I came across a documentary on Netflix called "Hungry for Change" while making supper. It is a general sort of movie, although it had some good information. The main message was to reinterate that sugar, of any processed form, such as high fructose corn syrup, has extremely terrible effects on our bodies. It's addictive nature and negative affect on our bodies is equated to cocaine.
Although this comparison may seem dramatic, I am entirely on board with the comparison. There is a war on sugar going on in our household. If I had it my way, our children would never eat sugar. However, my far more temperate husband tries to keep one foot on planet Earth, so our children have been subjected to Halloween candy, Christmas goodies, birthday treats, Valentine's Day yummies, and so on. I have limited our eldest daughter (our youngest isn't yet 2, so it is far easier to control what she eats) to one small candy jar to fit all of the candy she will receive over the year. By next Halloween, she will still have some Halloween candy from this past year in the jar, which we will toss.
The fight; however, is daily. My dad once asked me, "Why can't I spoil my granddaughter a little? What is the problem with me giving her a little treat sometimes?" I replied, "Dad, it isn't just you. You give her a little, the neighbour gives her a little, daycare gives her a little, her own dad gives her a little, top that off with every holiday and celebration where other parents and family members are giving her goodies and you have a child that is eating sugary goods every single day!" We wonder why we are hearing about children at the age of four or five being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes - the diabetes that is linked to lifestyle. We assume that child must be eating pop and chocolate bars daily with cake for supper while they sit in front of the TV for hours on end. That is the extreme, and sadly it does happen, but our children are being fed cookies for dessert, cupcakes at school for a classmate's birthday, a candy in their lunch for a treat, a pop with their snack on the weekend. And that is the obvious stuff. As a teacher, it is distressing what parents are putting in their child's lunchkits and are doing it with the best intentions. I have seen entire classrooms where every single piece of food that is put in every child's mouth come from a package.
If it comes from a package, there is sugar in it. If it is processed or refined in nearly any way, it has sugar in it.
This can be quite frustrating when I grocery shop because sometimes I want to buy a convenience food in case I have one of those hectic days where I don't have a chance to cook. Instead, I end up without because there isn't a company out there that will produce a convenience food that I would actually want to put in my body. The irony is that all I can think of is how I can make it so much better at home.
What can one do? How can we stop killing our bodies and our children's bodies while not spending every second in the kitchen growing sprouts and living like rabbits off of lettuce?
Step One: Get rid of the packaged food. Read the labels. If you don't know what the ingredient is, throw it out. There are few exceptions to this rule, so it is a fairly good one to use. (An exception: tocopherol. That is just fancy talk for Vitamin E.)
Step Two: Buy a good cook book. I recommend Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food. He teaches you how to cook in it simply while at the same time offering recipes that can be made quickly. It has become my standby instead of depending on convenience food for hectic days. Also, my husband, who is pretty much ADHD, finds it refreshing because he can actually follow it.
Step Three: Buy quality food. Farmer's markets are an obvious choice, but sometimes you don't have the time to run to one, or it isn't open when you need the food. Grocery stores can be wonderful, plus you get to vote with your money. A lot of stores will tell you where the food is from and whether or not it is organic.
*Just a side note: There have been some news articles published stating that there is no nutritional difference between organic food and non-organic food. What they fail to address is the affect of ingesting toxic chemicals from our food into our bodies. Toxic chemicals + our bodies = bad plan.
Step Four: It is quite difficult to get away completely from the sugar in the world unless you make new friends and family, so try to control it as much as possible (without acting like a nutball). In our house, our kids can only have a sugar based treat on the weekend. That treat can only be eaten after lunch or supper and can only be once per day. It explains why the Halloween candy lasts so long!!!
It is generally just a good habit to think of other foods as treats. Fruit is generally sweeter than other foods, which makes it satisfying after supper.
Dr. Christiane Northrup points out in "Hungry for Change" that sugar is highly addictive, just like alcohol or heroine, yet it is acceptable to give it to our children and to ourselves. Perhaps we need to starting asking why.
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