the wonders of deprivation

anyone who knows me knows that i am just 'that mom' when it comes to food stuff. i am the one who brings my own snacks to sunday school, assumes when i am supposed to bring a salad to a potluck it should be green, and thinks if you have to add red dye to something maybe it was never meant to be red.... ?
there is such good food out there-- why mess it up??

we all have our things... there is a list as long as my arm of stuff i should/shouldn't be doing that other moms are passionate about....my sis was nice enough to bring up two this last weekend. cloth diapering and composting. don't do them. should. don't. why? the best excuse i have is that our plumbing situation was finally acceptable enough to do cloth diapering while i was pregnant with luci and-- by that point i didn't think maybe it was worth it... not a great exuse i know. and composting? i just imagine grayson throwing rotting stuff around my yard and that is the end of that discussion.  

food quality is at the top of MY list. nate calls me a food snob... and i kind of like it. so if admitting you have a problem is the first step on the path to recovery -- i haven't even opened the gate. :) in fact i am probably out back in the hammock eating something... organic, and whole grain... and locally grown.. and explode in your mouth with 100 flavors walmart doesn't carry delicious. :)

one of the  best reasons to keep kids 'deprived' from birth is that their taste buds are putty in your hands. people are always amazed at the things my children will eat. favorites include curry, hummus, pad thai, anything with tofu, spinach salads, raw nuts... just to name a few. this is one of our lunches.. you would think the kids had hit the jackpot by the way they yelled, 'yeah!! frozen peas!' i'm not making this stuff up....i'm telling you-- deprive your children... its awesome!:)

there is nothing different about these babies except that they have never known any better. grayson was destined for pickiness believe me. i have had to deal with my fair share of gagging on mushrooms and raw tomatoes, pushing the plate away, temper tantrums etc. we just kept going and you better believe i never went and made a pot of mac-n-cheese just because someone wasn't happy with what they had.

call me the mean mom but i just don't feel sorry for them.. 'oh no you have to eat healthy food.. there are kids in other countries who don't have enough to eat and there are children in our country who are starving on diets of soda, french fries, and candy. boo hoo... eat your broccoli.'
no... i don't actually mock my children.. most of  the time...;)
but i really don't have pity for them on their veggie hating days.

i usually tell them they can pick one thing in their meal they can 'pass' on... but i would make sure there were a couple of challenge foods in the dish. for example on our veggie pizzas we would have mushrooms, spinach, artichoke hearts and red onions.. out of that list ari would pass on the onions and grayson the mushrooms. that way they got to feel the power of saying no and mommy got to happily watch spinach and artichoke hearts get eaten. :) i try to make food fun too... take for example our rainbows with a pot of treasure over greenland and a serving of rocky mountains on the side... aka- cantaloupe over a salad with a mushroom cap and  tomato inside and chunks of banana with honey and walnuts on top... and yes i know greenland is actually covered in ice. ;)

we also do the dinner for breakfast rule. after many a dinner reenactment of the civil war i changed my approach...if i think i might have a fight on my hands i pass out small portions to the kids and the rule is you have to finish what you have---  if you don't want to finish it fine-- but how do you feel about lasagna for breakfast? after a few times of realizing they didn't feel too good about it we don't have many dinner time battles around here anymore... some, but not many. ;) there are a couple of true and honest just can't handle it, i might die or throw up before eating it, if you ever truly loved me don't make me eat this things. ari can not handle cottage cheese unless it is the cheap stuff. WEIRD. she will eat it off the salad bar at camp but i buy the good stuff and she ushers in a full out hunger strike... so now i know. :)

 i take the tiered approach to raising taste buds.. 6-18 months just the real deals.. fruit is actually sweet if you don't have a high fructose appetizer! 18 months - 2 1/2 years old only natural treats... we love the panda molasses candies, breyers all natural ice cream, yummy earth organic lollipops, and real dark chocolate. after that we start having a 'food conversation' ... we start talking about how it's fine to have something different on 'special days' like birthday parties, out on vacation, or just as a special treat enjoyed with friends or family... but to balance those treats within a healthy food plan for the day.

dyes and preservatives and gunky sugars are never great but we also aren't going to live in a tiny, safe corner of whole foods. we do what we can, when we can, as much as we can.. and that is good enough.  i have loved talking with them about how our bodies use food as fuel... that it is our responsibility to give ourselves what we need not just what we want. it has been so rewarding to see arianna start making some good food choices on her own. i see my job as giving her the gift of clean taste buds and the knowledge to use them wisely. we can't control everything and we won't live in a bubble... but we will try to honor our health as one of the most precious gifts God has given us.


so come on -- give peas a chance!! :)