Food for Thought

Healthy eating - not an easy task in today's world, or maybe I should say in the United States today. I've always been a bit of a health nut, but even more so after experiencing cancer last year. My friend Mary D. says, "We don't know what we don't know" and I'm sure finding that to be true as I research information pertaining to nutrition.

I'm learning that much of the information about what's good for us and what's not is controlled by politics. For instance, most European countries have stopped putting fluoride in drinking water because they know that it is extremely harmful to our bodies. In fact, according to one article I read, fluoride is more toxic than lead. Yet our government demands that it be added to our drinking water. Check out this website for more info.
http://www.fluoridealert.org/professionals.statement.html

Then I learned that canola oil (short for Canadian Oil, where most of the rape seed that is used to make canola oil is grown.) is bad for us. It's difficult to explain, but if you want to read more, go to http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/conola.html

And all the sugars; fructose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup - we don't have to be rocket scientists to know sugar is bad for us, but it's in everything from cookies and cakes to crackers and every cereal imaginable. It's even in a can of kidney beans for crying out loud. And don't get me started on the dangers of cereals. We Americans are totally hooked on sugar and our addiction is causing oppression to the people of the Dominican where much of our sugar cane is grown. It's appalling. For more information, go to
http://www.sugarbabiesfilm.com/cgi-local/content.cgi?pg=3

Needless to say, we are making some major changes in how we eat around here. If it comes in a box, we don't eat it. If it's processed we don't eat it. If it has sugar, we don't eat it. The kids are actually handling it quite well. They're beginning to read labels all on their own. "Woah mom, look at all the junk in this." "Hey mom, even these crackers have high fructose corn syrup." I haven't gone totally ballistic on them. We avoid the above mentioned foods, but there are still some around the house. We're just learning to limit them and finding that we really can do without.

I still made chocolate chip cookies the other day, but I only put in half the sugar, used organic whole wheat flour, and chocolate chips that were 70% chocolate with no artificial flavors added. They're not as sweet, but boy wonder said, "These aren't so bad, my taste buds can handle it."

He's not a big fan of milk anyway, but when I put the non-homogenized milk from grass-fed cows in front of him, he began to drink then said, "Oh wait, I forgot to turn off my tongue." He then stuck out his tongue, turned some kind of imaginary knob on it and proceeded to drink it all down with no complaints. Middle child on the other hand, had seconds and maybe thirds.

The goal here is to eat as naturally as we can and re-program ourselves so that we're not eating things just because they're convenient. It's going to take some work, but I believe that it's the best thing for our health. What I think the kids understand is that mom is just trying to do her best to keep the big C from ever entering our home again. And since they saw first hand what that was about, they seem willing to make the sacrifices.