Sadly I don't get to post anything exciting about Emmett as I haven't even seen him awake yet this evening. He is sleeping away in bed while Andrea and I have been up reading---kind of nice, but kind of sad, too. Andrea picked up "The Vaccine Book" by the famed Dr. Sears (or one of the Dr. Sears-es at least, I think there are about 5 all together) and I have been reading up in preparation as we are supposed to start the whole vaccine process at our upcoming two-month appointment. So far I have made it through HIB (seems reasonable) and Pneumococcal (which to me doesn't as much) and am halfway through tetanus and diptheria. Fun stuff, indeed.
This book showed up just in time as I just finished reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan today, which I feel, though far from perfect, should be read by every person that has or will have children (and definitely worth reading for those who won't, too). In the book he makes a very compelling argument that, while in the past culture and parents have served as the primary guides in determining what we should eat, in the post-WWII era this role has been taken up by nutrition scientists whose troubled reductionist methods (e.g. study the effects of vitamin A separate from the carrot) have set new standards what we should eat (e.g. get essentials regardless of source, such as fortified sugary cereals) and it has lead to a myriad of health problems; and that the only way to reverse this trend is to (in my interpretation) educate a new generation of parents who can pass on the practice of dining on whole foods in order to reverse our country's terrible health trends. Like everything, though, the switch back to actually preparing food rather than buying packaged-prepared food-like products is not without effort and some cost, but all evidence points to nutrition science not making us healthier in the last decades and returning to eating real food (something we, as a species, have been doing for every century of our existence except the last) probably would do us some good.
Though I feel pretty confident that the great majority of Emmett's meals from us are not going to come out of a box, single serving package, or the like, I still fear what it is going to be like when he is introduced to the ultra-convenient, temptingly-sweet processed food world and realizes that sugar-coated, marshmallow-filled, extra-crispy, chocolate cereal (with 9 essential vitamins!!) is more fun to eat than sorry-old-dad's steel cut oats. Even when I add raisins it still can't compete.
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5 comments:
Are you saying that my diet of beer and ice cream isn't a good role model for the little guy? Even if it's Upland?
Beer (especially local) and ice cream (with natural ingredients only) would both make pollan's list of good-for-you foods (not a diet solely of, but including). There was a great study he cited where people were asked if you had to have only one of the following list of foods on a deserted island to maintain health, which should it be: carrots, hot dogs, alfalfa sprouts, chocolate milk, and apples (I am missing some as it is from memory). Only a couple of percent of people chose the dogs and chocolate milk even though if you have to get all of your nutrition from one source, these come far closer to a balanced diet than any single vegetable/fruit source on this list. We have been led astray by nutrition science and lost our self-guidance on what we really need to survive.
Or is Michael Pollan leading us astray?
Could be---he is from Berkeley and all, and everyone knows what those people from Berkeley are like.
I am relieved to hear that beer and ice cream are safely on the list.
However, I find your omission of Fruity Pebbles from the list of good-for-you foods alarming.
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