Monster for Kids

{DEEP SIGH}

My eleven year old and I went to a local festival, sort of a pre-Cinco de Mayo celebration in downtown Atlanta. The live band was cool, but we were a little disappointed with the other offerings. There were only a few activities for the kids. The whole event seemed to be about the corporate sponsors giving away cheap trinkets, or the opportunity to win cheap trinkets, in exchange for names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

We did a quick perusal of the grounds and noticed a long line forming. There were people of every age waiting patiently for something we thought must be good. We walked the length of over 100 people to check it out.

Monster. The energy drink. That's what people stood in line for on a hot humid day. We watched kids as young as 5 and 6 years old walking away from the stand with their little hands wrapped around sweaty cans of that brew. They and their parents sipped happily.

Here's what's in the can:

Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Taurine, Sodium Citrate, Color Added, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, L-Carnitine, Caffeine, Sorbic Acid, Benzoic Acid, Niacinamide, Sodium Chloride, Glucuronolactone, Inositol, Guarana Seed Extract, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Sucralose, Riboflavin, Maltodextrin, Cyanocobalamin.

Bummer.

Food Heroes

I want to recognize a couple of food heroes--one famous, one not. They give me hope!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution records his efforts to make a change in a West Virginia city that's been rated as the most overweight in our nation of overweight cities. His strategy for converting people to Real Foodists is to start with the schools, and though he meets great resistance, he's changing people's lives. If he only touches those teenagers he's recruited to help him, he'll have made a huge difference to some deserving kids. To hear these young people talk about how food has negatively affected their lives is a real tearjerker, but it's great to see them learning how to use food as a tool for positive change. Check it out.

Thianda Manzara, AKA The Garden Lady, rocks out loud! This hero started the nonprofit Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids. She works with almost a dozen schools, establishing vegetable gardens and turning the responsibility of working them over to the students. She's provided a means for over 3000 kids to get their hands dirty growing food for their schools' menus. How awesome is that?

Food heroes . . . we need more of them!

Raw Chicken Tenders

Wonder Girl and I cheated on this recipe for Raw BBQ Chicken Fingers, which of course contain no meat products (cuz raw chicken flesh is just nasty). It's the first Alissa Cohen recipe I've tried, and I'm so glad I did. We all loved these!

The original recipe calls for sprouted lentils, but they take a few days to sprout, so we used soaked sunflower seeds instead. I still want to try the lentils. I'm curious to see if they'll give an even meatier texture. Next time I'll try making a Raw BBQ sauce for dipping. The sweet and sour sauce we had was delicious, but not what I wanted with these.

We love our dehydrated treats, but like to make sure our meals are still primarily whole, fresh foods, thus the salads.

Cheers!

Here's to a healthy new year! If you're looking for ways to incorporate healthier eating into your lifestyle, busy though it may be, check out some of Kristen's ideas. One tip she includes is to make one Raw dish at every meal. How hard is that? A bowl of fruit alongside your kid's oatmeal is a great, easy start; a plate of cut veggies with lunch; a salad with dinner. Mission accomplished!

From the Mouths of Babes

Wonder Girl was feeling less than wonderful, so she spent the day lying on the couch watching videos. The last couple of weeks have been really busy for her, so she deserved a bit of R&R.

When WG asked for lunch, I wanted to give her something yummy that would support her immune system and help her feel better. I settled on Raw marinated collard and mustard greens with onions. (Some Raw folks think of onions and garlic as toxic, but I buy the data that says they have antiviral and antibacterial qualities.) Though she likes lots of my concoctions, she's not a mostly Raw kid, so I was happy that she didn't approach the meal with skepticism.

As I served up her second helping (at her request) Wonder Girl spoke up. "Mommy, I challenge you to make Raw onion rings."


Oh, innocent youth! Doesn't she know I have a small library of Raw "cook"books, not to mention the links to all the best sites for Raw recipes? Soon, and very soon, we shall feast on Raw onion rings!

