- Problem: Will the Sun Kill You or Make you Healthy?
- Problem: You Have to Have Perfect Olive Oil
- Problem: Healthy Salmon is from Alaska…but it's Loaded with Radiation
- Problem: That Expensive Bacon You've Been Buying? Nitrates There, Too
- Maybe Nitrates Aren't so Bad for You After All
- Problem: Even Whole Foods Doesn't Know Where Their Food Comes From
- Problem: GMOs are Getting More Prevalent, and Some People Think That's Dandy
- Problem: Soaking Grains is Just Confusing
- Problem: You Can't Eat Nuts, Either
- Is There Anything Left to Eat?
- What's Next?
What do you do when something is stressing you out or overwhelming your brain?
Fight, flight, or…have a pity party with ice cream?
(I suppose that’s just a way of “flight”ing with added sugar, isn’t it? If you must flee, flee with food!)
Some folks probably do something productive like running or cleaning.
Not me.
Some folks might want to take a nap.
Raises hand, lowers eyelids.
Some folks might throw themselves into a solution.
Maybe sometimes.
And others probably cruise the kitchen and eat too much.
Raises hand again…grabs chocolate chip from top shelf.
At least there’s always something healthy to eat if you’re falling into some stressed-out eating patterns…green vegetables are always safe, right?
Nope.
Not according to some of the info I’ve been reading lately.
I got to the point where I honestly don’t know what to eat anymore.
My coping mechanism, along with those (ahem) chocolate chips, was to start a new document titled aptly, “things that are ticking me off right now.”
I started copying links to articles that were simply overwhelming my poor brain so that I could close the tabs and stop quickening my heart rate every time I passed them on Firefox (sped up my browsing, too, since I only had 60 tabs open instead of 75, you know…).
As a blogger, I added to my stress level thinking that I should probably publicly comment on all these things and share them with you all. Then I’d feel guilty because I don’t want to make all my dear readers overwhelmed with “too much information” about nutrition and natural living, since it’s seems that it’s always a moving target and mighty confusing.
So.
Here’s what I’ll do.
I’m going to get this all off my chest in one choppy, multi-topic post. I’ll say a few words about this stuff, but I don’t really want to dig into it all further. It’s ticking me off, remember?!
If you don’t want to hear about more foods you can’t eat or when you’re supposed to be outside (hint: it’s either not between 10-3:00 or only right at noon, take your blasted blankety-blank pick!), then you may want to stop reading now. Go read about happy free preschool activities or enter this week’s giveaway or something with positive thoughts.
If you’re curious what I’ve been stumbling across or might want to learn something new (that will be new again next month, probably), forge ahead!
Problem: Will the Sun Kill You or Make you Healthy?
Details: I was always the mom who put sunscreen on her toddler every day with his clothes, because that’s what I was “supposed” to do so he didn’t get a sunburn, according to popular culture and modern medicine.
When I learned more about the hazards of chemical sunscreen, I switched to natural, mineral sunscreen and continued the habit of staying out of the sun when possible, especially between 10-3:00, and always used sunblock during those times.
Recently I’ve read that you shouldn’t shower with soap after sun exposure so the D can do its magic, but of course if you’re swimming in a chlorinated pool you might want to get that off right away…
Mommypotamus has written extensive and well-sourced stuff on sun and sunscreen this summer: here and here and here and how to make your own sunscreen, too.
I understand that Vitamin D is important, so I was always happy to get the kids out swimming after 4 p.m. with no sunblock on.
Now I read everywhere that you don’t get Vitamin D at that time, just the dangerous rays of the sun. The latest recommendation is to get full sun for 15 minutes exactly at noon. (Mercola, I think.)
What???
Again, the opposite of what I thought was right.
And a little difficult to do with kids, so strictly scheduled.
Will anyone survive this world?
No, we’ll all die someday. Thank goodness we have that to look forward to! Heaven will be great, no sunburns…
How I’m dealing: No way am I going to let my kids get burned, and I’m not sending them out for 15 minutes at noon every day, either, then making them come in. I’m not that scheduled and that seems mean. “Go play…now come in!!”
