More Thoughts on Food

As you know I have been doing lots of food reading. We have a nice collection of books that I have gotten to 'further my education' so to speak. I would love to take some nutrition classes...but with 3 kids I have no time to do anything formal. Anyways - in all my reading it has made me even more grateful for this earth. The way it was designed for us, by God, is amazing to me! I have heard/read lots on all sides of the vegetarian/vegan/omnivore debate, (always being a FOR MEAT person myself...I love steak!) and it affirms my ideas about how and what we should eat. Our bodies need animal foods. How convenient that God put lots of them to pick from on the earth! The fat that is found in nature (naturally raised chicken/beef/lamb) is there for a reason. The fat helps our bodies use/absorb the vitamins and minerals that are in the meat. Eggs. And raw, unpasteurized, un-homogenized milk from healthy cows eating GRASS - full fat! Why would God put them together if we were not meant to eat them together? There are so many things that animals provide - and that we cant get anywhere else! Sure there is protein in soy, and other stuff that we need, so a vegan may think they are covered. Wrong! The vitamins and other nutrients are so tied up that our body can not process it, unless its fermented, as in soy or miso. Check this out for more info on soy - Soy Alert! Largely vegetarian populations have a shorter life span then meat eating populations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Babies need fat and cholesterol for everything! Maybe that's why breast milk is made of mostly fat and cholesterol! The brain is %70 fat, and cells and vain walls need fat and cholesterol to work right and stay strong. It makes me sad that Dr.s make new moms feel better about using formula then breast feeding. Formula is hard on new tummies. Its almost all synthetic. And how is a baby supposed to get anti-bodies from formula? Its dead! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are lots of people in this country. And a lot of them eat crappy. And a lot of kids don't have a say in what they eat, they are at the discretion of their parents(who sometimes are mislead, uneducated, or just don't care). And yet we still survive. That's because the body is AMAZING! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But if we look at our country as a whole - its not doing so good. All the processed white flour and white sugar are killing us! On CBS Sunday Morning they said that 2 in 3 kids will have diabetes before they are out of high school! (maybe all the soda machines should get out of schools - Oh wait, that would cut the funding from Coke to the schools...we cant have that!) And how many people have to have heart attacks before we realise that something needs to change? The rising amount of vegetable oil("Healthy") used in America corresponds with the rise in rate of heart disease.....hummmm. Maybe all the people who have lived before us had it right - animal foods (meat/fat/milk/organ meats), vegetables, grains, and some fruits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The women of indigenous peoples around the world would take care of everything except: the hunting. The men would spend the same amount of time doing one thing: the hunting. Because they understood that in order to thrive as a people and to have healthy children, they needed to have animal food in their diet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I think its important for me, right now in my life (having/raising kids) to be aware of the choices that I make, and who is depending on them. It is such a blessing to be able to have kids and take care of them, and Its My Job to do the best I can. To get educated. And on top of it all - it makes sense. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Good places to start: Weston A Price Foundation A blog I like

Kids

Sophie - just a sweetie!

Braxton - LOVES the wii and Mario

Merrick - A little crazy and weired....what else can I say about him.

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I know I have been lazy with the blogging. We got an iTouch, so I can check e-mail, Facebook and all that on my iTouch around the house, and have no need for the laptop unless I want to order pictures.....and I do today because Costco is having a sale. Regular - a 4X6 is 16 cents, but they are 9 cents right now! So Im gonna order a bunch. I also got a bug to take pictures of the kids while dressed for church yesterday, so I want to order some to frame. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have been busy! (well - Merrill more then me) He is done with his job that he has had for the last year! Meaning that the guys are back from Iraq! Last week was all prep work for their arrival, and we are glad that is done! Now Merrill can turn his phone off at night and not worry about it on the weekends. Very nice.

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Braxton lost the wii because he turns in to a spazz when he plays too much, so he has been pretending he is Mario and Merrick is Luigi (?) - its very funny, but I love that they play together and dont fight too much!

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Merrick is good with Braxton, but he prefers to go out and swim at our white-trash water park we've got going on in the back yard. Between the 2 plastic pools (one with a slide) the slip-n-slide, sprinklers, trampoline, and pirate ship - he stays very entertained! (I have to move the hose now and then - no big deal)

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Sophie is getting very good at getting on and off the trampoline! She loves to ja-ja-ja (jump) and is starting to like shoes...such a girl! She will bring me her shoes when she wants to go out side. She also lets me do her hair. She gets pig-tails or one pony tail - sticking straight up to the sky. I did get it braided once, but it was very hard to get her to sit still long enough to make the 1 1/2 inch braid....cute, but not worth it.

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I have been trying new food - "nourishing, slow food" - going to the farmers market every Sat (with Merrick. We get a water bottle at the gas station and he picks the watermelon each week. Its our 'date') We got a few more people to do the "milk run" with us, nice for us because its 40 miles to the dairy....but well worth it!