When I moved out from my parent's home at the age of 19 I was on my own, in an apartment. In some ways, when I look back at the experience I had, full of irresponsibility when it came to things like budgeting, paying bills, and cleaning, I wish I had learned some more basic life-skills and been able to manage my money more wisely (my motto when I was a teenager was to spend as quickly as I could) but at the same time, there were a lot of stresses I DIDN'T have to deal with living on my own.
One area that stresses me out when living with a room mate is the kitchen. I am very particular about what I eat, There is a saying that what you don't know won't hurt you. This is so not true. Our body is constantly bombarded with chemicals and free radicals and whatever else you would call them. The damage happens whether we are aware of the science of nutrition or not. Whether we are busy or have an open schedule. Whether we are low budget or rich. Whether mom taught us well or we fended for ourselves. Whether we savour our food or subconsciously shovel it in.
We live in a marketing society. We are surrounded with products that companies make in order to bring in a profit. They may advertise safety or health or taste. But the main goal is to have an income from sales. To get you with the packaging. They will tailor their product to whatever will result in the highest income for them. Carefully worded claims. Following current trends. Adding chemical additives for taste. Using genetically modified seed. Employing harvesting processes that don't favour keeping the natural goodness. Failing to share the whole picture.
When we make purchases we all have different motivating factors. But sometimes we simply just want something to eat. How do we choose what we will consume? With cancer and heart disease very prevalent in my family one goal I have for my daughter is teaching her healthy living. I have tried to make things home made and limited the processed products (though I don't know if I'll even learn to make bread). But I am not the only one in her life.
Here comes the battle. Like many of you, many of my friends see nothing wrong with processed foods. Everyone eats it and the commercials say it is good. They love it, and eat it every day. And they share it with me. She doesn't really give him a choice. In any given day I consume many things that, before I had children, I never would have allowed. I'm not big on crackers that have no nutritional value. Jam that is loaded with sugar when I could just eat fruit. Extra sauces and dressings that aren't necessary. I'd like to season with spices and natural flavours.
They say to pick your battles. I try to remember this even though her future health is at stake. Once in a while I appreciate friend's differences. If I hadn't had to give in to someone else's way of doing things, my way would have remained very closed minded. As a result, I probably would have fed the fear that I was not teaching her well enough or nourishing her properly. I think if given that option I would have had a lot of stress seeking perfection in her diet. (And there's another negative habit for the body's complex systems. Worry.)
But I have had to let go. I feel guilty saying that. Like someone health conscious is going to read this and judge me for going against what I know is right. But life is full of compromise. And trust. (So thankful I believe I can cover her with prayer too.) And learning and growing.
Many of my friends enjoy Goldfish crackers and Cheerios.
My daughter always wants what is on my plate. So I try to keep my plate healthy (though she still doesn' eat finger foods yet). And I would love to get my friend's plate healthy as well. But changing the diet is very difficult. For anyone (pass the chocolate, please). There are the comforting, remind you of home foods. There are the easy, make in a pinch options. There are the wallet friendly budget purchases. And there is habit, habit, habit. I truly think everything right in front of us is against us. But what matters is the long term effects. The feeling good after consistent whole and fresh choices. The lasting health ramifications way into our later years. And that is harder to live for because we can't see it.
Everyone is born with a different chance of each cancer, each ailment. We don't know if we will get something sooner, later, or never. Our actions may not prevent those ailments. But they will definitely alter the time line. Maybe my mom's ovarian cancer was always going to be, but if she had eaten more veggies and less processed meats, eaten more consistently, never smoked, and exercised more, maybe she would have lived longer. I couldn't foresee that I would have cognitive dysfunction. But I never lived in a way to prevent it. Because I lived for the now. My body needs me to live for its future. If I had taken care of myself and still got sick I would have had the opportunity to pronounce that healthy is pointless. .
It takes will power. It takes research. It takes budgeting. It takes prioritizing. It takes retraining the taste buds to need less salt and sugar. But it can be done. Healthier eating doesn't mean eating what you hate. You don't need to have oatmeal for breakfast of you don't like oatmeal. But there must be a satisfying healthy option that you can decide to eat. You don't need to consume salmon if it makes you gag. But what other ways can you get some healthy oils? You don't have to eat Brussels sprouts if you can't get them down. But you do need a variety of vegetables.
Variety is the best arsenal against the confusion over optimal diet. Sure, a cracker here or there. But then a piece of fruit. A vegetable. A nut. Some cheese. All things in moderation. (I know, I know-- no more making cookies and eating them all. I need willpower.) We can't know everything about diet, especially with propaganda and scientific research constantly being "updated". But instead of pulling the its-all-harmful card or the healthy-people-get-sick card and not caring, we can fuel ourselves with a mishmash of different foods, slowly make positive changes, and accept when we know something is wrong. My daughter doesn't need aspartame, hot dogs, high fructose corn syrup, pop, white bread, margarine loads of table salt, dollar store snacks.Those are the things that I will stay away from.
And there are other things we will keep to small amounts. Like cereal. Cheerios, Grandpa?
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