We try to get a little sun before using sunscreen, but not if we’re going to be out a long time. Burns are too risky.
I’ll be updating the natural sunscreen review later today, hopefully, but the brand we’ve been defaulting to this summer is Kabana. They have a new sunblock with only 6 ingredients, one of which is Vitamin D.
Here’s what I will be adding to the review post:
For us, we’ve been using Kabana’s tinted blend. They really do work as far as not looking white, but hubs was very worried he’d look like he was wearing makeup. He was relieved that he didn’t. 
You should know about this one, though, that it stains clothing really, really badly. That’s why, even though it looks great on the kids, even John’s white baby skin, we won’t use it on them anymore. They’re too wiggly and we’ve wrecked a few shirts already and aren’t willing to risk more.
Problem: You Have to Have Perfect Olive Oil
Details: Cheeseslave posted on how “pure” olive oil should solidify in the refrigerator in 12 hours. If it didn’t, it had other vegetable oils mixed in secretly, the dastardly food corporations, you know. Tons of people freaked out about the brands she “outed” as not being pure because they remained liquid.
Then Primal Toad posted a rebuttal that made me both happy (Oh, good, another thing we don’t have to get so nit-picky about) and frustrated (Again, something that went viral and freaked people out unnecessarily!). His post did not go viral, as the boring truth rarely does. (Mine on the new Kerrygold butter didn’t either, although the original “beware” post certainly did.)
My olive oil, which I buy by the gallon from Soaper’s Choice (no advertising there, it’s just genuinely where I get it), does solidify in the fridge, which I learned when I refrigerated homemade salad dressings. My MIL’s also does, and I’m sure she buys the cheap stuff. So there.
How I’m dealing: Forget about it and move on. Just buy 100% extra virgin olive oil and enjoy it.
Problem: Healthy Salmon is from Alaska…but it’s Loaded with Radiation
Details: When I posted on sustainable seafood, particularly salmon, I got an email from a reader stating simply: “The salmon in Alaska have extreme levels of radiation from the japan indecent.”
Sometimes, I hate our world. If that’s true – and it probably is! – then there is absolutely zero salmon you would want to eat, unless it was canned before Japan had its mess. Phooey.
Her sources (I asked): Here, here, here, and here
How I’m dealing: I did take a minute to look into this one. I found some articles from Vital Choice on the purity of their salmon and how the radiation tests are coming back A-OK. As a discerning reader, you have to take these with a grain of salt, though, because as my mom says, they’re “information mixed with commerce” since the information comes from a company selling salmon!
Vital Choice sources: Here, here, here (Link no longer available), and here
I’m still eating salmon, from Alaska. But I might keep watching this story…the Japan radiation issue has been on my list to research for quite some time, and I just haven’t had the heart to do it.
Update: We buy our salmon from ButcherBox now.
Problem: That Expensive Bacon You’ve Been Buying? Nitrates There, Too
AND
Maybe Nitrates Aren’t so Bad for You After All
This nitrate/nitrite thing? *eye roll*
Now I’m seeing stuff back to 2007, saying nitrates “may not be so bad after all.” (Here‘s a real scientific journal article exploring the situation.)
How I’m dealing: I really do want to understand this. I don’t think it gives us the green card to eat conventional lunchmeat, but unfortunately, it may mean that the triple-the-price nitrate-free stuff isn’t much better. That’s such a bummer!!! So in the meantime, I’m buying the good stuff but super seldomly. And I’m getting stressed out. 
Sooo…don’t eat the good proteins you used to eat, worry about your formerly healthy fats, and check this out:
Problem: Even Whole Foods Doesn’t Know Where Their Food Comes From
Details: A reader sent this on to me, a PDF (Link no longer available) showing that in some instances, they have no idea if what they are claiming to be organic actually is. Phooey badooey on that!
