Eating Healthy

[Backyard Buddies]

In order to give back the "What did you pick today?" thread, our discussion is being moved over here.

I picked all my spinach too and cooked that up with some fresh lemon. Even the kids like it.

That's awesome Simple Life! My kids love spinach, too. When I'm making dinner and the kids ask what I'm making, if the answer is "cooked spinach" the kids always shout out "Yaaaaaayyyyy!"

It feels great to grow something freshly in the garden and have the kids learn to love it as much as we do!.

**** OK fellow guilty thread stealers , I brought the thread over here, but YOU need to go back to the original thread and delete your posts over there. I can't do that for ya!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I don't know about your children, Backyard Buddies, but mine loved the garden fresh vegetables overall.

A lot of people complained that their children wouldn't eat a vegetable, but mine were the complete opposite. I always thought that having them introduced early; being cooked well (not made into green mush.), seeing us enjoy them, and having our own garden, were factors in that.

To me it seems natural to like them, rather than vice versa. When you talk to people a generation back from us, or 2, their memories almost always include fresh produce/eating out of the garden, and they are fond memories. You might also notice that vegetables go over well at senior centers.

That being said, something's shifted for that to change. Too much advertising? Junk food all through the store? Parent's who don't make fresh vegetables?

 

[Nubsmum]

One reason why we put in a bigger garden is that we(our family) decided to eat healthier in the new year. We started in Jan and have done great so far. We are eating way more greens, fruits and veggies. In season and local when we can. We are eating WAY less prepared foods, packaged foods and junk. I am freezing more for the winter and plan on canning as well. I am picking strawberries and making jam with splenda(ya, I know it is a chemical-ya can't have everything) We are also working on getting chickens for eggs. Have an old coop we are revamping. The whole "being more self sufficient" thing is very motivating and interesting. Lots of work but very satisfying. Also makes for less time in front of the boob tube and more time for hard work-good for me-I need all the exercise I can get

:mow

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I agree completely, Tutter! Veggies were a natural part of our meals when I was growing up. It was never assumed that we would not like something, but rather that while it may be something new, we would certainly enjoy it. We have always eaten veggies (many different varieties) and serve them to the kids.

My kids' pediatrician helped, I think. When moving on from cereal to fruit/veggies, she recommended that we start with the yellow veggies, then the green, then move into the fruit whereas many pediatricians recommend cereal to fruit to veggies. I didn't shy away from any veggies, either. I'd cook up fresh beets, process them, and feed those (both of my kids LOVE beets!). I'd do the same with broccoli (both of my kids love that as well). As soon as they could pick up and consume bigger pieces, whatever veggie we were having for dinner went on their plates as well.

But, I think that part of the problem is that there are folks who don't like certain veggies and communicate that certain types are "yucky" and therefore don't serve it. Also, kids will naturally dislike a new food and the parent will simply never serve it again. I didn't function that way. I might not serve it for a month or two, but it would show up again with no fan fare or proclamations. It was surprising how often the rejected food became a favorite. I'm still working on mushrooms for DD and melon for DS!

Kids are more likely to try what they've grown, so maybe what we need to do is encourage more people to plant gardens!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I was grocery shopping last week and my 7 year old son asked me to buy more broccoli. He is also the one that recommended I plant some in the garden(we did).
His teacher at school told me that he brings in the healthiest lunches in school and that he eats better than the teachers. I was shocked to hear that. I said well what does everyone else eat? She said parents send the kids to school with poptarts,lunchables,lots of junk food snacks.
It never occured to me that I was sending in anything different. He takes grilled chicken sandwiches, a garden salad and a piece of fruit. For snacks he likes raw veggies, broccoli, carrots,peapods,greanbeans etc.
I think they will usually eat whatever you bring them up on.
Yesterday I made a few batches of homemade granola and yogurt.
My kids can't get enough of that stuff.
I don't like the amount of sugar that is in the store bought yogurt, especially the ones aimed at children so I make my own.
BYB, I think you are right about how you have to keep on offering the same foods to the kids. I read somewhere that it takes 17 times for a person to develop a taste for foods they previously didn't like.
I agree that kids would probably be more apt to try things that they grow themselves.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Tutter, I think the shift has to do with the advertising aimed at busy parents. They market prepackaged, just heat em up foods like they are a godsend to all us busy parents. They even claim they are healthy alternatives to homemade.
They also make it cheaper to buy a frozen pizza or chicken pot pie than if you were to purchase some meat,fruit and veggies. If you read some of the garbage they put out you can see how overwhelmed parents will fall into that trap and justify serving processed foods for dinner every night.
Its false advertising that has caused alot of ill health and obesity in this country.
Also, alot of parents don't realize how easy it is to toss a salad or steam some fresh veggies.
Do you think that part of it is also that years ago alot of emphasis was put on the woman of the house cooking homemade food. A while back it was very common for woman to make dinners from scratch every night, along with homemade pies, preserving their own foods etc.
Women took pride in their homemade jams and pies.
Then it seems like advertisers made it out to be that was for the stay at home moms and professionals just don't have the time to do that.
Then it was even the moms should be too busy running the kids around to soccer practice to cook dinners.
The commercials make it look like you are doing your family a favor buy serving them frozen french fries and chicken nuggets. (I am not criticizing anyone who does this I am just making an observation of the advertising industry and the current trends) they make it sound like you are taking time away from your childrens' busy schedules to cook for them and by buying their prepackaged processed food that you are actually a better parent.
It took a turn somewhere along the line that if you were home making a pie that it was an old fashioned thing to do.
I have people actually make fun of me for making pies, holiday dinners from scratch ( don't you know that you can order a whole premade dinner from the market )canning, etc. I haven't even mentioned the root cellar idea to them.
I am probably not wording this right, hope I am not confusing what I am trying to say.
I hope that we see a turn in this trend now, it seems people are starting to get back to basics.
I would love to see a campaign for that. They should be airing commercials for canning jars, growing your own veggies, or supporting the local farmer's markets....
Again, just my observation on the way things have changed, I could be totally off base, it wouldn't be the first time.


