Don't Play With Our Food

Maybe it’s because I’m a Mom and feel there is a certain expectation that I know exactly what my family is ingesting. Honestly, my children would be perfectly happy to be raised on canned Spaghetti O’s, hot dogs and chips, but I just can’t see that kind of diet giving them enough nutrients to get though the next growth spurt.

Then there is trying to make sure my husband and I stave off a heart attack long enough to see them through high school. With four boys and two girls, I am sure the teen age years will give us enough cause for a coronary assault without the aid of high cholesterol.

So I try to stock the healthy stuff. Resort to stealth when it comes to getting them ( husband included) to eat anything made with whole grain. I read the food labels and research what makes for a healthy intake and what to avoid. After all this research I am left with a “heart-burning” question. Why do they keep messing with our food?

They could have stopped with seedless watermelon and grapes, and I wouldn’t have cared. I know there’s something not quite right there, but I can overlook it. The Nectarine, cross between a peach and a plum , although not my favorite, has it’s merits. Personal sized melons, although the taste is a little dull compared to the full size variety, I can see the marketing behind it. (They were developed to appeal to women shoppers who are insecure about their breast size. True stuff.)

Now a really bright idea someone has come up with, growing watermelons in boxes to force them into a square shape. Anyone who has gritted their teeth on the way home from the grocery store as a large round watermelon rolls and thuds in the car trunk can appreciate.

That kind of stuff I can handle. It’s the stuff they add in and change that you don’t know that bugs me. Due to what they consider to be an unfair marketing advantage, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is stopping dairies from putting “rGBH free” or “hormone free” on its milk labels. Ohio is considering the same. Despite other countries banning it, the FDA has been saying for years now that rGBH( Bovine growth Hormone) is safe , but really are you going to trust them? The FDA is opening a new facility with money donated from pharmaceutical companies. I’ve heard of strange bedfellows before but shouldn’t this be more like “The War of the Roses”?

Quite frankly, I want to know what’s in my food. I want to know where it’s been, who it’s been seeing recently. I know this isn’t dating, but I find ingestion a somewhat intimate act. The additives for instance. Potassium Sorbate, Dipotassium phosphate, and my personal favorite, Monosodium glutamate. Sounds yummy . If you are what you eat, wouldn’t you want it to be something you can pronounce or at least spell? Reading food labels requires a dictionary.

I used to wonder why those prepackaged, individually wrapped “cheese “slices came in a particular shade of orange not commonly found in nature, until I took a closer look at the package. Technically it’s not cheese, it is in fact “process cheese food”. It’s been through the wringer so much that they really can’t call it “cheese” anymore. My breakfast cereal now comes with more vitamin C added. It shows how much we over process our food when we need to add the vitamins back in.

My local grocery store has a whole aisle , six shelves high and 20 ft long, devoted to juice. Start reading the labels and you might find about five brands that contain 100% juice. Even some of the better name brands,( which shall remain shameless- I mean nameless), might have between 5% and 25% actual juice in them. With grocery prices are on the rise I am not paying close to $4 bucks a gallon for 5% juice, water, natural and artificial flavoring and coloring.

Recently, I read an article on how companies are trying to cash in on the “organic” food market and discovered the some of the chicken is being injected with broth and salt water, up to 15%. One company’s excuse is people prefer seasoned chicken. . Last time I knew “chicken of the sea “ wasn’t chicken and came in a can. It’s bad enough they want me to pay for salt water by the pound but then they have the nerve to want to be able to call it “all natural” too.

It’s the genetically altered foods that make me nervous. Is it really necessary to start messing with on the DNA level? I would like to imagine some one in one of those pristine , starched white lab coats. Sweating, hands slightly shaking as they attempt to replace the correct protein in the DNA strand. Not how it’s done.

The initial process has been described as similar to loading a high powered riffle with genetic buckshot and blasting the hell out of the chromosomes. Then you look to see if anything stuck. Where in the chain the DNA is altered is extremely important to what you get for results, so the random “ let the chips fall where the may” experimenting leaves me a little insecure. I can’t help it. I keep thinking of those corny old horror movies , like “Attack of The Killer Tomatoes”.

There are some in the scientific community that are starting to wonder if , despite the FDA seal of approval, some of these altered foods might be responsible for the rise in food allergies and illnesses. Unfortunately there has not been enough data gathered to make that kind of finding yet. Considering that decades ago peanut, wheat and milk allergies where rare compared to today, maybe they’re on to something.