Problem: GMOs are Getting More Prevalent, and Some People Think That’s Dandy
Details: I haven’t posted anything on GMOs, genetically modified organisms, here at Kitchen Stewardship®. It’s something I know I need to look into, and I do kind of/sort of try to avoid them when I can…but I can’t stomach the truth.
I know they’re going wild, and that GMO crops are infiltrating and cross-pollenating with regular crops so pretty soon, we won’t have a choice. I can’t imagine God wanted us to redo His job. They have to be bad…based on my hunch.
There’s a bill up in government that GMOs at least need to be labeled. At least the consumer can make their own darn decision, which is great.
Except that this professor seems to think that since he thinks GMOs are dandy, no one else should get to know what’s in their food.
How I’m dealing: I don’t have a Whole Foods nearby, and I’m throwing the “you’re an idiot” book at that professor. Feel free to throw it at me because I’m silly enough to mistrust GMOs on a hunch and also foolish enough not to avoid them like the plague like we probably should be doing. *raises white flag*
Problem: Soaking Grains is Just Confusing
Details: Ever since I kind of let my own soaking grains series die a quiet death, I’ve wondered what the real answer is.
Want to know why I never posted “To Soak or Not to Soak?”
Because I don’t know the answer.
The deeper I got into the research, the more I realized I’m absolutely not qualified to determine what to do. I didn’t know how to get the bottom of the issue, so I stopped digging.
The fact that our family found going grain-free to be helpful and then gluten-free and low-gluten almost all the time also meant that (a) the subject was a moot point most of the time (grain-free) and (b) many of my old grains recipes don’t even get pulled out (gluten-free).
When I really started getting upset with the subject is when Amanda Rose published her newest thoughts, based on research, that we don’t need to add an acidic medium to soak, just use warm water – but also DON’T use dairy at all! (I can’t find the source right now though.) This threw half my soaking recipes for a loop, and you know what? I checked out of the conversation.
When I started reading questions about coconut flour and phytic acid, I was really done. If I can’t even avoid the stuff when I’m grain-free, forget it!
How can it be a traditional practice and still, the advice does a complete 180-degree turn in the few years I’ve been trying it?
One more article on phytic acid
How I’m dealing: When I make grains, I nearly always soak them, but I don’t know if it does anything good. I don’t like refined grains, and I’d rather our family avoid grains, period, when we’re out of the house, especially glutenous grains. I have to simply be okay with not knowing the answer, and two other bloggers whom I respect dearly have posted on the subject.
I had their posts open for about a month before they made it into my “ticked off” document. They’re worth a read:
- Stacy on Why I Don’t Soak Grains (link no longer available)
- Laura’s Current Thoughts on Soaking
Problem: You Can’t Eat Nuts, Either
Details: Our food choices are getting narrower and narrower when we cut grains, avoid processed foods, ETC.
We eat a LOT of nuts, both as snacks and as flour in recipes.
I was just tickled (not!) when I read these “why you shouldn’t eat nuts” articles:
I probably should also mention that I bought 10 bags of Diamond brand walnuts (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!) on a super good sale, then noticed they included BHT on the nuts. So even when you think you’re buying a single-ingredient food, you’re stuck with a weird preservative. They had a very un-courteous reply to my query/dismay via their customer service. I will never buy that brand again.
How I’m dealing: I can’t, really. I still eat plenty of nuts. I’ll soak and dehydrate them into crispy nuts, because maybe it helps digestion, and there’s no question that in our family, we like the taste/feel much better. So that’s worth it.
Do I wonder about the whole idea of “it should take your time to crack open the nut, therefore you shouldn’t eat them by the handful” thing every time I feed my kids almonds (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!)? Almost. But I’m trying not to die of stress here.
Is There Anything Left to Eat?
Whenever I would get stressed about so many foods hitting the “they’re not healthy” chopping block, I would often say things like, “At least everyone says green vegetables are good for you, phew!”
Well.
Not anymore.
This is probably the article that really got me started on my “ticking me off” document, since it’s pretty sensational and says “Don’t eat your green veggies, or else!”
