so, what is the point????

Since I have started ont his little journey of changing our diet to include no processed foods (as defined by earlier post) I have gotten many questions. Some of the questions have come in the honest how and why are you doing this form while others in the you are absolutely nuts and ridiculous form. So, here you have it....

My ultimate goal is to provide a healthier lifestyle to my daughter. She deserves to know what good food is and how to not only make it but choose it out of a line up of options. She has a few health issues that I believe could be helped by eliminating crap from her diet and I want to give her EVERY advantage I can. The more research I do on diet and nutrition and the affect it has on our overall health the more I am committed to making changes.

I attended an end of year party for a kindegarten class today. At this picnic/party I saw a class of 5/6 year olds gorging themselves on the "best" the parents could offer. Hotdogs on white buns, chicken salad sandwiches (which I never actually saw a kid take a bite of) doritos, sun chips, pirates booty, pretzels, fruit snacks, and sugary drink boxes in a variety of brands and flavors. Oh, and of course there was dessert, cake with more icing on top then I believe cake on bottom, oreos, choc chip cookies, and lollipops. Now, to be fair there was also a table that had strawberries, watermelon, and grapes.The fruit however, was set an a different table and I only saw 2 kids eat ANY of it.

What bothers me most is that our children are growing up with the notion that this is normal and good for them. We are giving them the message that vegetables (which there were none of) and fruit are secondary to the highly processed chips and hot dogs. I am not saying that all of it is bad. I am not even saying I will never eat these things or feed them to K. What I am saying though is that meals like this are the norm and then we wonder why our kids health is getting worse and childhood obesity is on the rise. I don't want to get on a soapbox (at least not tonight) but it is realziations like this that are driving me to make drastic changes.

The other question I keep getting is why I am making things from scratch that I can easily buy such as chicken broth, granola bars, and fruit leather. This is really just a personal choice. I know the way I work and that for me to be successful at change it needs to be drastic. Again here, my goal is not to boycott all processed foods forever. I will be the first to admit that once my initial 30 days of strict change is over I will gladly go back to buying items that allow me more time with K. But, if I want to make permanent change in my household I need to strip down to the basics and thoughtfully add back the foods I want in our diet as oppossed to cutting out a few things here or there and never fully getting it out of my system.

As for the sarcastic lot of you, my friends, harassing me about grinding my own flour, or making butter, or making my own yogurt.... I am not super woman!!!! I know I could make it all and go even further down this road of nothing processed but, I do have a life and some things just aren't happening for me, yet. I realize that although I am attempting no processed foods for a month I certainly can not avoid it all. But, trust me, if I had the equipment, and time to do it myself I would be doing so.

I am not against packaged food! I think we as a society are starting to demand more options and love that I can walk into Starbucks now and get dried fruit for K that only has 1 ingredient 9the fruit! My problem with processed foods come with all the additives in so much of it. The preservatives, the added sodium, dyes, and nitrates. Things that quite frankly I don't want in my body. I know I will eat hot dogs again. I look forward to a cheetoh, and an ice cream sandwich. Most of all I look forward to gaining the experience and wisdom to hopefully keep these things in check and continue to have them as well thought out and intended parts of my diet and NOT the filler I grab because I didn't think enough ahead to have soemthing healthier offered to K.

I also want to say that I am not here to judge anyone's diet! I am blessed to know so many people that share my commitment to healthy food for their familes and i thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for showing me that this type of change is possible and that not all kids are being raised on junk food!