The science of nutrition is confusing. There is so much conflicting information out there. What’s a mama to do?
A few years ago, Jennifer Seinfeld’s cookbook Deceptively Delicious launched a storm of blog posts. The book featured recipes with sneaky ways of putting vegetables into kids’ food.
Some people were outspoken in their criticism of the book, saying that it was wrong to deceive kids.
But you know what? I don’t get it. Modern moms are inundated with advice on feeding their kids. Thousands of books and blogs are written about the topic, and much of what they say is contradictory.
We Moms get to feel guilty that our kids aren’t eating enough vegetables. But if we sneak them into their food we get to feel guilty about duping them?
There is no way to win this conundrum. Our culture tells us over and over that we moms are to stay mired in perpetual mommy guilt. We simply cannot win.
I have always aimed to feed my kids a whole foods diet. When my now 14 year old daughter was 4, she didn’t know what a hot dog was. I admit to brainwashing my kids a little when it comes to nutrition.
I don’t buy or bake junk food. We eat lots of fruits and vegetables. I never buy sodas or juice and discourage my kids from eating poorly. For the most part, they’ve made the connection for themselves that eating junk makes them feel bad.
But the older I get, the less confident I am about any particular diet being ideal.
There is so much contradictory information out there on the topic of nutrition. I opt out of spending my entire waking life trying to get to the bottom of it all.
The doctors, health experts and researchers, foodie bloggers and authors of nutrition books don’t even agree on this stuff. Care to join me in a quick rundown of the existing opinions on nutrition?
For every group convinced of one way of eating, there is an opposing camp with an equally logical sounding argument.
One camp says that meat is evil and will make you fat, congested, ooze cancer cells and die early, there are those who say you need it for optimal health and that our ancestors and all cultures the world over eat it and thrive. And then there’s the French paradox.
One camp says that milk is nasty and slimy and causes everything from bad breath to constipation to failed marriages (ok maybe not but almost), and then there are those who say milk is a perfect heath food but it needs to be raw. Is raw milk safe? Depends on who you ask. I guess it’s safe unless you’re one of the people who drinks it and dies. Then again, people die from eating raw spinach so who knows?
One camp says that food should be eaten raw. The opposing camp says we don’t have multiple stomachs to digest raw fibrous vegetables easily and even monkeys have the sense to “cook” their food to get the maximum nutrients.
One camp says that fruit has too much sugar and it should be avoided. The other group says that the body can’t tell the difference between “natural” sugar and the white stuff once it hits your blood stream so go ahead and eat fruit … with a cookie on top while you’re at it!
One camp says that carbohydrates are from the devil, that they cause tooth decay, overweight, diabetes, low blood sugar, schizophrenia, mood swings and other evils. The opposing camp says that it’s too much protein that is the dearth of humankind and that can lead to osteoporosis and other ills. Who is right? I haven’t a clue.
One group swears that fat is bad and makes you have heart attacks. The other says fat is a health food and necessary for brain development and nervous system health. This group even tries to debunk the cholesterol thing that doctors have been preaching for decades as myth.
One group is convinced that food combining is necessary for good health. The other group says that’s nonsense and that your stomach contains the equivalent of battery acid that can handle whatever you throw at it.
One camp says that you should only eat foods that work with your blood type, others say that’s utter poppycock and there’s no scientific evidence in favor or it.
One camp says fish is absolutely essential to good health and a veritable wonder food. Their detractors cry “mercury!” and “overfishing!” and would prefer we spend $10 for a deck-of-cards-sized fresh fillet.
One group says gluten, flour and wheat are bad for everyone and will make your teeth fall out, and that the grains you do eat should be sprouted. Others say bread is the staff of life, a gift from God and the way to salvation. (The latest confusion for me on this topic? The phytic-acid-is-bad versus phytic-acid-is-our-friend folks! Don’t get me started on the white versus brown rice argument.)
One camp says that soy will prevent hot flashes and help you stay thin. The other side claims that soy is industrial waste, a poison, and that it will give your sons boobs and make your hair fall out.
Then there’s the GMO and organic schools of thought. Some say non-GMO and organic food is no better, so don’t worry about spending more money on food. And that GMOs will cure world hunger.
What about beverages? Any controversies there?
For everyone who says coffee is bad for you, there is another study showing some health benefit to drinking it.
And the water thing. Some people swear that drinking a gallon of it cures every disease known to mankind. Others say Adam and Eve didn’t tote bottled water around and that drinking that much can actually harm the kidneys and cause death by overhydration. And before that, it will lower blood sugar and metabolism.
Tea. Tea is safe, right? Not so fast! Tea may have tons of antioxidants and make you relaxed, but you gotta watch out for … fluoride! Zing!
Here’s another thing to ponder.
People all over the world eat profoundly different diets yet are healthy.
How is it that the Masai peoples in Africa subsist on meat, blood and milk and are healthier than most vegetarians? And how is it that one billion people who eat mostly rice are also healthy? The Inuit and other northern tribes thrived on a diet of mostly fat with no (gasp!) vegetables or fruit. And the Irish built a civilization and they ate mostly fish, potatoes and oats?
