We’ve been getting a lot of questions from clients and friends regarding the Banza and glyphosate controversy and wanted to weigh in here. The conversation has certainly been robust at this point (or maybe this is the first you’re hearing of it!) but we’re sharing our personal take, along with what we hope will be some helpful tips and resources for you as conscious consumers.

For some background: a recent report from Moms Across America found that Banza pasta had the highest level of glyphosate this lab had ever found in human food.

Glyphosate = most prevalent herbicide in US agriculture, which has been associated with a number of health concerns. Primarily, heavy glyphosate exposure may pose risks for growing children and pregnant women, and for others can potentially impact our liver, kidneys, brain and gut health (this sounds really scary but if you have been eating Banza like we have please do not stress! More below).

Banza = one of the OG gluten-free / alternative pastas and a fan favorite amongst many health conscious individuals for years - for good reason (higher protein, higher fiber compared to traditional wheat pasta; a good option for those who do not tolerate gluten).

Don’t stress! But now that we know, what do we do?

The report was undoubtedly alarming and disappointing, but not entirely surprising as non-organic chickpeas are not only sprayed with glyphosate, but it is also used to dry out the crop (leading to higher levels on the food), and Banza does not use organic chickpeas.

If you have been consuming Banza and/or feeding it to your family for a while (as we have, many many times), please do not stress. It’s OK. It’s upsetting and sucks to feel duped especially when you felt like you were making a healthy choice, but it is not the end of the world in the context of all the other healthful choices you’re likely making day in and day out. Do. not. stress.

Banza’s response, that most foods that we consume contain glyphosate so basically they aren’t going to do anything about it/ we shouldn’t worry about, is not our favorite. Though there is some truth to it, you can find potentially harmful things everywhere in our food supply. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do about it.

So what do you do with that info? You get to make an informed choice, just like any other choice we make about what we consume.

Bottom line: if we love/use Banza, what should we do about it now?

Here are our overall thoughts going forward:

We both used to consume Banza, now we’re less comfortable doing so knowing what we know. Especially since there are tons of alternatives that prioritize organic ingredients and lower glyphosate.
That said, if your fam loves Banza and you’re not ready to give it up, then you can make that informed decision and in our opinion, that’s totally fine. Some things you could consider are keeping it to 1-2x a week, and/or opting for organic chickpeas and/or hummus products elsewhere.
With our clients, we likely won’t continue to recommend it as the most optimal choice, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make that choice. It’s the same consideration with any non-organic product, on which you might find pesticides, etc. - if you love it and it brings you joy, it’s ok to use, but maybe balance it with other choices and limit how often you’re doing it.

Andddd if you’re in the market for some alternatives, we’ve rounded some options up. OF NOTE - pasta can be challenging to get right, so we have starred the options we have personally tried and liked so far. Please let us know if you try and love (or hate) any of these!

Banza alternatives

Chickpea pastas
* We haven’t tried any of these organic chickpea options yet, but they’re on our grocery lists. We love that they have organic ingredients and are high in both protein and fiber.

Whole Foods Market Organic Chickpea Shells - a rarity in that it is only one single ingredient: organic chickpeas.
Thrive organic chickpea penne - have heard good things and we’re generally fans of Thrive’s products (Thrive is basically an online Costco for healthy foods - you pay an annual membership for access to discounts on ton’s of health food products. We love using it to stock up on staples).

Other non-chickpea, gluten-free pastas on our radar!

*Jovial Brown rice pastas - amazing texture. Simple, organic ingredients (organic brown rice, water). Higher in carbs and lower in protein compared to other legume alternatives (comparable nutrient profile to traditional wheat pasta) so we typically recommend pairing with another source of protein.
*Tolerant red and green lentil pasta - our absolute favorite. Simplest, organic ingredients, great nutrient profile (high protein, high fiber), great taste and texture. Sadly, this company is going out of business soon so we are stocking up whenever we see it on the shelves at Whole Foods.
*Whole Foods red lentil spaghetti - loved the texture of this and the single organic ingredient. Admittedly we didn’t try until we heard Tolerant was closing, but this has become a new favorite in our households. This spaghetti is high in both protein and fiber.
*Bionaturae gluten free pastas - delicious and great texture, though leftovers not so much. Great, simple organic ingredients (organic brown rice, organic white rice, organic lentils). Somewhat lower and protein and fiber compared to pure legume pastas because of rice content so we so we typically recommend pairing with another source of protein.
*Explore - edamame - loveeee this edamame based option. Simple ingredients using organic soy (another one you want to opt for organic when possible because of how it's treated in our food supply). Great texture, flavor and stands on its own as an excellent source of protein and fiber (highest in both compared to all other options, with 24 grams of protein and 13g fiber per serving!)
Explore red lentil - we haven’t tried this one yet, but it looks like a great option and we plan to test ASAP. It’s an organic red lentil, brown rice blend, so it’s a great source of protein with a comparable level of fiber to a traditional wheat pasta.

