Our children WANT to eat vegetables, they really do!

My 13-year-old daughter was thrilled that the peak of our garden peas coincided with her week of ballet rehearsals and recitals. "Non-messy" snacks were allowed in the dressing room, and she thought the peas would be perfect. She bounced in the house after her ride home from dress rehearsal and gleefully reported that when the dancers pooled their snacks, her peas were gone in a flash. "At the end of the night the Doritos were still there!" she said incredulously. Her contribution was a favorite, and that made her feel great.

I was surprised the peas were a hit. I half-expected other kids to poke fun, the way my lunchroom pals teased Dee P. for eating raw jalapeños, or Jeff V. for packing sandwich ingredients singly instead of already assembled. (Given the success of Lunchables, he was on to something!) One breakfast at camp the counselor gathered kids to stare at me when I sliced a banana into my cereal bowl, voicing doubts anyone would eat such a thing.

My neighbor has twins with wildly different tastes; the daughter asks for Twinkies in her lunch, the son requests salad. Guess which one the mom calls "a weird kid?"

All of my babies started out loving vegetables. What changes to make so many children forget this about themselves? What is it about our society that labels vegetable- and fruit-loving children as the oddballs?

My daughter's experience sharing peas with her ballet class reminds me that our children really do want vegetables. We need to unabashedly keep offering them.

What are some of your children's favorites?

School Lunch Shenanigans

A coworker of mine sent me this article about a recent school lunch shenanigan.The article tells the sad story of a girl who was sent to school with a sack lunch that consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice. The school inspected her lunch and decided that it did not meet USDA nutrition guidelines. Then they fed her chicken nuggets and gave her a bill for the "nutritious" meal.

I know that this sounds insane to most of you but in North Carolina, prekindergarten programs are required to evaluate the lunches parents are providing. I pose two questions.

First, should schools or government program decide what is best for our children instead of parents?

Second, If government programs should decide what is best for children, do we have reason to believe they are able to distinguish what is healthy?

I would argue that we risk losing a lot of freedom if we say yes to the first question. I would also argue that federal food programs have proven that they can't distinguish what is healthy. If you don't believe me, check out this article from chefann.com. It describes a recent USDA sponsored assessment on school lunches/   Here are a few excerpts from Chef Ann's article:

• Grains: The vast majority of grain products (bread, rolls, bagels, crackers etc.) were made of refined white flour. Only 5 percent of grain offering was whole wheat. 
• Fruit: Ninety-four percent of schools offered fruit or fruit juices. Only 50 percent of schools offered fresh fruit. The rest offered canned fruit or fruit juice.
• Combination entrée: The most commonly offered combination entrée depended on age; in elementary school, 28 percent of combination entrees were peanut butter sandwiches, followed by meat sandwiches; in middle school the most commonly offered combination entree was pizza with meat, followed by cheeseburgers and sandwiches with breaded meat or poultry.

In my opinion, the worst part of this is the control that institutions have over individuals. We have written multitudes of blog posts about farmers getting shut down because they sell raw milk. I have seen articles about people not being allowed to eat their neighbors free range eggs. I am scared that I am going to lose my rights. I think that I should be able to choose what I eat. I think I can make better decisions than a government program or mandate. I think it is much better to make wrong decisions (which I will at times) and be free, than be forced to do what might be better for me (which is unlikely) and lose my freedom.

What do you think?

Food Pyramid is Ancient History

We can finally eat healthy now! The evil food Pyramid that has ruled over our lives has been banished. No longer do we have to live in the bondage of our evil pyramid masters.

If you aren't already aware, the USDA has banished the Food Pyramid to the dark and musty corners of historical quaintness. You might wonder what is going to fill it's place as our guide through the strange and meandering paths of nutrition. Don't worry, they have given us a new hero to light the way and lead us to health. It is called.......... wait for it ......... MyPlate. Here it is in all it's glory.

 You can read more about there guidance on their website http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ . There are some good sugestions on the site. Here are a few of them.

	Balancing Calories
	●	Enjoy your food, but eat less.
	●	Avoid oversized portions.
	Foods to Increase
	●	Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
	●	Make at least half your grains whole grains.
	●	Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
	Foods to Reduce
	●	Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.
	●	Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

It seems that the suggestions are good. I wonder how much money went into creating this as I could have come up with this graphic and the suggestions in 45 minutes. What I would like to see is some encouragement to get everyone to grow their  own fruits and vegetables in order to limit our reliance on big business. I would also like to see an emphasis on teaching people how to form community gardens in order to make healthy foods available to those that often can't afford them.

