The Nourisher - Editor’s Blog

I don’t doubt that most people love their children dearly and would stand against an army of darkness in their defense, but then there’s that troubling reluctance to read and understand what’s in a box of cereal. Parents, what’s going on?

We’ve got a funny way of looking at things when it comes to kids and food. There’s no question that the children of my generation had it tough. We walked miles to school - in the snow - even in Summer and were burdened with back breaking chores like taking out the trash and washing dishes with our bare hands. The ultimate sign of our Oliver Twist existence was personified by the laborious trek we were forced to endure, from the sofa and all the way across the room to change the channel on our black and white televisions. “Oh the humanity.”

Times have changed. Today parents power up the family SUV and transport their precious little ones the hundred yards or so from the driveway to the school bus stop. Television, computers, mobile phones and video games spare today’s children the horrors of venturing outside where their delicate muscles might suffer the abuse of exertion in the unforgiving world that is the suburban neighborhood. Even bicycles and skateboards are motorized now, ensuring that the modern child never has to experience the trauma of physical exhaustion.

OK, perhaps the above is a bit of an exaggeration on both counts, but times really have changed. When I was a child, I was perpetually destitute and lacked the funds to purchase anything more than an occasional candy bar. In the hazy days of the 1960s and 70s, soda was a luxury item that was as uncommon then as drinking whole milk is today. Having a pizza with hot wings and an enormous jug of soda delivered to your door, in thirty minutes or less, was as fanciful an idea as flying cars. Candy spouting vending machines in school and synthetic soy foods heated in microwave ovens were concepts beyond even the wildest imaginings of science fiction comic books. Yes, times really have changed.

There’s no end to the mountains of parental advice on how to teach our children how to eat right, but over the years, this advice has changed too. In my youth, parents were the “Lords of the Manor.” They decided which foods were purchased for the household and when and how those foods were prepared. My brothers and sisters, all members of the lower caste in our household, were encouraged (threatened) to clean our plates lest some unfortunate child in a faraway land fall dead away of hunger due to our careless and abominable waste of food.

Some of the dietary advice we hear today makes a lot of sense. For example, forcing a child to eat when they have clearly had enough is a bad idea and haranguing your child about their weight will likely just make the problem worse. This is good advice and should be applied whenever necessary. Where I disagree with the current advice on childhood nutrition is in the excessively permissive attitude that health experts promote regarding childhood nutrition and the unhealthy emphasis on feeding children a fat free diet.

In the first instance, we’re advised to give our children whatever they want. To do otherwise, we’re told, is likely to create some kind of food fetish that drives them to obsessive consumption of the food in question when our parental backs are turned. We’re told that there are no good or bad foods - that literally anything goes, where food is concerned and that denying our children’s wishes for a bowl of sugar for breakfast is to stamp upon their tender heads, the mark of obesity. Finally, we’re advised to provide a variety of foods for our children - arranging apples next to the Twinkies - in order that we might create a kind of holistic environment where our little cherubs can learn to make “healthful decisions.”

As a British gentleman might say, “Hogwash, poppycock and prattle.” The fundamental problem with this “give them what they want” approach is that it is completely devoid of even the hint of common sense. Expecting a child to make the right decision when the choice is between a piece of candy and a piece of celery, is an exercise in self delusion. Sure, there may be the odd child who either through an exemplary upbringing or the luck of celestial parentage will make the right choice, but most children won’t.

The permissive approach to childhood nutrition is based on the premise that there are no good or bad foods. This is a myth perpetuated by a rapacious food industry bent on ensuring whatever they have to sell, we’ll buy it and eat it. If you doubt this, ask yourself why do we make moral and ethical distinctions about every other facet of our lives, but not food? Children are advised that there are good and bad people, good and bad behaviors, good and bad clothing, music, cars, houses, lifestyle choices, etc, etc. But when it comes to food, the message is that any and every food, in moderation, can be “part of a healthy diet.” Isn’t this just like saying any choice (smoking, drinking, lying, cheating, hurting, killing) can be “part of a healthy lifestyle,” so long as it is enjoyed in moderation?

Supporters of this mindset fail to consider the undue influence that billions of dollars in advertising and marketing campaigns have on the choices a child makes. If your five year old believes drinking a particular brand of soda will make him stronger, smarter and faster, if he sees this belief endorsed at school through the existence of vending machines and if this belief is further endorsed at church and other social gatherings as well at home, why wouldn’t he decide that soda was superior to milk or water.

