Farm Fresh Produce

One of the things that surprised (and disappointed) me the most about Florida was the lack of farmer's markets. There are farmer's markets, but they are all a half hour or more away. And now that we live in a place where we don't have to drive that far for most things, we never got around to making it to a farmer's market.

A few months ago, a farmer's market store a few miles away. It's still farther than the stores, but it's closer than the farmer's markets, and it's hours are better because it's open seven days a week.

Today as one of our spring break activities, we went to the farmer's market store and bought all the produce pictured above for $20. The price is good, the produce is fresh. But best of all, is having my girls walk through and pick out fruits and vegetables they want to try.

On the way home, my four year old kept sniffing and saying, "Smells so fresh!" And my two year old said, "Mom, we got fruits and vegetables. They delicious!"

Book Review: Salt, Sugar, Fat

Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

Let me sum up this book for you: processed food is bad for you.

Okay, so I already knew that. Most educated people know that. But it's a little more horrifying to hear how many teaspoons of sugar are in a bottle of soda. That's a measurement I can visualize rather than the grams that are on the label. (And yet, while I read the section on soda, I wanted nothing more than to go out and buy a root beer--maybe it's the pregnancy?)

Some shocking things about salt: many processed foods, even ones we don't think of as salty (like breakfast cereal) taste like cardboard, or worse, taste metallic, without salt. Is it really food if it needs salt to make it taste like food? Also, humans are not hardwired to like salt. Babies like sugar and sweet from day one. But a baby who eats only fruits and veggies will not like salty things as they grow older, whereas a baby who eats grocery store foods like its parents will start to like salt.

Some shocking things about sugar: Many breakfast cereals are 50% sugar (sometimes even more). Most people know that soda is bad for them, and as a nation our consumption of it has gone down. But our consumption of sports ades, juices, and vitamin waters have gone up--and those often have just as much sugar.

Some shocking things about fat: Like salt, it's often in things that don't taste fatty. It's not a taste, it's a mouthfeel thing. And because of this and other factors, we have no internal alarm that goes off when we eat too much fat like we do with sugar. And cheese, which is incredibly fatty, has been turned into an ingredient, rather than an indulgence that people have after a meal.

This book was interesting and horrifying and a little bit frustration-inducing. What is left but fresh fruits and veggies? What on earth can I feed my children? Without crackers and cereal, what would I feed my toddler after she's had an apple, a banana, and an orange and is still hungry?

And a realization: if I tried to make everything homemade, I would have time for nothing else. I made homemade bread while we lived an hour away from a store. But as soon as we were closer to a store, I haven't made a loaf of bread (even when we had our bread maker). Trying to get a homecooked meal on the table is often frustrating, let alone making my own ketchup. I know chicken nuggets aren't good for you, but they're an easy back up on busy nights. Or when we've run out of bread before I get to the store and we can't have sandwiches for lunch. And, no, I'm not going to make homemade chicken nuggets. If I have time for that, I'll make something better than chicken nuggets.

So I've decided not to beat myself up for the processed food we do eat. I would like to slowly find healthier alternatives to some of the processed foods we eat. But I'd have to spend all day in the store reading labels to replace everything at once. I also don't want to suddenly shock my family (and myself) with a bunch of healthy food that has no appeal. And as long as I'm on the road to doing better, it shouldn't matter at what point in the road I'm on compared to other people (just like anything else in life).

Gluten-Free Living: AKA Sacrifices We Make for Our Children

Two of my sisters have children with celiac disease. They were diagnosed this year and I've been impressed with the sacrifices and changes they've made to get and keep their children healthy. My youngest sister came to visit me this past week. Her husband and one son can't eat gluten. Which, turns out, is in a heck of a lot more stuff than just bread and pasta. She read me an amazing thing that she wrote about what it means to live with celiac disease, which I'll link to once I convince her to post it (or maybe I can even post it here too).

Hosting them here gave me a tiny glimpse into what my sisters do for their families every day. They brought their own bread and crackers and I planned meals that simply didn't usually depend on anything with gluten (though they had to bring their own soy sauce for a recipe because most brands have wheat in them). I made something with pasta once and bought a brown rice pasta for those who couldn't eat gluten. So on top of making the sauce I made two kinds of pasta in different pots, stirred with different spoons. And I timed it so I could drain the gluten free pasta first.

Cross-contamination can be a serious problem so they brought their own toaster and their own condiments. I put away all wooden utensils so that I didn't accidentally grab them (my sisters have thrown theirs out). I wiped down my counters and table and even used a toothpick to get crumbs out of the crevices. I swept and mopped and vacuumed. I wiped up after my daughter ate her food and before her son sat down to eat his. I found myself worried about every crumb, even though they were most often crumbs from harmless things like the tortilla chips that we were all eating.

Our preparation went beyond food. We put the play dough away and I had to tell my daughter no when she wanted to play with it. She has a beloved giraffe given to her by her favorite aunt. His name is Macaroni and Cheese and he is filled with wheat (one of those that you can put in the microwave and cuddle with to warm up on a cold night). So I hid him before they came. Soon after I hid him, my daughter came to me in tears because she could not find Macaroni and Cheese. I assured her that he would show up in a few days and distracted her with a smaller stuffed giraffe whose name is Tiny Macaroni and Cheese.

They are gone now and my daughter is playing with play dough like most kids can. I can go get Macaroni and Cheese out of my closet. I can put my wooden spoons back by the stove. And I can and have let all the crumbs in my house sit on the counters and the floors since they left. (Not that I love stepping on Cheerios, but the laundry that I neglected while they were here was more pressing than my dirty floors.) My life is back to normal, but theirs is an added challenge every day. They have to think about what they put in their mouths (and what else it might have touched) all the time.

I so admire my sisters for the sacrifices they are making for their children. It's not something that will go away either. It will become easier with time, but they will have to be vigilant about what touches their children's mouths until their children are old enough to advocate for their own health. Yes, I think just about any mother would do the same, but not every mother has to. Today at least, I'm grateful for my picky eater who won't be harmed if she eats fish crackers.