Family Eats
I became a vegetarian at age 17 then married a meat eater. I was also into holistic stuff when we got together, very tuned into nutrition and all that stuff from my midwifery. As the years went on, I got kind of obnoxious about the kids' diets. They hardly ever got sugar. They only had 100% real juice in their school lunchs, homemade fruit rolls made with honey for dessert, whole wheat bread only, carrot sticks. They ate real foods, pretty devoid of chemicals, additives, dyes and crap.
They didn't really complain (much) at first. I would feed them all sorts of complex vegetarian c
ulinary masterpieces. I learned over time that kids prefer simple foods.
ulinary masterpieces. I learned over time that kids prefer simple foods. As time went on and they were increasingly introduced to the world outside our family, the arguments began. It got to the point that the only real tension we had was around sugar and junk food consumption. It occurred to me that I was setting up an unconscious pattern with food for them that had the potential to affect their lives. Good job, Mom. I decided it was time to stop.
One Saturday I took the plunge and got them donuts. Once they scraped their chins off the floor in astonishment, they were ecstatic. All donuts were devoured. Quickly.
I started to cook more meat for all of them and actually got pretty good at chicken dishes. It got weird having to always cook two meals- one for me and one for the rest of the family. It didn't take too long to figure out that we could all do the same side dishes, but then I would cook one protein for me, one more meat based for the rest of the crew for all to be happyhappy.
As time went on and I discovered and experimented with all the various theories of eating out there, it got confusing. I couldn't do the macrobiotic thing. Didn't appeal and I like raw fruit. Then there's the whole food combining thing. I followed this carefully as part of my weight loss when I shed 75 pounds. I discovered I have food allergies to wheat and corn. We learned about the blood type diet. Pretty soon it became a thing of...well....can't eat this food from this plan here, but it's supposed to be the thing that works over here. Too much work. And way beyond limiting. I mean...about the only thing left is salmon, kale and apples. And while those foods make up a large part of my diet today, I do want and like variety.
These days we can all sit down and all eat the same meal. I now eat fish. I've experimented with meat and am not into it. We all prefer whole foods, preferably organic. We all appreciate healthy eating. It simply tastes better. I'm sorry but a can of peaches does not taste like a tree ripened peach in season. Morgan and I avoid wheat, but aren''t completely neurotic about it (only slightly). All eat some sugar in moderation. We all shop at our local farmer's market for the bulk of our produce..not only for freshness, but the pricing can't be beat.
We're always so surprised that people think junk food tastes better than healthy food. I don't get it. What I do know is that taste buds numb out. That if you feed yourself crap, taste buds get used to crap. But once you let the crap go, it tastes like crap. Occasionally when we travel we are subjected to bad food that others are happily devouring. We all shiver. My kids eat hamburgers, they do go to fast food from time to time. But those times are few and far between and they immediately want real food after.
I'm happy that our culture is finally waking up to the importance of being conscious about what we put in our mouths. It's a pity that we had to get so morbidly obese and unhealthy to decide to start down that road, but better late than never.
In our case, yes I went a little overboard for awhile there and I think it important to be balanced now. Better to not instill a feeling of rebellion and lack so that bad eating becomes the statement for independence. What's always so fun to me is asking my three year old grandson what he wants to drink. Ninety percent of the time it's water, even when offered juice. He's always telling me water is his all time favorite. He pushed for it even back east when well meaning family who kept pushing because they couldn't believe he didn't want a soda. He just kept asking for water, no soda. In this day and age, I consider that a miracle.
I mean...wow...does't this just look better than packaged, unrecognizeable crap? I really don't get it why people think eating healthy=no taste.Candy junkfood from here
Pizza, hamburgers, etc. from here
Stirfry from here
Real, healthy food from here
15 comments:
A real serious issue with serious consequences that even economists can measure by now. See here:
[http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2007/06/paul-krugman-america-comes-up-short.html] and here: [http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/06/paul_krugman_am.html], both commenting on work of colleagues. Cheers & Good Luck! 'VJ'
Hi, VJ...scary stuff.
