I can not begin to count the number of times that I have heard the same old tired excuse, “Oh, my kids would never eat that”, as if they were being offered a steaming helping of over-ripe yak rump.
All I can muster up is a flat, “Uh-huh, and whose fault is that”?
Ladies and gentlemen, think before you speak. That statement, even if it is factual, is the most self-incriminating thing a parent can ever say, and you get no sympathy from me. Now let’s have a group hug.
Have you ever wondered why it is, when there are places in the world that children line up to gobble their much coveted share of fresh whale blubber, or to hand pick and devour the well developed fly larva embedded between the layers of skin on a freshly hunted caribou, or to slurp down a heaping helping of monkey brains served on banana leaves and palm fronds, that American children roll their noses up at whole grains and legumes? After all, what could possibly be more nauseating than a piping hot loaf of whole grain bread fresh from the oven and a bubbling pot of soft well seasoned beans? Gross!
We live in a time when our children are suffering from obesity, and diabetes, as well as attention deficit and behavior disorders, and we all stand around scratching our collective heads in wonderment as we fill our shopping carts with commercially processed foods which have little or no nutritional value. We buy our children “granola bars” laced with chocolate chips, smooshed and manipulated into bars using the gluing properties of corn syrup. We buy “fruit snacks” in the shape of cartoon characters served out of brightly colored boxes. When is the last time you saw an apple grow in the shape of your favorite cartoon character? Exactly.
When a child is offered a diet of chemically manipulated sugar from the time they leave the womb, we can not be surprised when they do not recognize the taste of real food and therefore don’t want it.
If this is the situation that you have created in your home take heart. It is tough for even the savviest of Domestic Diva’s to avoid the processed sugar trap. It is time to pull yourself up by your whole grains and get to work, and it will be work. It will take time to retrain those tiny taste buds, but the results will be life changing—literally. It is my hope that you will find ideas and support enough on this web site to get and keep you motivated.
Now get to work!
With love,
Karen