Granola Thursday

One day last week, while I was sitting in the recliner researching double strollers online & "pinning" on the side, Hudson was just below me playing in his toy basket. I kept hearing some crinkling going on & just assumed he was playing with a package of baby wipes that I keep in his toy basket for convenience. After about 2-3 minutes of him silently playing, I thought to myself, "he sure is being quiet." So, I leaned over and saw that my 12 month old had his mouth stuffed like a chipmunk with caramel popcorn with his hands reaching in for more. I had forgotten that we had a tin can of popcorn that we had gotten for Christmas sitting next to his basket &  I never thought he would be able to get into it. I sort of freaked out to say the least. I immediately grabbed him, shoved my fingers in his mouth to empty it & took him to the sink to wash his sticky little hands. He was not the happiest to say the least. I'm not sure what mattered more to me, the idea he was stuffing his face with this highly processed covered in sugar "treat" or the fact that he could of choked due to his lack of being able to chew crunchy things very well with only having 2 teeth.

I have told some people this story in the past week and most responses have been "well, a little popcorn isn't going to kill him." I totally agree with them. But my thoughts & ideas on how I feed Hudson are a little different than most. Not right or wrong; just different. But with it being granola thursday, I thought I would do some explaining on why I've chosen to be such a stickler on how we feed our son & try to eat as a family!

I look at Hudson's tiny little body that is only 12 months young. 12 months. so young, so tiny, so fragile. Everything I put in his body, in my opinion is so very vital. His little body has never been, "contaminated" (i know thats an exaggeration) so you could say and for right now I have the power that can control everything that goes into his mouth which then effects his whole body & mind. I know there will be a day that Hudson will eat whatever he wants but my hope is that he learns good eating habits from his ultimate teachers, me & danny. I read in a book this morning, by Dr. James Dobson about parenting, it says " heredity does not equip a child with proper attitude; children learn what they are taught." That phrase just jumped at me, pretty much sums up with proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, so when he is old he will not turn from it."

So I'm rambling about my opinions & beliefs... so i'll stop and just give the facts now! =) What is processed food? Seriously a lot of people do not know the answer to this. Processed foods are foods that have been altered from their natural state, mostly for the reason to maintain shelf life. Key word in that definition "altered." Some foods have been altered for safety measures according to the FDA, but for the most part its for shelve life...meaning more money for those who are producing it & selling it. Heres a little clip from an article about processed food: "Have you ever wondered why a pre-packaged food stays fresh for months, when the same food made from scratch grows moldy in just days? It's because food manufacturers use man-made ingredients that prolong a product's shelf life. Unfortunately, they may have the opposite effect on peoples' health. 


I could probably go on & on but I'll spare you, because I'm pretty sure that the people who are interested in it all...already know all of this bc you've done your homework ;)& the ones who aren't... could care less! haha!  But i will provide some links to some really good articles at the bottom that explain all so much better than I ever could! 


To never feed your child one ounce of processed food would be nearly insane in this time & day and in this country...even Hudson gets frozen (although organic lol) chicken nuggets & cherrios from time to time but I try my absolute hardest to eliminate & minimize it as much as I can at least for now, with him being so young. I feel as though the most important job/duty/responsibility the Lord has blessed me with right now is raising our children...and I want to do my absolute best at it and part of that is keeping him healthy!  I hope that more parents start challenging themselves to give their children unaltered food more & more and to stay away from food that has a long list of ingredients that you've never even heard of, I wonder what our obesity rates, mental illness statistics & cancer numbers would look like.... can you tell i'm a little passionate about what we are feeding our children?! haha 


Heres the links to some articles in case your interested!
http://www.healinghq.com/health-articles/health-hazards/273-badbabyfoods.html
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2010/June/How-to-Avoid-Processed-Foods-in-a-Healthy-Diet-/
http://www.losethattyre.co.uk/ten-reasons-not-to-eat-processed-food/
http://www.rd.com/health/4-most-harmful-ingredients-in-packaged-foods/