Sarah bashed green smoothies, including my method of cooking the kale first to reduce oxalic acid. If you go there, read the comments from Susan Owens and Heidi to help you sort things out.
Green Smoothie Girl, her livelihood at question, wrote a great rebuttal and had already addressed oxalates in greens, with about 100x more sources than Sarah.
It still frustrates me, though – did I mention we’re participating in our first CSA this year and have tons of leafy greens every single week? If any of us get kidney stones, I swear…!
How I’m dealing: I throw up my hands and go to McDonald’s!
Just kidding.
I do throw up my hands, but it’s usually for chocolate chips, not McD’s.
I hate feeling afraid of food. This summer, I’m focusing on eating the best meat I can, lots of veggies (eat dirt, oxalates!), and making whole foods a priority. I want Jonathan to have a good start in his eating life, but I’m trying not to freak out about things.
We eat food.
If it’s grown in the ground or eats things grown in the ground, that’s 80% of the battle.
I make almost everything from scratch and like it that way.
Speaking of being afraid of food, which I feel like sometimes, Green Smoothie Girl also has a good series on antinutrients: are you letting them scare you away from whole foods? This girl does her research and cites things, which I really, really appreciate.
Stacy also wrote a very insightful post that made me feel better and guilty at the same time, tackling the issue of people going to extremes too much with food. The title is perfect: Food is Not Your God. (link no longer available)
What’s Next?
Now that my “ticking me off right now” document is a blank slate again, I’m taking a vacation from all those windows and tabs, all those helpful reader emails, all the questions and wonderings.
I’m going to play with my kids more.
I’m printing off some new recipes to try, things I think I’ll really enjoy and some grain-free or gluten-free stuff that I’ve been wanting to master. And we’ll eat plenty of greens if our CSA box has anything to say about it, so there! 
I’m trying to eat more fermented foods.
I’m leaving the computer OFF but for one sitting per week. It’s going to be wonderful (starting Monday). You’ll see mostly guest posts, recipe and Monday Mission reruns, a happy birthday ebook bundle sale…and I’ll see you again mid-August, refreshed and renewed and ready to talk about Safety in September and Organizing in October!
Feel free to comment away, and hopefully it will be interesting…but just realize that if I don’t like what you have to say, I might just copy you into my document instead of answering…
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Kabana, but they really are the best out there. Wise Choice Market is an advertiser receiving a complementary mention in a post. See my full disclosure statement here.
People are making themselves mentally ill by worrying so much about their physical bodies. Your kids are going to become neurotic busybodies.
LOL!
Do you know most common brands of chocolate chips are produced by slaves or in slave-like conditions? Add that to the list…fortunately, you can find chocolate that is ethically made if you look.
(http://slavefreechocolate.org/)
Pingback: Evaluating My Whole Living Motives | Whole Sweet Home
THIS is one of the reasons why you are one of my favorite bloggers, Katie! I love the fact that you come across as being a REAL person. You’re a mom trying to do the best you can for your family. You admit when you have questions or don’t understand something. You make me feel that I’m not a failure. Thanks again for being such an inspiration!
I just read this post over at Northwest Edible Life called the Terrible Tragedy of the Healthy Eater. It’s a priceless satire on this same theme. Loved it and thought of this post.
http://www.nwedible.com/2012/08/tragedy-healthy-eater.html#comment-8969
I’m just gonna go with the fact that if it comes from the ground, God made it for us to eat, except for poisonous plants and GMOs and trees (did I forget anything?)