It’s enough to make a mom a little nutso. Could it be that it just doesn’t matter as much as we believe it does? That we’re all just looking for something to feel constant guilt and obsess over?
Maybe we need to relax and not to take it all too seriously.
If the experts can’t even agree, can any of us ever find the truth?
The pursuit of the perfect diet is not unlike an eating disorder in itself.
It’s called Orthorexia. The truth is, if we are obsessed with every crumb that passes our lips, we may be creating more dis-ease than if we have a more relaxed, balanced approach.
To our grandmothers who lived during the Great Depression, all food was good food. Nowadays people are as passionate about their food choices as they used to be about their politics or religion. I wonder if we’re healthier as a result?
So maybe in the end, the best thing to do is eat what makes you feel well. (For me, that means reducing sugar. I also don’t do well as a vegetarian, so meat is necessary for me to feel well. I also thrive when I eat a lot of beans.)
But other than that, maybe we need to stop questioning food so much. At the very least, if we relax about food, we would have more time to devote to other healthy endeavors like rest and movement.
I read a book on nutrition that may just be the last I ever read on the topic. It’s called The Gospel of Food: Everything You Think You Know About Food Is Wrong.
Just one tiny thing about the book that I thought was fabulous:
In one study, when subjects ate foods they enjoyed, they gleaned more nutrients from that food. When the researchers gave that food to people who didn’t enjoy it, their bodies absorbed less nutrition.
Bingo! Our brains have a lot to do with it. Gasp! Enjoying your food…. pretty controversial stuff.
More: Maybe the French have it right – pleasure is the key? I hear their kids eat whatever’s put in front of them, no sneaking required!
Reading this post was a work out! lol
The way I look at it is if I feel it’s good for my family then that is good enough for me. Like you said there are so many differing opinions out there to know for certain what really is the best for your body.
So in the end it’s left up to you and your personal opinion. And what I think is good for my family right now might end up changing months or years down the road. It certainly has changed from what I felt even this time last year.
As far as the veggies go…I still don’t like them much. I’m very picky. I eat them because I know I need to, but I don’t enjoy many. My Mother didn’t make us eat a wide variety of veggies…I don’t have a clue if I would like them now had I eaten them as a child.
I don’t mind sneaking veggies in, either. Heck, I wish somebody was here to sneak them in on me. lol I’m pretty lucky as my oldest likes veggies that many kids don’t like…such as brocolli. If there is brocolli on the plate he’ll eat it before anything else. 🙂 I love me some brocolli, too.
Anyways, good stuff here Carrie.
Nell I love broccoli too, it’s actually my favorite veggie but dern it all if it doesn’t give me the most severe heartburn. I mean like, rolling around on the floor moaning pain heartburn.
🙂
Well that was a good read Carrie. I think most of people think eating healthier is too much work or too expensive, I suppose it could be if you were buying all organics and fearing all of those things you just referred to in the post. I started making small food changes bit by bit about a year ago and I hadn’t realized how these small changes have added up until recently.
I stopped buying fast food and I have no desire to eat it, I imagine it as poison for my body so now I don’t want it. I don’t buy snack cakes, cookies or chips anymore and I turn away bday cake at lot of parties . I have developed a dislike to alot of those things. It is so easy to not eat these foods when you just don’t buy them . My 2 youngest kids have never hadr a sip of pop at age 4 and 6 and they don’t want it either. Not saying they don’t like or want sweets, they just don’t see me drinking it .
I can go on but who really wants to read about my food story? I just wanted to point out that I am not freaking out about everything new I read about foods, but I do know the difference between good and bad. I still have some guilty pleasures, but I am making a big effort to make better food choices while shopping, planning meals and teaching my kids how important our eating habits are right now.
.
Excellent post Carrie! My thoughts exactly – well sort of – you said it better! LOL
Nuf said! 😉 Great post Carrie!
Thanks for your comments ladies. 🙂
Excellent post Carrie 🙂
whew! you really did have a lot on your mind. 😉
i am with you in that if you think too much about food and nutrition, it can easily get overwhelming.
i believe our best bet is to pay attention to what we are eating and feeding our kids by reading labels and avoiding artificial colors and flavors whenever possible, as well as by eating as much fresh food as we can. organics are certainly nice, but they are costly.
i think people can make little changes here and there that will help benefit them. it’s way too overwhelming to think of all the “bad” things we eat and try to cut them out all at once. rather pick a few things and start by replacing those with healthier versions or other foods. i think it’s a process.
before i had kids, i didn’t think about these things nearly as much as i do now. and i’m learning new tidbits about nutrition and health all of the time. it’s a constant learning process and a desire to do what’s best for my family, without going overboard.
as for sneaking veggies in to other foods, i believe in everything in moderation. if you want to sneak some veggies in here and there, fine. but i do think it’s also important to explain to kids why veggies are healthy and for them to see mom/dad eating veggies as a good example. i disagree with jennifer seinfeld saying she will put a box of mac n cheese on the counter so the kids assume that’s what she’s making, while in the meantime she creates her own veggie blend mac n cheese. that seems like she’s deliberately trying to dupe them. personally, i liked michelle’s idea (you quoted her blog above) about sneaking the veggies in the first time or two, but then showing the kids the “secret ingredients” so that they see that veggies can be tasty. i don’t know if this would work as well with younger kids as it would with say preschoolers and up, but it might be worth a try.