Eating as close to nature as possible is still highly recommended as the healthiest diet no matter what age or stage of life you are at. Besides ,didn’t Mom always say not to play with your food ?

Inside -Out Pants

Dear Nice(reads Non-judgmental ) Teacher,

Aiden has acquired a new skill! He is now able to pick out his own clothes from a collection of pre put together outfits in his closet and dress himself! Everything except the shoes. Yay!

He has made great progress and is still working on,( as I am sure you have noticed) ,the difference between inside and out, front and back. He is Very sensitive to correction, so we are trying to gently guide him on where the tags, pictures and buttons go. So do not be surprised by a backwards shirt here and there, mismatched socks or inside out pants.

Aiden is very proud of himself and we are proud of him too.

Thank you in advance for your patience in this matter,

Aiden’s Mom

P.S. Could you have a chat with the nice( reads judgmental and browbeating) bus driver lady? I don’t think she understands the significance of inside out pants. J

Dear Aiden’s Mom,

We are very happy to hear that Aiden is dressing himself! That is a great self-care skill!

Sincerely,

Nice Teacher

Ring Around The Rosies

Of course it’s a Monday, and rushing through the morning routine because we woke up late. Head downwards swaying to left and right, looking for another stray shoe. I have just a few minutes to get the children ready for the bus. I don’t want to make the driver wait.

I hear a familiar song being sung , voices that I know but do not often hear. I look up to see my children holding hands, playing “ring around the rosies” . They are led by “Fwen”( that’s how my oldest pronounces his name) the 8 year old that I baby-sit. Aiden and Xavier are trying to follow the lyrics while Marjika is trying to follow the tune.

I dare not laugh. I dare not cry lest I break the spell and end this truly social moment . Not a common occurrence in our home, it only lasted for a minute. Then went their separate ways, content to play beside each other, rather than together.

I am content as well. However short the moment was, it shows progress.

What breasts are for

Yet another mother has been harassed for breast feeding in public. The store manager of the South Weymouth iParty walked up to the woman while she was breastfeeding her son in the store and asked her to stop because he did not want the other children to see what she was doing. Quick kids, hide your eyes, as if she was doing something perverted .(news coverage of the story can be found here).

Where has this guy been, under a rock? Does he not watch the news? How many times has this happened this year and the offending company has had to apologize for having an employees with their minds in the gutter? At least three?.( Flash back to those news items here and here. iParty was quick to issue an apology and promises to address the issue in their training of employees. Better late than never I guess.

This is a hot topic for me because I have five children and I breastfed all of them. I won’t bore you with the benefits of breast feeding, if you read, watch or listen to any type of media, you already know. What you may not know is how many awkward situations you run into.

While I was in the hospital for the birth of my twins, the nurse grabbed our camera and snapped some shots of us while I was breastfeeding. Both of them at the same time. Where the is no real way of covering up in those hospital gowns while doing it. On 35mm film. Which has to be taken to a lab to be developed. Which the photo-tech has to look at. Who you have to look at when you pick up your film. Who you want to slap the smirk off his face for being a little perv but can’t . Instead, you call over your 6 foot 1 inch tall built like a brick wall steel worker for a husband. Then ask said perv if he has something to say about your photo’s. No? You sure? Good.

Why is it in our society that women are made to feel awkward while breastfeeding in public and have to suffer through the summer heat with two layers of clothing,(one being a bra which are not made of a light material). This is not a problem in third world countries, that we are ( supposedly) soooo much more advanced than. Yet some people in this country still believe that children have to hide their eyes from the sight of a breastfeeding mother.

Who came up with the bright idea that breasts were sexual organs? Breasts were made for breastfeeding our children. Not for the spreads in X rated magazines. Not to be drooled over , not to be silicon enhanced. They are made to mature , to sag, come in every shape,size,color, and to be used for a purely innocent and beautiful purpose , the feeding and bonding with our infants.

The fact that we actually have to have laws to protect our right to breastfeed in public without harassment, is disheartening. It means that we still have a long way ahead of us before women are no longer considered a sexual object.

By the way , Massachusetts is one of the three remaining states that DOES NOT have a law to allow breastfeeding in public. Politicians , you are being watched as to how this is to be alleviated!

Ladies, forget iParty. Get to the root of the problem. Stage a "Nurse in" at the state house!