I really appreciate this post. Stacy and I were actually talking about why we don’t soak grains a few months ago and learned that we had come to the same conclusion, though through different sources. 🙂
My thought is, if God gave it to us, said it’s good… who are we to say it isn’t? My family eats 80%-90% real food, which means unprocessed and made-from-scratch. We eat organic as much as possible and we thank God for the nutrition He has provided. We don’t eat “traditional” foods when it comes to soaking grains and nuts. If it was really that important, I believe God would have said, “Thou shalt not eat any unsoaked grain or nut”. 😉 We do love cultured dairy and we’ve enjoyed lactofermenting veggies, but we don’t panic if we don’t have one of each at every meal. Like you said, we’re all going to die, eventually, so we’re making wise food choices without letting our food become an idol. (To clarify that, I don’t mean that those who soak are idolizing, rather that in our situation it makes no difference that we can tell, so we aren’t going to be legalistic about it. For those it does make a difference for, go for it! 🙂
All that to say, I agree with you. There will always be somebody saying that something is bad, so I’ll just stick with what works for us and thank God for grace for the rest.
Blessings!
Justyn
I know — maybe a little of everything is OK…
Onions aren’t nightshade, but tomatoes and potatoes are.
I fall into the category of “religious nutball,” which, in regards to food, actually makes it pretty easy … If God made it, said it was ok for us to eat, and man hasn’t messed with it, I eat it. Oh, but first I say grace … just in case 😉
I’m running away & never eating again. Rats, that won’t work I love to eat too much. But staring to question that. Finally just watched Food Inc today, sigh. I really want to not eat now. Exhausting.
LOL Too much info, what’s good, what’s bad…. ><
yogurt is only safe if it comes from small family farms and organic cows…but raw or pasteurized milk has some debate! plus how is it sweetened? also, cucumbers must be organic and purchased only from local gardeners or else lol 🙂
I know how you feel 🙂 It seems like everything is killing us slowly one way or another: I just switched to Hormel Naturals only to read your post and wonder about pesticides in celery juice! I’m not giving up though; I may not be omniscient about the food I’m eating, but God is. He knows our hearts; I think I’m just”foolish”enough to believe that if I keep asking him for wisdom and keep plodding along, he’ll give it to me with a peace in my heart. Right now I have a peace about cultured dairy and whole grains. That may not be right for everyone, but it is good enough for me right now. If I get a peace about something else, I guess I’ll do that instead! I look forward to your new stuff Katie; in the meantime I’m enjoying the reposts and guest posts. Get rested up! God has an interesting journey ahead of you, I think 🙂 I can’t wait to follow along!
NO! NO yogurt! Dairy is evil!! 😉
Great post!!!!! Love your honesty! We can all relate 🙂 Reading less food blogs has helped me this summer. Though I am glad for everything I’ve learned from them!!
Praying for wisdom for all of us! All of the healthy, natural, real food stuff is especially important to me, as I have a daughter with chronic health issues that definitely seem to get worse when I veer from the homemade, whole food menu. I feel like I do research from sun up to sun down! But our health is in His hands and He is a God who can fill in the gap for sure!
Katie, after dealing with health issues and fear of what I couldn’t eat vs. what I wanted to eat for 20 years, I have come to the conclusion that our bodies knows what they can handle. If you pay attention to when you are feeling awful and make note of what you ate and what you did or where you were, you might be able to see what your body tolerates. We cannot control what some are doing to the food supply, but we can make some wise choices in many areas. I’m still alive and feeling much better than I was years ago.
I was told to go dairy free with one child, but the test was based on dry milk and we already figured out that pasturized milk and ice cream in the bucket gave her problems. Bring on the raw milk! Another child we diagnosed ourselves as having “latex sensitivities” that caused lack of muscle control but it wasn’t a skin or lung allergy. Her immune system was bad. The salt in processed food is my main enemy.
So, eat what you deem healthy for your family, play with your family, and above all ask God for wisdom and trust that he really is at work in every aspect of your life! Make time to enjoy those children, for they grow up too fast!
Just dug in and read in more detail. Not much else to say, except that I love the “Food is Not Your God” from Stacy. I did not know about her or her blog yet. Thanks for sharing that! 🙂
I have learned not to listen to the bone heads of doctors here in NY State. Since things are fine and other things came back ok from eating what I wan when I wan tthe doctors can stick it at this point since they do not know also in what to do at this point.
