No, I’m not “working” on vacation. I had this post ready to go before I left.
We’ve been taking Disney World by storm, or it’s taking us by storm; I’m not sure which. The weather has been absolutely perfect, and beyond that it’s been, um, interesting. We’re having fun, we’re bone tired, but we’re still going strong.
In not so happy news, please pray for my sweet friend Anissa who suffered a stroke yesterday and is in serious condition. I haven’t been able to stop thinking of her and her family all day.
There is no appropriate segue here, so I won’t even try.
* * *
Andrea asks: What about oils? Vegetable, canola, olive? What do you use for what?
When I read Nourishing Traditions and Real Food (links are in the Amazon widget on my sidebar), I threw out my vegetable and canola oils. I don’t even have them in the house anymore. (For more information on why, this article is chock full of great info.)
I use olive oil and/or butter to saute meat and to make dinner dishes. If a recipe calls for Crisco, I use lard instead. I use lard to brown meat for beef stew. And I use coconut oil or butter for baking. If a baking recipe calls for oil, I will melt coconut oil and use that.
Ms. M says: How do you handle your children’s “junk food” intake at things like birthday parties and other situations that you can’t control?
Oh yes. Once again, that 80-20 rule comes into play. I really try not to sweat it. And you know, if it were just once in a while, that would be fine, but it seems like there are ALWAYS occasions to fill our kids (and ourselves) full of junk.
Every Sunday at church, we have a “hospitality table” which mostly consists of sugary treats with refined sugars and flours. At school, there’s invariably a birthday party or holiday celebration. And then they often have a friend’s birthday party to attend on the weekend. The snacks they serve at my daughter’s preschool make me twitch. Then there’s the elementary school lunchroom, with its Doritos and Rice Krispie Treats for sale. I know. I’m going off again. I can’t help it. It’s a jungle out there! 
It’s not that I think having a junkie snack as an occasional treat is going to strike us dead on the spot. Quite the contrary. I’m all about having a treat every once in a while. I still grab an occasional Coke, I ate at Chick-Fil-A a few weeks ago, and I’ve eaten more than my fair share of Halloween candy over the past few weeks (and I even purchased it and gave it to the kids who came trick-or-treating at my door.)
But the older my kids get, the more it seems that they are presented with junk food at every turn. It’s not an every once in a while thing. It’s becoming a daily thing. And just ONCE, I’D like to be the one offering them a sugary treat. I don’t want to ALWAYS be the bad guy.
So I try to educate them the best I can, guide them to make wise choices and limit their portion sizes, and then hope for the best. Stress isn’t healthy either, ya know?
(And if you could only see what my kids have eaten this week as we’ve been on the road and eating out for every meal…)
Jacquelin asks: My question is how does one begin this whole foods journey, where do I begin?
The easiest thing to start doing is eliminating because it requires the least amount of effort. Stop buying sugary and sodium-laden snack foods. Eliminate junkie yogurts — anything with artificial color and sugar. Read labels and choose things that don’t have high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. Look at the sugar content. Snack on fresh fruits and veggies instead. I do try to buy organic when I can, to reduce the amount of pesticides my kids are consuming.
Then I think the best thing to do is to start with the things you eat the most. We drink a lot of milk, so one of the first things I did was switch to organic whole milk that is pasteurized, NOT ultra-pasteurized (from grass-fed cows, if you can find it.) Please, for the love of peat, switch to real butter if you haven’t already. And then butter your veggies. 
If your family eats a lot of sandwiches, switch to whole grain bread without trans fats. Or, if you think you’re ready, start making your own.
Basically, I think it’s best to start slowly so you don’t get overwhelmed. And don’t feel like you have to do everything at once. There are still lots of things I haven’t tried yet or haven’t implemented wholeheartedly because I just don’t have the time and energy yet.
With that, I’m headed to bed. We have a big day tomorrow, partying with Mickey Mouse and “Sleeping Bleauty.”
I LOVE Tigger! He is my favorite character! Glad you are having fun.
Thanks for the info on the oils. That is the next step I am wanting to take and this was so beyond helpful!
We went around Thanksgiving about 5 years ago and stayed at the Contemporary. Actually had the molten lava cake while there in that very cool restaurant…at sunset even. Hope you have a blast!
How do you manage to look so pulled together even when running ’round the parks? I’m thoroughly impressed.