The real thing (wheat pastas)
If you tolerate gluten, we are big fans of the real deal and when possible opt for organic. Some faves:

*Sfoglini organic varieties - so so good with the best shapes if you can track it down.
*Montbello organic pastas
Bionaturae 100% durum semolina pastas - have not yet tried but we love this brand.

Mac & Cheese
We have a lot of clients who love the Banza mac & cheese for their families. Some alternative options that look great with simple, all organic ingredients.

Jovial brown rice organic mac & cheese (gluten-free)
Annie's organic grass-fed mac & cheese (wheat based)

A few more things

Where we share all the things we’re loving, reading, listening to, cooking, discussing and purchasing as of late.

We both deal with allergies, and also just love the idea of purified air in our homes. Air purifiers can be expensive, but the investment is so worth it in our opinion. There are a lot of great options on the market, and after a research deep dive here are the ones we landed on and currently use: airDoctor (an investment) and HoneyWell (lower price point option).
We’ve been making this summer peach smoothie on repeat all summer. It’s SO good, especially if you can get your hands on some local ripe peaches. We shared it on our insta but since it’s been a staple (think daily) for a few weeks now, we thought it deserved a permanent spot on our site. YUM.
Knife sharpener. One of those “I didn’t know I needed until I got it” situations. This Amazon knife sharpener works wonders for dull knives. It makes SUCH a difference in chopping. We still try to bring our knives to be professionally sharpened annually (we love Williams Sonoma for this), but we’ve definitely been delinquent since our kids were born and this is bringing them back to life.
Toddler knives. And on the topic of knives, we both got these cute knife sets for our little tiny chefs who are loving helping out in the kitchen (shockingly keeps them occupied for much longer than anticipated).
Lands end 400 thread count no-iron sheets. Merrill’s mom and sister are interior designers and first turned us onto the secret of Lands End Sheets. They are the most luxurious, but affordable sheets. We’re picky when it comes to sheets, and promise these are so, so, so good. They’re essentially wrinkle free and feel so silky, soft, cool to the touch and generally amazing, we can’t say enough good things. They were also strongly endorsed by one of our favorite interior design/renovation accounts, This Oak House (Annie Myers Shyer, daughter of the queen of dream interiors Nancy Myers, who is currently sharing her process restoring/remodeling a family home)- one of our favorite follows!
Geri Hersh on phone use and motherhood. In case you missed our write up in our last newsletter, we love Geri’s substack. It always resonates, we always learn something helpful, and it’s always fun. She did a recent 3 part series on phones and motherhood (Is your phone taking away from motherhood?; Why can’t we put our phones down? and How to actually break up with your phone) that we loved and immediately shared with each other. Geri highlights so many of the feelings that we (and so so many of our close friends) have been discussing lately as it relates to our discomfort with our own phone use and how it might be impacting our experience in motherhood, relationships, everything. We have a virtual business, so phone use is always going to be part of our day to day - but Geri provides relatable insight and offers realistic, tangible tools and ideas as we think about taking steps to reshape how and when we use our phones.
Two tools that we are loving that have helped us be more conscious with our phone use. 1) The Brick - really into this thing. It’s a little magnet that you can leave on your fridge and allows you to physically lock your phone from using certain apps (you need to tap the brick with your phone to lock/unlock). Way more effective than screen time limits. You can also choose which apps are closed off in lock mode so you can keep things like text, phone and email open at all times. 2) Red light shortcut instructions. [Lauren] This feels so niche but this iphone hack has been life changing for me. This youtube video teaches you how to create a shortcut to quickly switch your phone into a red light setting, which I initially set up to block blue light and support better sleep (I switch my phone to red light mode 1-2 hours before bed and swear it makes a big difference). Unexpected benefit - it’s also been a great tool to make my phone less distracting - way less fun/enticing to use any of the apps when everything is in red, so I’ll switch it into red mode at various points throughout the day.