So...one night right around the new year, we were gathered around the dinner table ready to eat. I was so pleased with the meal I had prepared for my family, it was balanced and beautiful. Then it began...the grumbling and complaining. And that's when I lost it.
How could they complain?? These children have traveled to a place where they have seen people starving in the streets. They have a little sister who cannot eat, but rather receives all of her nutrition via g-tube. My children have perspective! They should open the fridge and pantry - which are filled with fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and meats, and be filled with gratitude. But they weren't. So it was time to get tough.
I announced right then and there that there would be no fast food for all of 2016. Also, I would once again pack lunches for them (they had begun packing their own lunches) to ensure they had healthy meals. The children were horrified. The prospect of a year without fast food seemed cruel and unusual in their eyes. But when I say it, I do it. And so it has begun.
As I sat down to determine a required reading book for February the topic of nutrition came to mind. I thought it would be good for the children to read facts about food to help reinforce the things I had been teaching them. After reading some reviews, I decided on...
Nutrition Facts for Kids
Alexandra is the first to turn in her essay...what a gem! Oh, how I laughed!
It simply has to be shared. So without further adieu, here it is:
Alexandra Sorenson
2.28.16
Nutrition Essay
So, nutrition. Nutrition,
nutrition, nutrition. BORING! You know, I would have enjoyed the book a lot
more, if it weren’t for the author’s totally biased opinions. Like, honestly,
in my mind, I was like, “Darn (insert author’s name), Back at it again with your
stupid, totally biased, ridiculous opinions!” Ok, my venting is done. Well, it
is done for now. Okay, back on topic. So, let’s just face it. There is an
overwhelming amount of fat people in this world. Well, this country. TO be
honest, I don’t think there is a whole lot of obesity in other countries like
there is here… Anyways, there are fat people here, because no one really pays
attention to Nutrition. People just eat artificial, fake, unhealthy food. And
that isn’t good. So yeah, every once and a while, you can have something
unhealthy. If I recall correctly, the author stated that 90% of the time, you
should eat healthy, and nutritiously, and that 10% of the time, you can have
sweets and other unhealthy foods.
I would
have to say, one of my favorite parts of the book was when it talked about
CHOCOLATE!!! Did you know that chocolate in its original, pure form is actually
really healthy, and good for you?!?!?! Yeah, you did know that, and I did too.
But it was really fun reading about chocolate. But most people actually don’t
know that. Most people know chocolate as the candy bars with all the added
sugars, milk, and other products. Most people know “Milk chocolate” not your
pure cocoa bean chocolate. You can probably tell that I like chocolate. Moving on. The book also talked about snacks.
Instead of eating potato chips with dip for a snack, why not have an apple? If
you want sugar, apples have lots of sugars in them! So do strawberries! SO, the next time
someone says they want sugar, or something sweet, give them an apple! So,
ALERT! ALERT! MAJOR ANGER ISSUES AHEAD! MAJOR RANTING AHEAD! BEWARE!
Here is
what really ticked me off about this book. THE AUTHOR! I absolutely hate the
author of this book! Ok, maybe I am being just a little over dramatic… but
seriously, come on! If you are going to write a children’s book to inform them
about nutrition, don’t have all these biased opinions! Please! Is it really
that difficult? NO! You may be wondering, “Well, what is wrong with the author?
What makes them so biased? Why are you freaking out?” This is why folks. In
this ridiculous book, the author claims that it is unhealthy to use hand sanitizer,
cleaning products, etc. I mean, seriously, is it really? Apparently to the author, when you use hand
sanitizer, it kills off 99.9% of the bacteria. Some with household cleaning
products. But, according to the author, it is the most terrible thing in the
world to use these items, and to kill 99.9% of the germs and bacteria! Why
might you ask? Because while it does kill off all the bad bacteria, it also
kills off all of the good bacteria, that fights off the bad bacteria. THAT IS
TOTAL BOB SAGIT RIGHT THERE! Yes, it is totally, definitely, the most terrible
thing ever, in the whole entire world to use hand sanitizer, and cleaning
products.
