On eating well

By Judy at My Freezer is Full.

I was at the grocery store last week, picking up milk and eggs and a few other things when I saw a sign promoting their new ‘healthy eating’ campaign.  It went something like this:  ”If, when your children ask, ‘Can we watch TV during dinner?’ you turn on the DVD player in the van- maybe it’s time for a change.”  I was appalled.

We hear so much talk about eating well and promoting health and good nutrition for our children but it seems that it is mostly just talk.  Last week my two older children brought home a piece of paper to fill out and sign, a by-product of the latest ‘Healthy child’ law in our state.  It requires that every child, from 7th grade up, have, on file, a plan of how they will achieve at least 120 minutes of physical activity a week.  Mine didn’t have difficulty filling it out, they have an abundance of physical activity and they’re not even involved in school sports programs.  Our schools have also been hopping on the bandwagon about serving more healthy school lunches.  Of course, what I’ve seen this entail so far is  serving whole wheat pasta or making the breading on the fried foods ‘whole grain’.  They try, but I think the problem is much larger than school lunch programs can solve.  It starts with the parents-with the loss of the family meal and with the fact that so few people now-days can actually COOK.

I have several coworkers who are prime examples of this.  First is one I’ll call Jessica* (names have been changed to protect the innocent).  Jessica is married with two children in elementary school.  She complains frequently that they have money problems yet she continues to buy her lunch at the hospital every day, saying that she doesn’t have time to pack her lunch.  But what she buys frequently are pre-cooked, pre-peeled hard boiled eggs and little plastic bowls of celery and carrot sticks.  She has asked other co-workers to bring in the coupon sheets from the papers for her to use.  I offered to bring in ours and she was surprised that I didn’t use them.  But then, most things that we purchase from the store don’t have coupons.  She is living the prepared food, quick and easy lifestyle, yet she complains constantly that her children have lots of health problems and that she often doesn’t feel well.  Hmmmm….

Another co-worker is Mary*.  She is also married with two children in elementary school and  16 month old twins.  She went through a stint where she was going to one of those places where you can, for a steep price, make a series of pre-packaged “home made” casseroles to put in the freezer. She gave up on that one after finding out that most of her family wouldn’t eat them.  She frequently talks of feeding her children bowls of cereal for dinner as she doesn’t have time to cook between work and evening activities.

In my opinion, these co-workers are a symptom of a larger problem in our society.  The loss of the importance of the family dinner and the ability to cook ‘real food’.  I’ll admit, I sometimes use box mixes for quick meals or side dishes but these are the exception, not the rule.  Two weeks ago, at an orientation session for my middle child’s church confirmation class, the other mothers were surprised to learn that we sit down as a family for dinner nearly every night.  There are few nights when that isn’t true in our home.  We eat real food (that you can pronounce all the ingredients!) together as a family. I find it rather sad that we are now the exception rather than the rule in society.

I definitely don’t have the answer to this problem.  I hear lots of people talking about ‘Eating Fresh and Eating Local’ but very few people can truly make that  happen.  It is definitely a lifestyle choice that you need to embrace.  There are plusses and minuses to it.  It isn’t always convenient or easy- it takes planning and effort- but my children are healthy and happy. We can sit and have a conversation every night at dinner, and my children are learning about ‘real food’ and are learning to actually cook, rather than just open a package.  For the most part, they know where their food has come from and what that means.

How about you?  Any thoughts?  Or any answers?