Thank you for this post. The food world is a frustrating place. I had to throw up my hands and pray–“God what am I supposed to do?”. Well He answered me; just eat stuff as closely to the way HE made it as I could justifiably afford. So there, I trust and obey, and like my biscuits un-soaked!!
I appreciated that article so much! You’re right: if we listen to the alarmists, then we lose our peace and our bearing and our confidence in our ability to make good choices for our families. Hang in there… you’re not alone. And thank you for all the research you do for the rest of us.
Thank you so much! I love it when I find out others are ticked off as much as I am. I so appreciate your honesty…that is what keeps me as a faithful reader.
The best remedy for this kind of anxiety I’ve found is to get out and serve other people. We are moving to Asia for ministry purposes, and I sometimes feel anxious about how I’m possible going to feed my family well there. But then I think about eternity, and what God’s called us to. I look at migrant workers on the streets in the city where we’re moving, and I remember the call to take up our cross to follow Christ. This might mean that we sacrifice a level of health, but Christ is so worth it! This would be true even if we weren’t moving overseas. Trying to feed my family perfectly healthy food can take up time and mental space that I could be using to spread the Gospel.
Of course I am also called to be a good steward of the body God’s given me–I can’t do much good if I’m spending all my resources on doctor’s bills because I’m sick from eating processed food. But we’re not called to worry about it or be perfectionists about it (which would be my tendency).
Wow, awesome, Ceejay, may God abundantly bless your service!!!!
🙂 Katie
Have a nice vacation!
I think all this worry about what to eat is silly. Even though I do it too. . .
I wouldn’t count on the HHE to point you in any sort of reliable direction regarding actual science about food. However I’d recommend a recent series Guyenet did on evolutionary biology and food at http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2012/05/beyond-otzi-european-evolutionary_17.html. I found that it gave a bigger picture to the whole discussion of how nutrients act on our bodies. Even if its speculative in some ways it still helps take you back from obsessive nutritionism and makes you realize how we don’t know much about anything so why worry?
I think common sense and a realistic attunement to what our bodies are telling us goes along way.
I think that Dr Terry Wahls research on vegetable consumption and its therapeutic effects on MS is really inspiring and definitely makes me think that the phyto-chemical and micro nutrient content of vegetables far outweighs any antinutrient hazards. when we have this nitpicky attitude towards good wholesome foods we end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Cirelo,
I always love your insightful comments! And I love Guyenet – I’ve got that article open to read…in another tab, mwah! 😉 Katie
PS – And SO glad you have that ad for the BPA free canning lids! Thanks! 🙂
GREAT post, Katie! I’ll be honest I haven’t even read it all closely, yet, but I’ve saved it to read more carefully when I get a chance.
This is a great topic, though. I really do think, at some point, it all gets a little overboard. I’m always open to learning more and considering evidence, and making changes as evidence mounts strongly in any given directions, but I’m not going to let every different idea and perspective that blows around out there sway me from a fundamental trust that God is sovereign in all things and honors our desire to eat more in line with His heart for the world.
One could be the most incredibly healthy eater and, while perhaps having greatly reduced ‘the chances,’ could still get cancer just because God has a bigger plan. We lost someone last summer to cancer. 35. And she was by all accounts very into healthy eating and more holistic living etc. None of us likes the fact that God chose to take her home, and we still can’t fully comprehend why, but I can tell you He’s using her, her life, her death, her story, still to this day to work in the hearts of people all over the place.
So, yeah, at some point all these details to me just become a little much, and I just chose to throw up my hands in surrender and trust.
And maybe grab a chocolate chip too if they are around. ;o)
You totally captured my thoughts on this. So glad I’m not alone. We mostly eat grain free and once I started reading that nuts were bad for you and soaking coconut flour I just about lost it. I feel like I can’t win most of the time! Trying to just do my best and leave the rest to God. Our health is ultimately in His hands anyway.