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[Backyard Buddies]

Backyard Buddies, that's all so true, and important.

That's an interesting approach to changing from cereal, and it makes a lot of sense!

We had a kind of "rule", which is that everyone was allowed not to like one or 2 things. I know that while I eat a huge variety of foods, I don't like everything. And I think it takes a little pressure off of everyone. If you really dislike a food, and think someone will expect you to eat it, you can begin feeling dread, which leads to all sorts of issues.

My ds, for example, would eat everything you put in front of him, and I think would have gnawed the doorframe if dinnner was late , but he never liked liver, and still doesn't to this day, as an adult. It would have been a useless, and stressful battle, had I persisted.

Yes, the world be better a better place, IMHO, if people all planted gardens, or at least a few containers of herbs and such, depending on where they live.

Simple Life, that's quite a compliment, and those *are* good sounding lunches!

And besides the sugar in many commercial yogurts, there can be unecessary starches, colorings, "flavorings" etc., depending upon brand. Even if you find a good, say, peach yogurt, the chances are that there are sulfites added to keep the fruit bright.

I won't name the brand, but it's a cheese manafacturer, and I took a bite of someone's raspberry flavored one not long ago. I'd love to have everyone buy a carton to see if they agree that it's the sweetest yogurt ever made, and I'm not kidding in the least. I read the back after tasting, and my hair just about stood on end after reading the amount of sugar added. I'm not sure how they got that much in that little container.

Besides, homemade yogurt is just so darned good! I'm going to try a new starter, and see how it works!

Oops, I think we are hijacking the thread...we can always cont. under the "me etc." area of the forum.

 

[simple life]

Backyardbuddies,
Thank you for switching this to a new thread. Great job and this should be good for another interesting topic.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Good! I'm glad that the transition from the hijacked thread to this one worked out OK.

Nubsmum - I think it's great that the self-sufficient thing and the bigger garden is working out well for you and your family. Yes, in some ways it is more work, but in other ways, I find that it isn't. The garden takes more time, but don't you find that you begin to build meals around what happens to be ready for harvest that particular day? When my garden is in full swing, instead of standing in the open fridge or pantry, I'm out watering, come up with an idea for dinner, pick a few things, then put it on our table. When we have tomatoes, we eat all these really healthy tomato based meals - tomatoes, garlic, and basil over pasta (takes less than 10 minutes to throw together if the pasta is angel hair - less time than a frozen meal), chicken and tomatoes, fresh salsa, main dish salads.

Simple life - That's great about your son asking for more broccoli! Today while shopping with my daughter, she asked me to buy her a carrot for her afternoon snack! I loved your thoughts you shared about the way things are today. As for what brought us to where we are today, you covered some of the same things that I've observed. As to how we got there, I think that the origins are pretty clear in our US history. After the huge disparity between poor and rich prior to the stock market crash, then the evening out of many of those folks in and through the Great Depression (a time when Victory Gardens and self-sufficiency were quite high), the middle class sprung out of the prosperity following the war. Folks moved away from the farms in record numbers, moving to the cities on smaller lots. Technology came to new heights and all kinds of gadgets and such became affordable to many. It became a badge of status to have a car, a washer, cookware that made it easier to spend less time in the kitchen, and yes, frozen food and processed foods to do the same. The children of folks who remembered how hard the times were in the Great Depression and during the war years, embraced this newfound "status" and these same folks lost the ability to do the things that were natural to their parents. We're in a new era. Many folks are struggling again and the middle class is feeling hard-pressed by the economic issues at hand and are beginning to embrace a new way - a way that what was old, is new again.

