegetarian, this snack isn't for you. Each ingredient isn't easily understood without doing research, even salt is more complex than you would think. The bakers at Sunshine Biscuits use these ingredients to make the best of their product. Although not all kids like CHEEZ-ITs, it is one of the best snacks parents should consider buying their kids. Thiamin mononitrate, or more commonly known as Vitamin B1, is a water- soluble nitrate form of thiamine. This is used for maintaining a “normal metabolism and proper functioning of the heart and the nervous and digestive systems.” ("Thiamine mononitrate”) Vitamin B1 is found in at least one thing we eat every day. Not only does it serve us nutrients, it also keeps us on track of the things we do daily. It gives us the strength and energy to keep moving. Sodium, or salt, on the other hand we need in small doses. Salt is a mineral to keep our body functioning properly, however, too much of it can cause problems. Even though we need it in small doses, it all evens out with all the other food we are putting into our mouths to “regulate body functions.”(Bloch) This mineral, when ground up, is very tiny. Adding salt to each meal is good, but one wouldn’t want to add too much. Just a pinch of it to every meal, or every other meal, can keep our bodies right. With added salt, either some of it burns off or is absorbed into what is being make, for instance, CHEEZ-ITs. CHEEZ-ITs have salt in them and on top for added texture and taste. The manufacturers don’t over use the salt, they use it wisely. But just keep in mind “without salt any…human animal would die.” (Bloch)
On the contrary, one can drink as much as skim milk as they would like. Skim milk has a great taste with an “extremely low fat percentage,” (Smith) although some people don’t necessarily like the taste. It has all the same nutrients without the added fat. It can come in flavors like regular milk does. But for CHEEZ-IT crackers, they don’t tell you what kind of milk it is, just that it’s skim, which lets us know that it’s healthier for us.
With all these ingredients together they make one great snack, CHEEZ-ITs. They are little bite sized crackers that are great for any time of the day. Not only do they go great with each other, but they are mixed into party mixes that have pretzels, bread, little flavored puffs, and Chex cereal, called “Party Mix.” Parents, you have every right to choose what you want your kids to eat. But this is one thing for certain, that you should have in your pantry for your kids to munch on. Kids, don’t stress if your parents don’t buy you CHEEZ-ITs the first time, they always have to go back and get more food, don’t they?
Although all these ingredients are put together in a factory, they are all natural. No chemicals are used in the making of CHEEZ-ITs, the freshness of all the ingredients put together. With no added freshness or chemicals, this delicious snack is something I will continue to eat for a lifetime. If I'm eating CHEEZ-ITs, then I'm sure I’ll feed them to my kids and their kids and so on. The workers at Sunshine Biscuits care about what we eat. They choose to use all natural ingredients in our food, and cook them the right way. As consumers, we have the right to choose what we want to eat and what we out want to feed our kids. What we put in our mouths and our children’s mouths is our decision. We should always keep this saying in the back of our mind as we by food, “If you are what you eat, then you are also what you buy to eat.” (Hesser 95) These cheese crackers are so delicious I don’t know who wouldn’t want to eat them.
With this in mind, we should choose CHEEZ-ITs over any snack any day. But the fact of the matter is, is not always going to work out that way. So kids, get your parents to buy you these delicious crackers. Parents buy your kids CHEEZ-ITs; you'll thank Sunshine Biscuits in the long run!

Works Cited Bloch, D. "NaCl - SALT... made the world go round.... ." MRBLOCH ARCHIVE; About Salt. 1996. Web. 8 Oct 2010. <http://www.salt.org.il/frame_uses.html>.
Hesser, Amanda. “You Are What You Eat: Shop Write.” 95. Print.
Smith, S.E.. "Wise Geek." What is Skim Milk?. Conjecture Corporation, October 11, 2010. Web. 8 Oct 2010. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-skim-milk.html>.
"Thiamine mononitrate." Wikimedia, 2005. Web. <http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Thiamine+mononitrate>.