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.
