Chews Your Children’s Foods
We are our Children’s Keepers, especially for food, probably lifelong, at least, as far as I’m concerned. We need to cherish them. Choosing their food is unarguably the single most important legacy we can give them. They are our responsibility regardless of what age or stage of life they’re in. First we teach them, and then we become their resource. They mimic us, learn from us, teach their children consciously and unconsciously what we teach them. We have a generational responsibility, an ancestral obligation, so we better get it right. Our food choices for them will be our progeny’s inheritance in their DNA. It’s an awesome and delightful adventure of exploring food tastes and quality to give them the irreplaceable tools of good judgment. And that’s what natural/organic food gives us, good judgment from good health. Their food is not just what goes into their bellies. It becomes them, their bones, blood, organs, brain, behavior, social interaction, choices in school, choices in life, partners, jobs…. Their judgment will guide them in decisions for themselves, their families, their communities, the world.
Let’s stop conceptualizing about the preponderance of diseases increasingly afflicting our children. And let’s start addressing them. Every aspect doesn’t have to be dissected under a microscope. Go to the root, the reason. It’s not complicated and doesn’t require BS’s, MA’s, PhD’s or any other degrees. Just basic common sense: natural/organic is good – chemicals are bad; in-season is best, out-of-season is next best. Cooking from scratch is good; prepackaged is bad. Now how much simpler can that be?
Simple, basic, uncomplicated. And what’s even simpler and basic, our children follow our example. So parents, you become their resource now. You set the example now. Realize your children are growing and need a full spectrum of nourishing foods, but please make it all real food, not chemically enhanced alternatives. Laboratory technology does not belong on our dinner tables, in our kids’ lunchboxes, or in their growing bodies and lives. Let them see you making wise choices in whole grain, vegetable & fruit shopping and preparations. From scratch, use all the spices and exotic seasonings necessary for the tastiest treats without resorting to anything prepackaged. Cultivate their awareness of a real taste for life by helping them ‘chews’ their tastes for food.
Yes, it takes more time. And that’s only part of the point. That time is love, and that’s the most important part. Let them know they’re worth it; they’ll feel how much you care… and don’t complain about it. Enlist their help in the kitchen. Ask their opinions: “What do you want in this honey?” “Let’s try something new….REAL FOOD — natural/organic. You choose. Let’s have fun!” I don’t have to script this for you. Honestly, if you spent as much time in the kitchen as you spend watching just TV commercials waiting for your next imagined health calamity, you’d have meals for a week fit to arm and protect your kids from not only those commercials, but from all the dishonesty rampant in the commercial food hype on every supermarket shelf. You’ll arm them with naturally high health, strong, in-tune intuition, and an awareness of the deepening, ever widening potholes that their good judgment will be able to change into a smoother road and a smoother world for their children, your grandchildren.
I direct you to an interesting NYTimes article in the Thursday February 26, 2009, ‘ThursdayStyles’ section, E1, front page, “What’s Eating Our Kids? Fears about ‘Bad’ Foods” by Abby Ellin. No comment here but an interesting read. You judge.
Here are a couple of links for more information on whole grains:
http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org http://www.ific.org/publications/fa…