Ask the Housewife: Round Four

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I haven’t forgotten about your food-related questions on this post; I just figured I’d take a break from answering them over the holiday weekend.  Let’s dive right in.

Michelle says:

The more I read, the more depressed I get. Short of making everything from scratch, I sometimes feel like I’m climbing Everest in my attempt to avoid the “bad stuff.” And making everything from scratch is kind of kicking my trash, quite honestly.

Also, then I read that our diets shouldn’t be so grain-focused — but then I’m left thinking, “well, what am I supposed to feed my kids?” They’ll only eat so much fruit and veg. What should a packed lunch look like? What does a good snack look like? Is it true I’m supposed to be limiting grains, as well?

A more specific question I have is with regard to the vitamins and supplements you give your kids. I’d be curious as to the brands you’re using and the amounts that you’re giving them (i.e. are you doing a tsp. of cod liver oil in o.j. each morning, etc.)

Yeah, climbing Mt. Everest is a pretty accurate description of how I feel sometimes. But honestly, I do what I can and ignore the rest.  For example, I’d love to be grinding my own grain, soaking it, sprouting it, all that jazz.  But I’m just not there yet and I don’t know that I ever will be.

I don’t buy all organic, although I’d like to, and unfortunately, not all organic products are created equal, so that’s a whole other sticky wicket.  I’m quite arbitrary about when I buy organic and when I don’t.  It depends on price, availability, and my general disposition at the moment.

I still use regular condiments and such.

I even brought *gasp* Oreos to Thanksgiving dinner!  My son has a tree nut allergy (not peanuts) which makes the dessert table a virtual mine field of potential anaphylaxis, and I didn’t make time to bake something especially for him, so I asked him what he wanted me to pick up at the store.  He said Oreos, so I figured, it’s the holidays, who cares.

Regarding grains. On the one hand, grains aren’t as necessary to our health as good protein and good fats, but they aren’t inherently evil either.  I think the problem with grains is two-fold.

1)  We generally don’t eat the right KINDS of grain.  Healthy grains are whole, not refined, but as we all know, our grocery stores are full of refined carbohydrates and sugars.

2)  We eat too MUCH grain.  The majority of the modern diet is grain.  In addition to the obvious high-carb goodies like bagels, pasta, bread, etc that we all love, grain infiltrates most other food groups as well.  When you eat industrially produced meat, it was grain-fed.  Milk?  Grain-fed cows.  Eggs?  Grain-fed chickens.  Sugar in the form of high-fructose corn syrup is a grain source as well.  (Hello.  CORN IS A GRAIN.)

So, to answer your question more specifically, should we be limiting grains? Probably. 

What should we feed our kids? As much variety as possible.

Give them as many fruits and veggies as they will eat.  Try some new ones.  Take the kids to the store and let them pick out something new to try.  (I have heard this suggested; I haven’t done it, mainly because I make every effort NOT to grocery shop with my kids in tow.)

Yogurt (not the highly sugared, colored crap, though) and cheese are popular snacks at my house.

Nuts are a great snack item to have around.  Even though my son is allergic, the rest of us eat them; we just take care to not contaminate his environment.  Pistachios are a good source of Vitamin B6.  Almonds are a good source of Magnesium and a very good source of Vitamin E.  Those are our family faves.

Packing lunches is always a challenge. A packed lunch, in our house, usually contains a peanut butter sandwich on homemade bread (half white, half whole-wheat flour), carrot sticks, two pieces of fruit (I try to always keep apples, bananas, and grapes in the house, and lately clementines have been in season) and a homemade granola bar if I have them in the house.  Sometimes I buy those Cheddar Bunnies by Annie’s.  Sometimes they will take tortilla chips with salsa.  I was sending leftover dinner or soup, but the thermoses weren’t keeping those warm enough, so now I just do a sandwich every day.  Yes, it is still too much grain, considering that we often have grains for breakfast too.  But at least a lot of it is whole grains.  I’d like to do better, but I’m with you — I feel like I run out of options.

I’m conflicted on the vitamins and supplements. I read contradicting information, and I’m not sure a multi-vitamin is necessary, but at the present time, I do give my kids a multi-vitamin.  It is the store brand of a local whole foods store I frequent.  I may not buy more when I run out because they do eat so well.

I am more concerned with making sure they are getting adequate Vitamin D, as it may be essential to fighting off colds and flu, as well as seasonal depression (not that my kids struggle with that, but I do.)  Right now I give them this Tooth Fairy supplement that contains 300 mg calcium, 400 I.U. vitamin D3, as well as two probiotics — L. acidophilus and S. salivarius M18.

I have laid off the cod liver oil because they didn’t like it in their juice.  At one point I had the pills, but I haven’t bought more since we ran out.

Well.  I think that is enough food talk for today!  If you asked a question, I haven’t forgotten about you.  I’m working my way down the list.  I’d love to hear your input.  Sometimes the feedback on these Q&A posts is minimal, and I’d love to hear what you think and what you’re doing about these issues.

As always, I am NOT an expert on matters of nutrition.  Please do your own research and decide what is best for you and your family.