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I've been wanting to write a post on kids for sometime now. It's a touchy subject and I just wasn't sure how to approach it. We as parents have a very very tough job. Our little ones don't come with manuals and we all do the best we can how we can. This will probably be my only post on the subject, or at least one of very few! I hate giving advice with kids. I really do. However, I do want to give a thought on the subject. Sometimes it's nice to get others take on a things!
I really stay away from feeding my kids any sort of lifestyle. I'm mainly paleo and they are not. I would never dream about feeding them vegan or vegetarian, or any other boxed way. If you do and you are passionate about it GREAT! It's not for my family. I really feel that kids are such picky beings, I just want them to eat. I want them to be nourished in wonderful ways that feeds their growing minds and their growing bodies. My motto with kids is, JUST EAT! Just like adults, what works for one won't work for another. I feel the same way about children. Just because you are a vegan, doesn't mean a Vegan lifestyle will work for your child. Just because you don't eat carbs, doesn't mean you child will do well with a low carb life. I know as parents we want to lead by example. Well show them real food! I really feel in my heart that we need to focus on teaching our children's better farm practices. That it is not okay to factory farm our animals. That it is not okay to treat them with abuse. That it is not okay to have 10000 chickens in one barn. This, this needs to be our teaching. We need to teach our children about where our food really comes from. The work put into making them a meal. We need to teach our children about chickens laying eggs and turkeys for Christmas. We need to show our children the dirt in which our veggies are grown and we need to bring them to talk to farmers. Our children are the future and we have strayed so far from real, we're now raising children who have no idea where food comes from or how food is grown. I really feel we need to focus more on keeping it real then focusing on 'they can't eat meat' or 'they can't have grains!' or 'sorry my kids don't drink from other animals' I really hate restricting any growing child's food intake. They are growing and you have no idea what food their bodies need. I try to stick to keeping it real. I try to feed my kids from scratch. I offer meals that I made in the kitchen, with ingredients that are nourishing. When my farm box comes in, I want them to be excited by it. I let them explore things like boar and venison. They know we eat cows and pigs. I don't hide things from them. I also try to get them to recognize how food feels in their bodies. I teach them about treats and goodies. They know we can buy ice cream in a box, but making it at home is so much yummier...and we know what's in it! Just keep it real! Now our family isn't perfect. We do teach a lot about food as we feel it's important. However, they do go to school and birthday parties. There are sleep overs and playdates. We don't ever restrict food during these times. Food is supposed to be fun. Some of the best memories are with food! My kids eat very healthy at home, at school if I even think of packing a fruit or veggie it's boycotted. They like granola bars and yogurt tubes. They like cheese strings and white bread. I have tried very hard to sway them a different way, I really have. However, sometimes it's just not worth the fight. They eat a healthy breakfast and a healthy dinner. On the weekends I can make sure the meals they are eating are packed with nutrients. I'm not going to fight them on lunches. They are eating and working on full bellies. Again, I'm not going to tell you how to raise your child. This is your being. I do feel that every child needs to make a decision for themselves on the food that goes into their bellies. Teach them about food. Let them explore in the kitchen. Get them growing stuff in the garden. Make food exciting and memorable. Teach them about good farming practices. Always offer and have on hand real food. If you do this, I believe when they get older they will make better food choices and be knowledgeable on what foods they want in their bodies. My 8.5 year old is now at this stage. She hates meat. She's our resident vegetarian. I don't push meat with her, but she knows if she isn't going to eat meat, then she will have to eat more veg. I really feel she knows her body better then I do. If she's not comfortable with a certain food then that's probably because her body doesn't need it. I know it's hard when we are really passionate about food and firmly believe in what we are eating. I get this. However isn't it more important to educate them on food then have them focus on what they should or shouldn't be eating? I'm so worried about kids these days. Very worried. I feel so many of us are more focused on the cause and not the big picture. I want my kids to know that if we can't get local tomatoes we should grow them. I want them to feel comfortable going to farmer brown and asking about what his cows eat and to see his fields. I want my kids to know that bread comes from wheat, that you knead it with your hands, you rise it with yeast (or sour dough!) that it's a process and it takes work and love to make a loaf. These practices are such vital and important lessons. Maybe this is just my approach to raising my kids. I know everyone is different. I follow the same practices with everything. I am a Christian. It is important that my children follow Christian practices. However I do educate them on all world religions. Maybe they connect better with Buddhism or Judaism. I'm trying to raise children confident in making decisions so I'm arming them with all the information I can. To me. This is the bigger picture. Yours in health Tiffany Today I took my friend Kim with me up to Morden's Organic Farm Store. Kim is a closet foodie, who cares about keeping it real just like me! It was a perfect day for it too! Morden's is located in Dundas, Ontario. just outside of Waterdown. It took me about 20 minutes to get there from Burlington. The farm is in it's 6th generation and looks like the sort of place you want to bring a picnic and spend the