It is no secret that children are particularly vulnerable in this regard and can be easily manipulated to believe any food is healthy. This is because they lack the basic maturity required to make these kinds of decisions. This is why we don’t allow youngsters to vote or operate heavy equipment. They’re children after all. Why, then, would any sane society leave such an important decision as nutrition in the hands of a child? Quite simply, because we have been taught by the same organizations and institutions, that this is what we should do.

Advertisers know well how much power a child has to influence which foods are consumed in the home. This is why so much advertising is targeted to children. They don’t have money or cars with which to buy and transport food, but they do have something far more potent — power over you, the parent. The result is that today, it is the children who are the Lords of the Manor.

Children can be excused for lacking the analytical skills The final reason is that children can’t be expected to make good nutrition decisions when their parents lack the skills and the motivation to make good decisions themselves. One of the more common phrases we here when discussing the necessity for parents to educate themselves about nutrition is, “I don’t have time.” I often wonder what is there in the lives of so many people that is more important than their health and the health of their children? I don’t doubt that most people love their children dearly and would stand against an army of darkness in their defense, but then there’s that troubling reluctance to read and understand what’s in a box of cereal. Parent’s, what’s going on?

The answer I found was in the mirror. Two years ago, my wife and I were guilty of the same offense of parental nutritional neglect of our children. We worked to put clothes on their backs and keep a roof over their heads, but when it came to food, we ignored their needs completely. it wasn’t that we didn’t love them, rather it was that we had not yet learned to love ourselves enough first. That is the truth of it. Look around. It is rare to see a child with poor nutrition who doesn’t also have parents who are likewise poorly fed. As parents, our children will follow our example, good or bad. When they see us taking nutrition and exercise seriously, by practicing what we preach, they’re more likely to do the same.

How do I get started?
Despite the bad reputation for raising the roof that young children have, they are the easiest to change. As stated earlier, they don’t have money or cars, so a parent doesn’t have to worry about her five year old sneaking off in the dead of night to buy a corndog and a slurpy at the corner store. Teenagers are another story as they often do have money and access to an automobile. In the case of teens, it is even more critical that the parent serve as an example. Here are some tips:

• Read, think and learn. I know, this could take some time, but aren’t you and your children worth a little of your time? I’ve provided some links below to get you started. You can also check out the Resources section of this site for more information sources.
• For young children, just say no to poor quality food and cut them off cold turkey. Let’em bawl, they’ll get over it. Small steps are for wimps. Every day you feed them MSG, High Fructose Corn Syrup and synthetic soy concoctions counts toward one more day in purgatory (strapped next to an insurance salesman) for you. For teenagers, you may have to wean them off junk and convenience foods. Expect resistance. When it comes, remind yourself that diligence about nutrition is just as important as diligence about drugs, crime and premarital sex. It may be tough, but given that you helped create the problem, accept your responsibility to tough it out and help fix it. Don’t give up on yourself, or them.
• If your children are old enough, explain to them, on a level they understand, why you’re making the dietary changes you are. Be honest and be prepared to answer their questions. Ask for their input and try to figure out how you can make healthier versions of some of their favorite dishes.
• Emphasize the positives. Tell them they’ll feel better, be healthier, stronger and unlike Uncle Bob, will get to keep their teeth when they get older. It might not hurt to add that healthy foods make attractive bodies too. I’m not just talking about weight here, but skin tone and texture, healthy hair, bright eyes, healthy teeth, good posture, and surface musculature as well. avoid trying to frighten them with horrid tales of heart attacks and threats of obesity. It’s ok to discuss the reality of poor diets, but fear is a poor teacher and may even have the opposite effect, making your child food phobic.
• No more soda. There’s no room for compromise here. Soda (regular or diet) is a negative nutrient food that robs their bodies of nutrients and keeps them addicted to sugar.
• No more refined flour products (I know the new government dietary guidelines say it’s ok to eat these foods, so it’s your call. If you have a history of obesity and/or diabetes in your family, that’s a good sign that you may want to seriously rethink your family’s consumption of simple carbs).
• No more MSG (monosodium glutamate) in all it’s frightening disguises. Glutamate is an excitotoxin that wreaks havoc on the body. Doctor Russell Blaylock, in his book, Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, expounds on this subject far better than I can.
• No more unfermented soy, in all it’s frightening disguises. Soy is a Jekyll and Hyde food substance that may be of some small benefit or more likely, it may turn your life into a raging pit of misery. Check out Doctor Kaayla Daniels book, The Whole Soy Story : The Dark Side of Americas Favorite Health Food. Also, check out Soy Online Service (soyonlineservice.co.nz).
• Cut back, way back on refined sugar in all it’s frightening disguises. Sugar is delicious, no doubt, but we eat far too much of it. The rise in children developing Type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult onset diabetes) is evidence that our kids are overdosing on the sweet stuff. Seriously consider raw honey, maple syrup and other natural sweeteners.
• Remember, you’re up against a billion dollar advertising industry that will seek every opportunity to route around your authority and target messages for junk food directly to your children. You can weaken their attack by reducing (or eliminating) your child’s TV time. be wary of magazines or TV channels that specialize in children’s programming. They are often the worst offenders, pumping hours of junk food advertising directly into your child’s brain. Scary, huh?
• Be advised that your child’s school may actually be working against your efforts at home. Some schools enter into Faustian bargains with junk food companies and actively promote poor nutrition to your children. This junk food can be found, not just in school vending machines, but also in the school cafeteria. Let your child’s school know what you think about the food they sell.
• Don’t trust corporations that sell junk food when they try to convince you they’re concerned about your child’s health. If they were really concerned, they would sell healthier foods, and no, one salad on a menu full of sugar, hydrogenated oils and MSG is not proof of their sincerity. Cast a vote in favor of your child’s health by patronizing establishments with healthier fare.
• Cook. Step up to the plate Mom and Dad and spend more time cooking delicious meals at home. If your children are old enough, recruit them too. Even the youngest in the family can participate in the preparation of the meal in some way. Sure, it takes time, but in the time it takes for that lukewarm pizza to show up at your door, you could have had home made pizza with ingredients that won’t give you the willies if you think about them too much. Sally Fallon’s, Nourishing Traditions is a good place to start.
• Give up most processed foods and replace them with whole foods. The food additives in processed foods are not a necessary component of the food. They’re added to extend the shelf life of the foods and to make some poor quality foods taste better. Additives benefit the manufacturer, not the person who consumes the food. Eating fresh whole foods, making your own soup, flipping your own burgers - all these things yield better tasting food with no additives.
• Go easy on the fruit juices. Juice packs a lot of calories and is a concentrated source of sugar. Juice can make you gain weight. Consider eating fruits instead of drinking juice. This is the way nature intended for you to drink juice anyway.
• Consider drinking raw milk. This is a very healthful food. That business about safety is mostly a smokescreen to protect the business interests of some sectors of the dairy industry. See my articles on raw milk for the whole story: The Milk Paradox and The Milk Wars, Part II.
• Stop letting the experts get between you and your child. Listen to what they have to say, but if an expert’s advice sounds dumb (like, give your children whatever they want) it probably is. Go with your parental intuition and use your best judgment.
• Just because your child is thin, doesn’t mean he or she is healthy. Most of the initial damage wrought by junk food happens inside the body, out of sight. It may not be until your child is older, in his twenties or thirties that the two or three decades of lousy food begins to show up on the outside.
• As strange as this may sound, you’ll want to start thinking about your children as parents sooner rather than later. Healthy bodies beget healthy babies. It doesn’t matter whether your children plan to become parents when they grow up. What matters is that their bodies be healthy enough to carry out this task successfully, whether or not they decide to become parents. Look at it this way. You may never have to drive your new sports car at 100 miles per hour, but if you hope to avoid breakdowns at 50 mph, you’ll need to keep the car in 100 mph condition, nevertheless, because the car is engineered to perform at that speed.
• Make sure they get adequate sleep and make sure they sleep on a schedule. Letting your children stay up late, then, forcing them out of bed early to go to school, is a good way to ruin their health. Set up a sleep schedule and stick to it. This goes for parents too, maybe more so even.
• Exercise. I saved this for last because, good food begets good exercise, not the other way around. Be an example. Eat right so you can get up, get out and work out. Your young children will want to join in the fun. Your older kids will envy your newfound strength and vigor and will take up exercising just to show you they’re better at it than you.
• Parents, you’ll have to clean up your nutrition act as well, since even dogs and toddlers can identify hypocrisy when they see it. We have to teach our children how to care about their health. We can do this by showing them how much we care about ourselves.

Good luck Mom and Dad.

About the Author...

Richard and Mary Morris saved their own lives by making a decision to nourish their bodies instead of follow another fad diet to lose weight. Incredibly they did lose weight, 200lbs together. More great advice and support for healthy eating lifestyle can be found at Richard and Mary's site breadandmoney.com