Part of the problem is our medical system. When I was practicing midwifery, diet was just becoming to be an important factor in pregnancy. I remember our cry was that even cattle ranchers knew that both feeding animals good food and nutrition were important, but our doctors have no idea that food makes an impact on heath. Medicine STILL refuses to consider that nutrition may be less about reductionist molecules, and more about things we have no knowledge of yet (like how vitamins and such work synergistically in foods).
Well..if my family is any indication of heath because of height, they must be pretty healthy..hehehe. Starla is the shrimp at 5'7". Morgan is 5'9" and Cass is 5'11".
This is slowly getting some attention in the media Pamm. After only what, 30 years or so? NPR's Morning Edition will cover a bit of the puzzle tomorrow morn. too The bottom line is that the most heavily advertised foods are the unhealthiest, especially for kids. And that's where all the profits are, and all the processed foods are concentrated. We feed the worst of the worst to our kids, who are the most vulnerable to all sorts of unknown chemical interactions, and even unknown 'new' compounds they keep adding to foods to make their garbage & waste products more palatable. This usually means adding more salt, sugars & fat for 'flavor & taste' and then artificial chemical preservatives & colorings to make it more 'shelf attractive/stable' for longer.
Still worse the very same 'bottom line' mind set has affected the entire food distribution & production network, and our fruits, berries & veggies are now heavily compromised as highly vulnerable 'mono crops' of just 1 or fewer than 1/2 dozen varieties no matter where you look. And they've managed to produce the infamous 'bullet proof' tomato, that can travel the needed long distances to market without bruising, or the various picking machines w/o bursting, but the flavors have been largely breed out of them!
The same goes for most of the stuff most American's buy in their supermarket 'Fresh Produce' section. So this sets up the common vicious circle and Great Catch-22 of the modern diet. Mom says to kids, 'Eat your fruits & veggies!' And the kids know they now taste Less attractive (on average) then their 'exciting & fun' (& heavily advertised) processed kiddie foods. That taste is not exactly subtle and jumps at them reliably overpowering tastebuds in a satisfying if dull manner. And for most supermarkets their highest priority is minimizing produce loss, so the longer it can Appear fresh on their shelves, regardless of taste, the happier they are. The farmers get marked down for unique varieties that are unknown or can not predictably be kept for weeks or months in cold storage if they want to sell to the larger firms.
The great success is that we manage to feed lots of people lots of stuff & fairly cheaply. This has never been possible before in history, but it's done in a highly produced & mechanized manner that does indeed brutalize various aspects of the environment & our health. That previously was of little concern to people, and as long as more people are making more money off of the older established production methods, the less chance their is to successfully overturning our 'traditions', and be able to feed the same number of people comfortably at the same time.
Ergo, the natural, whole/organic foods trend, no matter how attractive to many, probably will not be available to most due to costs or time constraints. The microwave is the only 'oven' in use most days in most homes. Heavily processed foods are more time convenient, and that's the way their made & marketed. Sometimes the overall difference might be a minute or less, but it seems to matter to many folks.
So there's good reasons to put up with some of the bugs & moths, there's just slightly better ways of going about it.
So there you have it, a comment longer than your post! Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ'
Yes, VJ..good for you to state all this stuff here. I've been singing this same song for decades. And you didn't even go into the whole thing about how even the fresh foods don't have the same level of nutrients they did 50-100 years ago because the soil's been depleted.
It's all very frightening. And I guess it could be argued that it's a miracle we aren't fatter and sicker, given the state of things.