my biggest complaint with jennifer seinfeld’s book is that she seems to be out to purposely deceive her kids, is proud of it, and doesn’t think there is anything wrong with it. and she also seems to think it’ll affect their eating habits when they get older. it seems to me that by letting them eat chicken nuggets, brownies, etc. now when they are young, that they will think those things are perfectly fine to eat regularly in the real world, when in fact they are only healthy foods in ms. seinfeld’s kitchen.
ultimately, it is up to individual families to decide what is right for them. 🙂
sorry so long. just my .02 (and then some). 😉
amy
Great post, Carrie! Whatever happened to “everything in moderation” and why is there only one “right” way to eat and be healthy? We’re not all exactly the same so why should there be a “one way fits all” mentality? I’d rather play with my kids than decipher all this…
Brava, Carrie!
This is one of the bests posts I’ve seen on this subject in ages. For me, I feel that sticking as close to whole foods as possible (whatever they be) is the best choice for my family. End of story.
I agree with Amy as well. I dislike that Seinfeld seems deliberately intent on deceiving children rather than showing them that vegetables can be healthy.
I blogged about the Oprah show here:
https://mamaknj.blogspot.com/2007/10/fresh-resolve.html
I already had the book on my wishlist, but after the show I went ahead and ordered it. I want that chocolate chip cookie w/ chickpeas recipe.
My son is also a good eater. He eats all veggies, except broccoli. In fact his favorite food is black beans. I have always offered him fresh, whole foods from the time he started solids. He does eat some dry cereal, but for the most part we stear clear of the processed stuff. I really think shaping their tastes from the beginning helps a lot too. Mostly, I want the cookbook to sneak more nutrition in food I’m cooking for DH and I! LOL We are the junkfood lovers in the house.
You make some great points…
“Could it be that it just doesn’t matter as much as we believe it does? ”
I whole heartedly agree. I think where we get into real trouble is with the over processed foods and all the tons of chemicals and preservatives that go into them. Our bodies were just not designed to handle them. Food dyes derived from petroleum? Um, yuck.
I think we need to take a common sense approach. Everything in moderation. Don’t eat what makes you feel bad. Drink when you are thirsty. Stear clear of foods that no longer resemble “whole” (ie Cheese Wiz and Ritz crackers anyone?) Some homemade cookies are great… just don’t eat the whole pan. Oh yeah, and STOP eating when you are full. That’s a big one. 🙂
Wow! — Absolutely TREMENDOUS post, Carrie!!
My whole life — I have been obssessive about nutrition – from fasting for 30 days on water (very extreme)… when I was in my 20s, to going totally into junk food and smoking and partying, in my 20s, to being strict raw fooder for many months, to vegan, to vegetarian, to – you name it, I’ve tried it!!!
It’s only been the last 10 years, that I feel more balanced, and able to make the right decisions for me. And even in my coaching, I am all about helping people get in tune with their own bodies, and their own needs, and not imposing my opinions on them.
(Except when it comes to artificial anything, and sugar, and coffee….) Oh, there I go — I think I do have strong opinions on what works and doesn’t work!!!
Interesting about the thoughts – negative or positive. I know that with some of the nutritional products I use, we have had wonderful results with animals (when nothing else worked)…. so how would that be explained? Unless they were picking up on the vibes of the owner… and so they got healthier??
I guess my bottom line is, keep as close to nature as possible…
This is an incredible post, and a subject dear to my heart!!!
Diana Walker, Cravings Coach
I recently became a vegetarian. The move was not difficult for me, as meat (beef, chicken, fish, etc.) no longer taste as good as 15 years ago. Quick growth harmones and experimental methods, all in the name of the mighty dollar, has removed all flavor from meat protein.
My hope is to slowly win my family over to a vegetarian diet. Two books that have influenced my decision are, “The New Becoming Vegetarian: The Essential Guide to a Healthy Vegetarian Diet” by Vesanto Melina & Brenda Davis, and “The Maker’s Diet” by Jordan Rubin.
While the book, “The Maker’s Diet”, does not exclude meats, it does explain the importance of a healthy digestive tract. I learned more from these two books about the effects of vitamins and minerals on my health and well being than I did in twelve years of school.
I have to say there are lots of advertisements glamourizing the boxed version and other kids who sing its praises. No one is advertising homemade recipes or veggies. Sometimes you take a moment to teach your kids about what is best, and sometimes you save the argument for later.
They will gain a taste for the veggie version and then eventually they’ll figure out that mom’s not only tastes better but is good for you. Here at our house, I don’t bother putting out the boxed version, but if my kids were die hard sold on the box version and would freak if I did something different, i might try sneaking veggies IN the kraft version or use the box on the counter method. Eventually they’d be told the truth and we’d all have a good laugh.