Where Did All the Candy Go?

So here in the U.S., we've made it through Thanksgiving, the one day a year that it's socially acceptable, even expected, that we'll release our inner gluttons. Christmas is just around the corner, and everywhere you go there will be pretty tins of cookies, and chocolates and even old-fashioned hard candies. But speaking of candies, what's happened to your kids' Halloween candy?

Are they still munching a piece here and there every day? Packing some in their lunch box? Begging you for just one more lollipop before bedtime? If your kids trick-or-treat, how do you handle the bucket of sugar they bring home?

This year, Wonder Girl was allowed to keep exactly 1 pound of the candy of her choosing. Tough trade-offs were made, but she managed. Out of that pound, she's shared with friends and family, so that she doesn't eat it all. She's also been limited to 1 piece each day. The additional 3.5 pounds, I bought from her at $3/pound.

Yes, I threw it out. Yes, some would consider it wasteful, but I'd rather it be wasted in the garbage than on her teeth, and in her belly. I suppose I could've just forbidden her from making the rounds with her friends, but it seems a bit extreme to take from her something that only happens once a year and which will be a shared childhood experience with most every other kid in the nation. She's homeschooled, which means she won't have 1st day of kindergarten pictures, or field trips on the big yellow bus to remember. I'm glad I let her have trick-or-treat with the other neighborhood kids. Still, I'm even happier that the highly refined and processed, lab created, "treats" are just about gone.

The Nonexistence of Perfection

There are some gurus and extremists out there who say you must be 100% Raw vegan or your health is damned, you're a bad person and you can expect misery for all your days. While I love Raw food and think it can solve myriad health problems, boost energy levels and simplify life, I don't tend to agree with the extremes of anything.

If you're a parent whose family eats a SAD (Standard American Diet) and you're concerned for your children, please don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to perfect their eating habits (and yours) in order to make a difference in their health, fitness, weight, or activity levels. You can make gradual changes, still rely on the occasional pizza, and improve things for your kids.

Why not start with one simple change? When your kids want a snack, they have their choice of fruits or vegetables. That's it. All you have to do is make sure there are fruits and veggies on hands, especially the ones you know they like, and discreetly dispose of the unhealthy snack foods on which they might otherwise rely. For younger children, you might also decide that, for the short term, they must ask permission before serving themselves. That way you'll be aware of what they're eating as their idea of a snack transitions from highly processed, additive heavy, boxed products, to the good stuff that God gave us to thrive on and enjoy.

Please Don't Feed the Kids

Many parents develop the annoying habit of talking with their young children while carrying on a phone conversation. I sometimes catch myself doing it, though Wonder Girl has been pretty well trained to scribble me a note if what she has to say, or more likely to ask, can't wait. Fierce Teenager, on the other hand, still calls for my attention whenever it's elsewhere.

A few days ago, I chatted by phone with a friend, let's call her Leslie. Apparently her toddler son was having dinner while we talked. Leslie punctuated our talk with asides to her son. The specific words I heard her use were, "hush puppies," "french fries," and "chicken tenders." Perhaps they were eating a huge salad topped with these tasty extras, but I heard no mention of any fruits or vegetables. (Please don't give me the argument about fries & catsup equalling 2 servings of veggies.)

Reality check, Leslie is overweight, at least as much so as I used to be. Fortunately, her son is still within a healthy weight range, but can that last? Is there any chance he's building a strong and healthy body on that diet? As an adult, will he struggle to correct the damage and break the habit of meals made up entirely of fried food? Should I believe that the meal I happened to overhear was an anomaly in the grand scheme of their daily eating? Is there an appropriate way to suggest change to Leslie?

Leslie is college educated and socially aware. She works during the day, and so can't spend the day preparing a complicated healthy meal. But if we're honest with ourselves, we all know healthy doesn't have to be complicated. Swapping out the fries and hush puppies for an apple and some carrots, or an orange and a banana, or any other fresh, living food would be a great start.

How about you? What are you feeding your kids?