They've almost given up on the soil Pamm. I can't tell you that we wash away several states worth of top soil every 5 or so years now due to increasingly poor farm soil management practices. That's where the chemical industry comes in with their 'amendments' to your soils, nitrogen, calcium, etc. It's all genetics now. How to grow which mono-crops to make the most profit fitting into the current food production schedule or pattern. Mostly it's does this fruit & veggie travel well and can it withstand the mechanical pickers, or the drought stress we're now seeing more of, or the 'pest control' added into the mix as it grows. Very little concern is given to retaining the complex flavors, if anything they just hype up the heavy sugar content, and they're content with that. But the bottom line is always, does it fit into the production line like a good little cog. If it increases production & yield they'll go for it almost no matter what the consequences. And we come away with the rolling evolving disaster that is the American way of food production.
Good to hear you have relatively healthy kids. That's always so important. I did notice your pic here for the first time. Interesting. 'There eyes were watching...'
Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ'
Yes, VJ...the soil. With all the stuff that's going on these days, I'm starting to revert to my old ways of thinking. That maybe it's time for Gaia to shake off all the ol' fleas and do one of those polar shifts I've heard may have happened in the past. (not sure what they're called but when the equator goes to the poles.)
I've kept my midwifery books in case I survive so that I have something to offer the community I find myself in. Yes, the eyes are watching. I be stepping out. Pantpantpant.
Hi Pamm,
I think the way you feed yourself and family sounds so ideal--flexible and healthy!
I'm like that about 90% of the time, but unfortunately, eating healthy doesn't diminish my appreciation of junk food. I wish it all just tasted crappy to me, but I actually enjoy a lot of it. So I indulge a bit now and then.
Great post!
Thanks for stopping by Crabby. Love your blog, I do. Actually, sometimes I kinda wish I craved a hamburger. People go so gaga over them, I feel I'm missing out.
But then I smell one and feel like puking and figure they're not for me.
I haven't eaten fast food or frozen food in over 20years. Trying to cut out fats now as I start a triathlon training,, but my 7 year old, juice water no soda, meat fish rice pasta, green beans by the bucket load broccoli you name it he'll eat it. :-) The chocolate from easter is still sitting there waiting...
That would be a miracle, too. Kids will choose to eat healthy if it's given to them from an early age and they don't get educated in other ways by the world around them.
More BS with the food system to illustrate some of the points I was making above:
[From another Econ Blog]
[http://givingupcontrol.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/health-alert-potentially-harmful-vegetarian-hot-dogs-and-power-bars/]
and the follow up:
[http://givingupcontrol.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/health-alert-part-2-imported-ingredients-a-breach-of-trust/]
[I think the gents politics are a bit to the right of mine however.]
Cheers & Good Luck! 'VJ'
I was fairly fanatic with my kids for awhile. They all hate brown rice now! I was very poor and yet I always shopped organic. Now they all eat differently. Some are very health conscious, vegetarian and organically minded. One's totally into junk food and feeds her 3 children that way. One is a chef, makes incredible dishes, mostly healthly but also a big meat eater. Individuals all of them.
Ha...that's so funny and kinda sad about the brown rice (as it's so good). They do find their ways, yes?
Hi Pamm:
Great post! I can relate to what you and Adrienne said too, that kids do find their own ways. I feel that as a parent I can offer my best knowledge and healthy foods to my children, but ultimately they make their own choices. I always buy 100% whole wheat toast (since before I had kids), and that's what my children (11 and 9) eat and prefer (over white toast). We also switched to soy milk a few years ago. My son was the last one to switch from cow's milk to soy. I told him the benefits of soy milk, but let him choose whether he wanted to switch. He did eventually, and now he thinks soy milk tastes much better. Ever since I pointed out to my kids that a very popular fruit drink contains only 5% real fruit juice (it says so on the TV commercial, in fine print of course), they crack up every time they see that commercial on TV. They think it's such a big joke. Needless to say, they don't want to drink that! We do eat fast foods from time to time, and I never "ban" any foods from our diet. Like you said, you don't want them to feel deprived and want to rebel against your rules. :-) Balance is the key, right?
Warmly,
Hueina
Intensive Care for the Nurturer's Soul
Hi, Heuina- thanks for stopping by. Yes...I believe that balance is the key. Thanks for sharing what your family did. Just goes to show that kids are smart and want to be healthy, too.
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