day! You enter in the barn and the array of lovelies sitting waiting for you is abundant! The knowledgeable staff guides you through how it works and lets you pick the rest. I was going for the wild game (they have; venison, boar, emu elk, kangaroo) and the pastured beef. Kim just wanted to get out of the cold cellar! The selection blew me away. I couldn't believe every week I go to the grocery store when in 20 minutes I could be here! Everything is (obviously) organic. There is game, along with pastured beef and regular beef, pork, chicken and even fish! There is also some pantry staples and a wee bit of produce to round it off! My haul today included; Pastured ground beef and pastured stewing beef, Venison roast and stewing venison, Turkey maple sausages, a boar jerky stick and 30 eggs (that we shared!) in total $100 Canadian! Not bad for organic, pastured and wild! Check out some of the pictures! Defiantly my new meat haunt! There are many excuses why you can't eat a healthy lifestyle. Maybe your life is hectic and crazy. Lots of family events. Work long hours. Too many client meetings. Whatever your reason, they aren't good enough. If you are serious about your health then those are just your way of rationalizing why you still eat the way you do. When you are truly serious about your health, those life happenings won't matter.
I have three kids, my hubs often works late and long hours, I'm a hockey mom and a babysitter. I have family that loves to get together and hang out. I have friends who like to meet for coffee dates. I get all the reasons why. I get them. In my quest for optimal health, I too had many reasons why I wasn't succeeding as well as I should. I'm a new mom, I'm tired, I'm busy with little ones, I'm sad hubs isn't home, I'm supposed to be a big girl and my favorite, food makes the experience. Well food does make the experience, but it's not the experience. I don't want you to think that just because you're taking charge of your health you can't have fun anymore. The truth is, food does make up a big part of our life enjoyment. And so it should! Food is fun, it's delicious, it brings people together and it's nice to cook for those you love. I'm saying, pizza night shouldn't be every night. When you go out to eat, don't count on food to make the experience. Make who you're with, what's going on, the restaurant, the sounds, the smells, and the fact that you aren't cooking should be the experience. If you go to a casual restaurant with the kids, their food is not going to be out of this world cooked by twice trained French master chef. You're going to get big mike from your neighborhood back there! So these restaurants, don't be afraid to make your own menu. I'm famous for ordering a steak/burger no bread, on salad, dressing on the side. Doesn't really sound exciting. But I would rather save up a great meal for when I'm at one of these awesome food restaurants. When you go to pick more upscale restaurants, look for those with food you are going to be blow away from. Food that had thought and love and attention put into it. Food you can't get from big mike! I had the honor of eating at Jacobs Steakhouse recently. These are the type of places that the food is defiantly part of the experience. That's okay, make good food choices and enjoy. You don't eat there everyday (thank God or we'd have to mortgage the house!) I get that there is hockey practices and work commitments. I get busy lives and busy houses. I get that life is now working at a pace that is crazy! When you take charge of your health, you are going to have to do some work. Prep work. Know your schedule, know the week ahead, and then be prepared for those moments when everything goes out the window. I make sure I have good food items for toss together meals (salad, fast fry steak, fruit, cut up veg, spinach, and soups in the freezer) I always have lara bars floating around for those we gotta run around crazy days. Nuts are easy to grab as your running around too. Being a step ahead will stop crazy right in it's tracks. What about family gatherings? Bring food! Who cares what nona says, you don't need to eat! If you're not supposed to bring food (I get that family too!) then make smart choices. Even big crazy Portuguese families eat veggies! Start there and then pick a meat. Skip dessert (unless this is a once in blue moon occasion! If this is once a year gathering, feel free to eat vovo's custard tarts!) Don't let life be the reason why you can't eat well. Prepare yourself and educate yourself. Do research on great restaurants you want to eat at for date night or girls night out. Don't be afraid to make your own meal at the more casual places. Make pizza night once a month, so you can eat too. Think of those family gatherings as gatherings of support. Once you tell your family that you are taking charge of your health, they will want to be there for you (well maybe except nona who might keep saying 'you need to eat, you so skinny') In todays expensive market of organics and free range everything. It's hard to imagine you have deep enough pockets for it all. If you get anything from my little site; it isn't I have to eat this way, It should be, I need to try. Would it be nice if we could afford to shop at whole foods every week, absolutely! The truth is not everyone can. Some of us are living pay to pay doing what we can. All I want you to do is try. It takes hard work and looking at the facts. But with a little effort, we can all eat more healthy. To be honest I can't afford whole foods, I can't even afford organics weekly. I did however sit down with my budget and figure out what's important. My family eats lots of meat. LOTS! so it was important to me that we eat the best, or the best I can afford I should say. I can scrub and soak veggies/fruit, I can't scrub and soak meat! My budget allows me to go to Longo's every week and get my meats there. Are they organic, free range, grass fed lovelies? No. However, they are mostly local and they are the best that I can afford. I get beef from VG meats and most of my pork is duBreton. When I can, I get organic chicken too. I'm always impressed by Longo's selection and prices. There are times when the organic, free range lovelies are cheaper then the regular factory farmed stuff! Again you have to look!
