I just read this very timely post over at Kitchen Stewardship….
This particular post is very pertinent to me right now. We were still taking the ‘baby steps’ approach to traditional foods when my 7 year developed a cavity. I was already familiar with the book “Cure Tooth Decay” and felt like this was the so-called catalyst that I needed to really take the full plunge. So as mentioned in a previous post, we have completely eliminated all refined sugar (only using pure maple syrup, unheated raw honey, and powdered green stevia… very sparingly!), all white flour products, and are only consuming whole or freshly ground grains that have been properly soaked, sprouted, or soured. We get raw milk, cheese, butter, eggs and meat from a local farmer. The kids and I are also taking FCLO/BO blend, every day.
My husband is not entirely on board, honestly I think it exhausts him just to think about it, but he is usually thrilled with what is served, so all in all not to many complaints from him. That and joining the farmers co-op is saving us a lot of money! As our sole provider, that’s definitely important to him.
So, we, OK, I decided to skip the family Easter this year. Having it at our house was not an option. My seven-year old has been as educated as possible on all this and he knows not to eat ‘sugar or white flour’, and he knows why. But I just felt like it would be really unfair to bring him somewhere with all kinds of candy, dessert, pasta, and white bread being served. Most of my family still buys into the low-fat-dairy, no-red-meat frame of mind. They sort of laugh at me and my ‘crazy ideas’, it’s not mean-spirited, but it’s also clear they don’t take me seriously. People would be offended if they brought a candy gift and weren’t allowed to give it, even though they were previously asked not to. I am always amazed at what people consider healthy alternatives… since when are twizzlers not candy? At this point even my husband will say we need to make an exception. Yes, I agree, sometimes you do. But when there is a visible cavity in my son’s tooth and we are not trying to prevent, but to heal and remineralize, I don’t think NOW is the time for exceptions.
My sister warned me on Saturday about making food my idol. I’ve also had friends to tell me that I should be more concerned about my kids souls than their nutrition. But don’t our buying choices affect so much more than just the food we eat? Are we not to teach our children to be good stewards of the land and animals that God gave us? Not to mention solidarity with all our global neighbors? I can’t live my faith in a vacuum. I try to teach my kids and myself, to live under the premise that everything we do either brings us closer to God, or further away. There’s no neutral. And often times that means making a personal sacrifice in the name of the greater good. Something that we as Americans are not generally too good at.
catholichippie
The Catholic Hippie 