What ARE you eating?

This post is really just me putting here what I tell my kids all the time about the foods we eat. As some of you may know, I’ve dabbled in Nutrition (would love to become a Nutritionist, if I could find the time) and so want to state all of what I say here is based on my minor learning. If I’ve gotten things wrong, meh, I have warned you not to follow this all as law. Got it? ;-)

Now, as much as I want to be a Nutritionist who works with children to teach them healthy eating, I’m not one of those ‘Though must eat only organic, pure and wholesome foods’ sort of person. I really feel this is the wrong approach. Our life is flooded with different food options from the super good to the super bad. I want my children (and other children) to realise that yes, it’s out there, try some… but everything in moderation.

In simplistic terms we sort of use the ‘traffic light’ form of eating. Green category is food you can eat every day, Orange/Amber category are the occasional foods and Red are the sometimes, but not too often. But everything in moderation. Just because it’s in the green category, don’t go eating your body weight in it daily! Just eat what you need.

Why do I do this? Because I feel if you restrict and refuse your children some of the naughty foods in life, they’re more likely to go crazy and binge on them when they are old enough to go buy it themselves. They'll just see all the junk as a tasty, easy thing to get and get fat, get unhealthy and... well, end up like I did when I went off the rails at that age. 

 

'Naughty food' - Treat it like a, well a treat and they will hopefully do the same too in years to come. Teach them will power along with freedom of choice. If I go around restricting everything they can and can’t have now, how is that raising them to be free thinking independent young adults in just a few years’ time? By letting them help me choose what foods they can have now, I’m helping them with their future decisions. Well, that’s my hope anyhow.

So, why are there so many fat to obese people in the world? Bad parenting? No will power? Lazy eating habits? Or are they just unaware of exactly what it is they’re eating? Really, I don't know and doing my best not to judge.

Sadly modern culture, foods and diet has a leaning towards horribly high saturated fats, salt, sugar, heart attack waiting to happen ingredients. There is also a greater variety of highly processed pre-made foods that are cheaply and easily made, can be shipped great distances without spoiling and have shelf lives that will outlive us all. Why? Because it’s cheap to make, cheap to sell and oh so convenient to just buy, open and eat.

‘Oh, but it’s not all bad, as some are all natural ingredients!’

Erm, yeah… by natural they’re meaning not chemically, synthetically or artificially created. But you have to remember things like lead, arsenic and mercury are all 100% totally natural items. Add them to food, they’re an ingredient!

Don’t panic, they’re not used, as far as I’m aware. But ‘natural ingredients’ I am aware of in these foods are: sand, beetles, apple cores, chicken bones and carcasses, all sorts of bits of animals you don’t see hanging in the butchers shop, bark, nutshells. That’s just naming a few. Think about it… if it’s all natural and good for you, it should be a whole food you yourself add as an ingredient, along with other whole foods.

Oh, and whole foods – these are foods in as close to their natural state as possible. Like raw fruit and vegetables, grains, meat, etc.

‘This one says preservative free, it must be good!’

Actually, when something is preservative free, that generally means there is nothing nutritious left in it to actually spoil for the several years it can sit on the shelves waiting to be bought and eaten.

That, or it’s been pumped so full of sugar and or salt it won’t spoil. Though that sort of thing usually comes under ‘natural preservative’ more than preservative free.

It’s diet, low to no fat, all good here!’

Now, don’t get me wrong, low fat can have its merits. Though that is usually when it’s found in whole dairy products such as milk or cream where they’ve physically removed a lot of the saturated fats, AKA cream, from the top. However, when it comes to diet products and ‘fat free’ gimmicks, yes they are indeed missing the fat, but it’s been replaced with humongous amounts of sugar and or salt to make it taste palatable to the uneducated.

What is worse is when they are sweet while still being ‘sugar free’ as this means they contain artificial sweeteners. Now, there are indeed natural sweeteners that are sugar free, but they are generally mixed in with artificial sweeteners to extend them. And the thing people need to realise with artificial sweeteners is this: They’re artificial! A chemically created synthetic substance that imitates sweetness while having no nutritional value at all. So no fat, no calories, nothing.

However, being an artificially created substance, the body doesn’t recognise it and doesn’t know what to do with it once digested.  The majority of the time, this does mean the body just flushes it out with the rest of the waste products. However, some bodies don’t. Instead they put these chemicals to one side to think of what it can do with it later. Where these chemicals are stored can cause mutations in the cells. As cells mutate and no longer perform as they should they, in basic terms, can become cancer cells. Yes, synthetic food really can cause cancer.

It is rarer these day for such things to happen, but it is still a possibility. The best way to prevent it is to avoid such foods. You can lose weight just as well on a balanced diet of whole foods and light exercise than you can using these horrid diet things. Heck, in my diet change I still get to eat chocolate and ice cream. Everything in moderation. The only thing low fat is the milk and meat (when I trim the fat off those chiken breasts).

'Healthy food is just so expensive. I can’t afford to buy it all the time.’

I admit, fresh fruit and vegetables are very expensive. Our green grocers bills, per week for a family of 5, is around $100! We try and cut down the costs by buying locally and only what is in season. It can get a bit boring in winter, but it does save.

And, can I just say, you should be thinking of this expense as an investment in your future. Spending it now on healthy food will hopefully save you on costly Doctor’s bills, procedures and medicines later in life. Yes, you could still get hit by a bus tomorrow, but hey! I think it’s worth the risk, and the investment.

‘Preparing whole foods and raw ingredients is so time consuming.’

Oh, do have a whinge. I know it can be! But, you know what? It’s so worth it. The food tastes better, you’ve actually received some exercise by preparing it and you’re setting a good example to your kids as to how simple and easy it is to do. So it can take a while sometimes. Make double, so you can have left overs at other times. Suck it up, do you want to eat healthy or not?

I don’t expect the world to become nutritionists just to be aware of what they can eat. Though it would be nice if we all just thought about what it was we were putting in our bodies, and into our children’s bodies. The simplest way to do this would be to stick to whole foods, don’t forget to treat yourselves and always eat in moderation.

Heck, and every few months, let the kids have those damned Fruit loops. Mine get one box to share every school holidays. One bowl each a day and when it's gone, that's it! When they have them, I then send them out into the backyard to burn it all off running arounf and playing. When they come in half an hour later complaining they're hungry. I remind them it's because fruit loops have no nutritional value, and then give them a fruit platter and plain popcorn to fill them up on something decent!

 

Eating is not a sin, or a crime. It is essential and should be enjoyed. Just think wisely on what you are eating.