My fruits and veggies are hardly ever organic. I just don't have the money for that. However I do look around. Often times the difference in pricing between organic and regular is just cents. That I can afford! I have tried getting a local veg box delivery, however my families life is CRAZY and we have 3 children! I can't tell you from one week to the next who will be home or who will be in the mood for what. We ended up wasting more with a veg box, then saving. I would love to shop at farmers markets, but I live in the burbs. The nearest and best farmers market is Toronto. Who's got time to go there every couple of days! Sadly the local farmers market only runs May to October and I have to say, that they aren't always the greatest. Also they tend to run really expensive! It's important that we have good meat, so I would rather spend my money on that each week! Maybe your budget is pay to pay and you have to shop at Larry's basement bargain warehouse. Well that's alright. It's what you can do, and what you can do is the best for your family! Take a look around, see what the best food is there that you can afford! Buy that! Start making all you can from scratch. Bread, pancakes, jam, p.b, biscuits, cookies. These are easy and simple everyday items you can make, and you'll know what ingredients are in them! I understand times are hard and more and more people are having larger families. It is hard. But your health shouldn't suffer. Buy the best you can and the freshest you can. Filling in the rest with what you can make at home. I do know what it means to have to make your dollar stretch. With kids and life, sometimes your money just doesn't go as far as you'd like. That's okay. You don't have to buy organic and free range to be healthy. You just have to be informed as to what you are buying and buy what you can! You can buy chips or you can buy plantains. If you're committed to your health, you can make it work! Yours in health Tiffany On this lovely fall day the family and I ventured out to Campbellville (ON) to Goodness me's new farm. In a major play in the real food movement, Canadian owned Goodness me has bought a farm. Not just any farm, almost 40 acres of organic awesomeness. I had the pleasure of touring around with David Beyers. David and his brother Meiring are the heart and soul of this farm. Ensuring every crop is grown and harvested with love and passion. It warmed my foodie heart to listen to David speak. How he started in conventionally grown crops, with pesticides and chemicals and then moved on to the organic movement. How he grounded himself into the earth and rooted his being into the soil. The farm sits among houses and gas stations. Seconds from a major highway and minutes from a major town. Once you get up the lane, it all vanishes. It's like you stepped into a different time. Its quiet and the breeze blows just so. The farm ensures that the crops grow as God intended. Surrounded by the natural forest, bordered by sunflowers and rocks. The weeds grow wild, but as David says 'it keeps the bees coming'. David let us know about some farm secrets and how sometimes you just have to let it all go and accept what comes. It was a real treat to walk the grounds of a farm who truly gets what organic is about. To smell the dirt and the sweet crops growing. To see weeds growing among veggies. To talk to people who's very being is in making the earth just a little better for those around them. Well done Goodness Me. This is what food is about! If you get a chance book your tour around the farm today. It will inspire you! Since I'm right in the middle of another whole 30 and I'm trying to live a more paleo lifestyle. I thought this would be a good time to show you what a whole 30 looks like. I get a lot of questions about what the heck I eat. Nothing processed. Nothing from a box. Nothing artificial. No Junk. No additives. No preservatives. Just pure real food. As I get more writers and more people wanting to contribute. There will be more content here then just paleo and Whole 30. I write from this angle, because this is my lifestyle. Remember to do what's best for your body and what feels right. Just because this works for me. It doesn't mean it will work for you. |