Monday, 09 March 2009

• How Food is Killing my Family

  When I was in my twenties, single and carefree, I was overweight, but still fit and active. I had all the energy and money in the world to really enjoy food that was not only tasty, but also healthy.  I didn't care about the healthy part, just the tasty part, really. Healthfulness was by default- fresh, high quality, unprocessed ingredients taste good no matter how you slice it.

  Then, I became a single mother with an infant at the mercy of other's eating habits because its where my (free) meals came from. Still, I tried to enjoy good for you foods because I was pregnant. It was hard, but I managed. As a result of my efforts, I had no issues with weight or weight gain. No gestational diabetes, nothing. Actually, there was more worry over my not gaining the whole 25 lbs pregnancy weight than anything else.

  I gave birth to a healthy child. Unfortunately, that's where healthful eating stopped for me. Between a high maitanence kid who was always attached to the breast (and this was back when breastfeeding wasn't so hip and the Boppy was a new idea), I was always starving. When I did eat, it was something quick, which meant overly processed and well, eww.

  But it was food and it was better than nothing. Even though I was living with my sister and her family, I was completely on my own. Nutrition wasn't there forte and no one was particularly interested in whether or not I ate on any given day. When you are poor, healthy isn't a concern because starvation is- and one death is quicker than the other.

  As my son grew, I began to get back to healthier eating. I starting working again, so I'd bring home fresher, better for us foods. I'd always take our neighbors garden goodness with a smile. I amazed my sister's kids with homemade spaghetti sauce or fresh veggies.  

  A trend began to start when my son hit preschool age: everyone loved to pass on processed foods to my kid because the food tasted good them. Why not share the love. He shouldn't eat Cheerios when he can have empty calories from overly sweetened cereal. Hey, kids love sugar! Why are you feeding him that Kashi? You can't give him cheese and fruit for breakfast! Fruit Roll Ups for all! The same people who wanted my son to try all these bad for you foods never hesitated to turn around and tell me how terrible it was on the rare occasion I bought us fast food for dinner.

  Onward and upward. The more I worked to advance our independence as a single-parent family and get out from crazy sister-living, the less time I had to cook. When it was just mom and small kid, I found myself in the world of bulk food, giant portions, big price tag compared to little wages. I found myself at a loss, exhausted, broke and trying to figure out how to get a decent meal cooked for us without my son nodding off into his mashed potatoes at the kitchen table.

  Less fresh foods, less prep time and more affordability was found in processed food. I hated it, but if it meant we could eat another day, so be it. My son would plea with me to cook on the stove, but without time, resources and energy, those days were few and far between.

  Then, suddenly, I found myself in a two-parent family, staying at home. I was able to fall in love with food again, except there was one problem- I was out of practice and my new co-parent was kinda picky. He loved processed food. He loved junk food. I did the best I could to offer a balance between or tastes, however a lot of foods came from boxes and bags. In my naivete, I thought that what I was preparing wasn't all that unhealthy.

  At least it wasn't fast food or microwave junk, right?

  Wrong. Even the items claiming to better for you are still rich in sodium, sugar and fats. In short, part of my husband's heart problem is because of my cooking. I never bothered to read the ingredients of those boxed starches, the canned veggies and other packaged foods from the inner aisles of the grocery story.

  I trusted these brands. Kraft doesn't want to kill me, right? Kraft uses kids in their advertising, so they must have nutritional value, right? My mother fed me this stuff. My parents ate this stuff. They are fine, right?

  When my husband started his blood pressure medication, the foods I offered my family the following week were low sodium, fresher, simple, yet yummy. Over the weekend, when I was not home to cook, I relied on quick and easy meals my husband could make. Finally, yesterday, I prepared sausage with rice and applesauce. The winner? Applesauce, of all things, I thought that would be the worst offender. Three dinners provided our bodies almost a week's worth of recommended salt intake. My rationale was that it wouldn't kill them to have easy, accessible, cheap food to fill their bellies... wouldn't kill them...

  Sunday, my husband tells me he's back to feeling the same way he did pre-medicine. His blood pressure was up. His legs and feet ballooned. His stomach was distended from excess fluid. I told him he needed to see the doctor again. I wondered why the medicine stopped working. Maybe it wasn't the right kind for him? Maybe there was a drug interaction? What could it be?

  This morning, it hit me. The medicine stopped working because I was dishing up killer food. I began to read labels on every box and can in my cupboard. It's me. It's my shopping habits. It's my ignorance. One serving of Rice A Roni has more sodium than a 1/4 teaspoon of table salt. Have you ever put that much salt on a serving of anything fresh? If I did, I'd probably put that much salt for 4 or more portions.

  One cup of prepared Rice A Roni has over 56% of your recommend daily allowance of sodium. Kraft Mac N' Cheese is at 30%. How on earth do they get that much sodium in a cup of food?  

  I might as well have been serving him salt by the cup. The blood pressure medication expels the salt, but not if you replace it threefold. It simply can't work under those conditions. My cooking is not only killing my husband, it's working on killing myself and my son ever so slowly, unless we change our habits. That change starts today.

  It makes me wonder: Do you know what's in your food?

   

   

   

  • 12:14 PM
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