In addition, how about we use the see through rule. If you rub your food on paper and it makes it clear, don't eat it. (Thanks Homer Simpson) Another problem with the food plate is the fact that I sometimes eat dinner from a bowl, and I also have square plates. How will I figure out how to divide my food when I am not eating off of a round plate? 

What do you think about the new guidance from the USDA? Where would you like to see more/less emphasis.

~Michael

Either Fart or be Fat

Have you watched this video yet? It is all about the "white poison", sugar. If you haven't seen it, grab a coke and some cinnamon bears big glass of water and a carrot, and get cozy. It is an hour and a half, but it is very enlightening, I know you won't be disappointed.

If you just want to hear about being "fat or farting" skip to about 1:14:00 and listen until the end for a nice recap of the entire video.

Then when you are intellectually worn out, check out this funny SNL clip on HFC

And here is the original that SNL is making fun of.

What do you think of this sugar and high fructose corn syrup debate?

~Marisa~

Asian Salad

Marisa and I attended the Utah County Beekeepers association potluck earlier this month. We thought it would be good to rub shoulders with other beekeepers as we are preparing for our first beehive. I was a little nervous to go to a potluck with beekeepers.

Be honest, what do you think of when you think of beekeepers? A few words that come to my mind are (and I know I am stereotyping) holistic, healthy, vegetarian, natural, earth conscious. So I had to figure out something to take to the potluck that I thought beekeepers would approve of. I found a nice healthy recipe and added honey (since I figured beekeepers don't eat anything without honey.)

I found this recipe for Asian Salad on Food Network. I tweaked it some to fit what we had at home, and came up with this version of it. It was really tasty and Marisa loved it. She has made me make it twice since. Here is my version. I doubled this recipe to get a salad bowl full but if you are feeding 4 or 5 people I don't think you need to double it.

Ingredients

1/2 Cucumber cut into matchsticks
1 14 oz bag Broccoli Slaw ( or 10 oz Broccoli stems cut into matchsticks and 4 oz carrots cut into matchsticks)
1 14 oz can baby corn

3 Tbs Rice Vinegar
1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro
2 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Honey
1 Tbs Sesame Seeds
1 Tbs Grated Ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
1/2 tsp Sriracha Hot sauce

Add Cut baby corn into fourths lengthwise.
Add Corn and veggies to bowl.
In separate bowl mix remaining ingredients.
Pour dressing over veggies immediately prior to serving
Enjoy

I think any crunchy veggie would be good in this salad. One ingredient that I would not omit is the sesame oil. It adds a nice nutty flavor that I don't think you can substitute for. Make sure you don't add the dressing too far ahead of serving as it will soften the vegetables up a little bit and they won't be as crunchy. I am telling you, this is a yummy easy recipe that will go into your long term recipe book. I am excited to have another recipe to use when we have more veggies coming from the garden.

Mike

How to Raise Kids Awareness to the Benefits of Healthy Foods

Earlier this summer I went on a road trip with my three oldest children to Grand Forks North Dakota. While we were there we went to the famous Whitey's to eat (get the fresh Walleye). For their appetizer they serve a liver pate with crackers and fresh vegetables. My kids did not want to have anything to do with the pate but they downed the plate of fresh veggies like it was going out of style. My Brother's were amazed at how fast they ate the veggies and that they chose them over crackers and bread. I was pleased to say the least.

Don't get me wrong, my kids would sell me up the river for a Starburst or a Tootsie Pop but in general they are open to healthy foods. I have often wondered what things parents can do to inspire the next generation to eat right. I have a few ideas on what has worked for us.

Let them garden: In my opinion, if you want your kids to eat and like veggies, they need to help you in the garden. My children are much more inclined to eat veggies that they know they have grown. At times Mason has said that he doesn't want anything, but if we point out that it came from the garden, then he is all in.

Give them healthy choices: We always have fresh fruit and veggies and the kids can eat them for a "healthy snack" when they need something to tide them over until dinner. Their favorites are apples, jicama, and raw beets.

Set an example: Kids do what their parents do. If you eat healthy then they will follow. Children have a strong sense of hypocrisy and they watch to see what you are doing. I try to hide my diet soda vice from them for this reason but they know better.


Along these lines Jamie Oliver has a new challenge on openIDEO. Watch the video to get a feel about the challenge but he wants people to present ideas on how to help children eat healthier. Comment on this post on what you do to help kids eat healthy and then go to this link to submit your ideas in his contest.