So, the author
also wrote about how you should only eat food that is all organic. That is a
bunch of phewy right there. Apparently, food that isn’t organic is done to
death by farmers, who drown their fruits and vegetables with toxic stuff that
will kill us. But no! We should not eat food like that! We should only ear food
(and I quote) “within a 100 mile radius.” Yes my fellow reader, you read that
right. That’s right. You should only eat food that has been grown within a 100
mile radius! Beware, if you eat food from other countries, you will die, and be
cursed. You might as well say goodbye to your family now, because you won’t
live much longer.
Another part that
I thought was really fun about this book was the food colors. The author showed
us how different colors of food mean different things. For example, white
foods, such as onions and cauliflower help with your immune support, green foods, like avocado
and broccoli help with detoxification, yellow foods like lemons make you beautiful,
orange
foods like carrots and oranges help with cancer prevention, red foods like tomatoes and red onions help with heart
health, and purple foods like grapes help
with longevity. Cool huh?
This book also
taught us about food pyramids. Food pyramids are nutritional diagrams in the
shape of a pyramid. They are designed to show us how to bake better food
choices. The pyramid breaks food categories into a spectrum so you can have
lots of variety in your diet. IT is recommended that we eat more food from the
wider sections, like grains, fruits and vegetables, and less food from the
smaller sections, like fats and sweets.
This book also had
a diagram of a nutrition facts label. We were taught how to read the label, and
learned what some of the numbers and words mean. For example, the “Percentages
Daily Value” show us a number of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, Calcium,
and Iron. These numbers help determine if the food in the package has a high or
low amount of a specific nutrient. The author said that two things that you
should NEVER eat is foods that have high fructose corn syrup, or Trans-fat. But
I think that it is ok if we just have a little bit.
So, the final thing that I am
going to talk about is Digestion. Digestion is the process of breaking food
down into millions of tiny pieces. Digestion begins in your mouth when you chew
your food, and ends in the toilet, following a route about 30 feet, all inside
your body. After you chew and swallow your food, it travels to the stomach by
way of a tube called the esophagus. Food does not fall down the esophagus
because of gravity; wave-like muscle-contractions carry the food down to the stomach.
We have what is called the small intestine, and the large intestine. The small
intestine is a coiled-up organ that looks like a tube. It helps us break down
our food. The large intestine makes poop.
In this book, I learned that
eating healthy really isn’t that bad… I don’t know if you have noticed (Whoever
is reading this right now) but I actually have been trying to be healthier. I
have been choosing apples (Surprise, surprise! J)
as my snacks instead of unhealthy foods. Actually, frankly we don’t even have
any unhealthy food in our house to tempt me anyway! (Except for the ice cream
in the freezer that I may have had a bowl of) But that isn’t the point. I have
actually been trying pretty hard to be a healthy person lately. And yeah,
sometimes I am tempted outside of the house. For example… my fellow reader,
(heaven help me) SO, funny story actually, really funny… A couple weeks ago
during the second weekend of Holes, my mom packed me a really delicious dinner.
Really delicious. Then, in between shows, my friends and I were talking. I was
just telling her about how I am not allowed to have any fast food all year, and
how outrageous it was. Then she was like, “Do you want me to get you anything
from McDonald’s? I am getting some for dinner. And then I was like, SURE!!! And
she came back with a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink for me. SO at the moment,
I was like, “SCORE!” But after I finished eating, I honestly felt like crap. I
felt really bad about it, and I physically felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t
even finish my food that is how bad I felt about it. And I still feel bad about
it. Only now, do I realize that I didn’t need fast food, and I still don’t need
fast food. I would have been perfectly fine with the meal that my mom had made
me. So, let’s all agree, me, and my fellow readers that we should just forget
about the past let bygones be bygones, and move on! Ok? OK! So, let me finish
by saying that I am really going to try and make an effort at this new
nutrition thing. I think that one I get used to it, I will have a happier and
healthier lifestyle. J
