For The Love of Our (one and only) Body
Feeding ourselves and our children nutritious food instead of junk
I did a thing last night. I removed every bit of junk from our cupboards, refrigerator and freezer. Goodbye ice cream, see you later! This includes processed things like Goldfish Crackers, Salt n’ Vinegar potato chips, Easter candy, dum dums, a Costco load of Motts fruit snacks, cereal packed with sugar, and anything else that has ingredients that don’t serve me and my family. I made a big speech about how we need to stop eating our feelings and talk to each other. I mentioned how I can feel the sugar rushing through the kids veins when I see them repeatedly eating crap. “We have one body for the rest of our lives, let’s all get on board with taking care of our one body”.
I know a lot about nutrition. You could say I’m passionate about it. But, even still, I have allowed my children to eat things that I know have ingredients that can harm them. I am guilty of having all kinds of information and eating things I know I shouldn’t. Guessing I’m not the only one. I make excuses because “we’re on vacation”, even though it’s just a weekend. I say OK to a lollipop after school and then dessert after dinner because someone is whining or because I made a deal that if they eat all their dinner, they can have something sweet. I speak to myself in the same way. Like if I eat a salad and workout, then I deserve the chocolate chip cookie. Deserve is a funny way to look at it. To say I deserve it is so ironic because I’m honestly punishing my body, rather that treating it.
Food is a drug. You’ve probably heard the term “food as medicine”. If you eat all the leafy greens, get anti-oxidants, protein, vitamins and minerals your body requires, food will serve you well. It can help you but, it can also harm you. Food is delicious. Food is satisfying. Food can also make you feel like shit, make you feel guilty, give you stomach aches, cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and more. That is because there are all kinds of added ingredients in processed food. And so many tricks to market to you and your kids that make you think what’s in the box isn’t so bad for you. It makes me sick. It’s making us all sick.
My wish is that everyone start taking a look at the ingredients on your boxes of food snacks and candy. Yes, everything that comes wrapped with a label. Even the things that are labeled organic and non-gmo. Turn the package around and read through the ingredients. Do you know what they all are? Are you willing to feed your one body with Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Disodium Inosinate, dyes and natural flavors (made in a lab)? How about your children? Like I said, I am just as guilty as anyone else but, I have had it!
Does that mean that I am going to start dieting or not allow my kids to have anything fun to eat? Nope. It’s practically impossible. It’s very hard to avoid. Afterall, the whole point of processed food is to make life more convenient. It also also keeps those big food corporations rich.! Right now I’m thinking about what I could possibly pack for my kids in their lunch that they will eat and not complain about. Where are all the healthy snacks that have no added ingredients? It’s called fruits and vegetables. Food that comes from the earth. I’m going to have to get creative with different ways of serving said food from the earth. And put limits on ice cream and cookies and candy. I hope that by sharing information now with our kids, that they will just be more aware, be mindful and pay attention to how food makes them feel. I can’t make anyone do anything nor am I attempting to guilt anyone into doing something they don’t want to do. Just over here sharing my thoughts on things and hoping that at least one person thinks about what they are consuming today.