I guess that I'm a bit of an oddball. I've been this way long before it was popular, but even I'm finding new ways to be more self-sufficient. For me, my wake-up call came at the sudden death of my father two weeks into my first year of college. It changed everything in my life. And, while I wish that things had been different, the struggles that followed provided the environment for me to learn how to do with less, and how to make little, more. We could live in a bigger house and have lots more toys, but we're happy living the way that we do.

But, as for commercials for canning jars and such, it ain't gonna happen. Never forget that commercials are made, not by people who're wanting you to have something that's good for you (tho they'll tell you that it is), but something that's good for them, or at least for their pockets. Nope, this will be a grass-roots effort. Thank God for the Internet, where folks can come to learn from others and also to teach others better ways to do things. If some of those folks who've bought into the corporate spin stumble upon some of these discussions, they may just learn that there is another way. I learn so much from you all and am grateful to be here listening and learning. Some of those folks out there will do the same!

Tutter - So, did you stop cooking liver because your son wouldn't like it? It's not something I make here (hubby will order it out every once in a while) but I don't think I've ever made it at home, at least not in the last decade and a half!

I agree about the yogurt. I like the home made stuff so much better! Do you have a Trader Joe's up your way? The starter that I've been using to make mine is the French Cream Line in the Trader Joe's brand. It makes a really smooth and creamy yogurt, even though I make mine with only 1% milk!

 

[Tutter]

Thanks, good work! I'm working my way up the forum tonight, and when I get to the old posts, I'll delete them!

That's funny, because I've always done things this way, too. What's gaining popularity now isn't new to me. Not because I had to do them, because I wanted to, and felt a need to.

You're right, this change isn't going to happen on the corporate level, there's too much profit in things as they are. It's going to be the people who become disillusioned with things as they are, or as they will become, watching the grass roots movement already in place.

It all sounds so militant; it's almost silly when you realize that all the "movement" is about is having a garden, not making waste, and learning the same skills mom/grandma/great-grandma had/have.

But we lost the knowledge very quickly to do what our mom's and grandmother's did such a short time ago, and you're absolutely correct about the events, and how they happened; and why.

Ecology Action was working with people in Russia in the early 90's, to teach people there at the dacha's (sp?) to be able to feed themselves. (What they do is work with a core group of people in various countries, then the people they teach go forth and spread what they've learned to other people in their own countries.) In the time since the state took over the care of the people, the knowledge of *how* to do it themselves had been lost. That fast. A little further back than here, but not by much. I have been amazed at how quickly and easily knowledge from BC could be lost.

I think people will want to learn to be self-sufficient, and not feel defeated and give up, as long as there are places like this to come to. It can be a huge task to grow your own food if you've never done it, and have no support.

And they may have different reasons. Some will want to save money; some will want to be kinder on the environment; some will want to put healthier foods, or at least less chemucal laden, in their bodies; some will be concerned for their children's health where their own health hadn't been the push they needed; some will want to be like other's they know who are doing it. As long as we don't judge what motivates a person, and just offer support, the numbers of people who will relearn the lost skills of growing a garden will increase, and then *they* will, in turn, help others.

Hmmmmm, I think I just found a soapbox along the way somewhere.

No, I didn't stop making liver. His 2 sisters, and dh, liked it when we had it. We had liver and onions once in a blue moon, (I haven't made it in a decade, at least.) but mostly I make chopped liver from chicken liver. I need it, and I like it....if made the way I do. Now I just give him fair warning, since he doesn't care to smell it cooking (I have to agree there!) and he finds something to do while it cooks; though I do try to cook it when he's at work, now that he's older.

I think there might be a Trader Joe's down in Santa Rosa, but I never get there anymore. I was using Nancy's yogurt for a while, but I'd like something different, and just tried, Oiko. It's a Greek yogurt, it says, and organic. I tried one of their vanilla ones the other day, in my seatch for a new starter, and it wasn't thin, as I'd expected, and had none of the sourness we are used to with most commercial yogurts.

I don't mind the sourness, especially with a cookie (I like cookies and lemonade.) but it was starting to feel like a bit much when eaten alone, as a meal. It's pricey, but if I freeze what's left into cubes for future batches, it shouldn't be too bad.

When I make mine, I use 2%, because that's as low as the milk I like goes. It's a dairy from up here. Have you heard of Straus? They make organic milk, ice cream etc.