Hey Katie, I absolutely feel the same way you do about all this . I got used to soaking my grains, thinking now I know my body can absorb all the nutrients. Then I read it may not be doing anything. I buy organic extra virgin olive oil, then read that same post about how it may not be pure. And on and on it goes. No matter what I do I feel like I can’t win. So I am knocking myself out making most everything from scratch and paying a fortune for organics and still might end up with cancer. Really, we can only do the best we can do. Another issue I have is buying local organic fruit. I live in Va. You really can’t fine local organic apples, peaches, plums and pears. I can buy them from the grocery store occasionally and pay 3 times more. Right now I choose to buy fresh local but not organic fruit. I just can’t always do it.
Linda,
I almost always choose local over organic, too! I figure at least they’re not sprayed with extra junk to make them travel well, and there’s more nutrients b/c they haven’t sat on a truck for 4 or 5 days getting old. We just picked 35 pounds of blueberries that were certainly sprayed…I had such a hard time finding ANYwhere to pick this year b/c of the weird weather that I didn’t even ask about growing practices. We just picked and enjoyed! 🙂 Katie
A-M-E-N!!!
Loved the post, the title even more.
Have learned from the years of working with children and their families that the pendulum swings continually and I like it best staying in the middle. I do what feels right for me and do not worry about being perfect in any belief/philosophy.
Have also found that the personal experience definitely colors the belief point. (ie- sunscreen at all times for everyone, we’ll get our Vit D from our diets – melanoma is no fun; chocolate chips really kick up a banana bread; somedays were meant for some lazy screen time)
Stress is probably worst than anything else we do to ourselves:) That’s what I work on removing from my life and the life of those I care about.
Just want to give you an “Amen!” It’s crazy hard to figure anything out these days. Information overload!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I constantly am asking myself this question and have an unfinished blog devote to it. One minute it’s safe to eat, the next it’s not? Glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. 🙂
I absolutely love this post. I have finally come to the conclusion that unless there is a specific medical condition or allergies (which we don’t have) eat what makes you feel good, avoid what doesn’t. If I feel like crap after eating something, I’m going to avoid eating it again in the future. So we avoid processed foods. But I don’t really stress about it, because I believe that stress, worry, and guilt will cause more harm than eating some “bad” food.
^^^^What she said! Eat real food, the best you can find and afford, and walk away from the research! I love learning more about food and what’s healthy for us (and why!) but I’ve been there. About three years ago I got drunk with a friend and ended up having a two hour sobbing melt down over which brand of cod liver oil to give my kids… talk about ridiculous! If you enjoy learning about it, do it. If it’s stressing you out, walk away. As long as your kids don’t subsist on Tyson chicken nuggets and Kraft Mac n Cheese and don’t have any underlying issues, just eat what works for your family!
So far as the sun stuff goes- that’s exactly why I’m not a huge fan of Dr. Mercola- everything is so “you must do this exactly in this way or it won’t work.” Life is not black and white. We haven’t used sunscreen once this summer, my kids come and go as they please (from house to yard), and we haven’t had a burn yet. They’re still young, so they still spend a good part of the afternoon “resting” (but they’re too old to call it a nap, lol!), but I took Mommypotamus’s info and ran with it… a good diet, high in fat, along with gradually increased exposure, protects against sunburn. It’s worked for us so far. And it’s been so much less stressful!
Hope you get some rest, destress, and feel better!
I am reading this and loving that I am not the only one. All things in moderation . Do my very best. And PRAY over everything .
This is why I’ve developed a mental stop where my mind just blanks on the topic (I do this with politics and/or news a lot of times, too). I do what I feel I’m capable of doing at home, without losing my mind, and don’t let myself worry about what my daughter’s encountering outside of our house. I can’t insulate her in a bubble and, as prevalent as it all is in our world, she will encounter it on a regular basis. Prayer, prayer, and more prayer that God calms our hearts with the assurance He is in control – of what’s happening in the world, what’s happening in our bodies, and what will happen in the future.
Sarah,
What politics? News? What news?
😉
Yeah, I don’t like that stuff either…
🙂 Katie
Thank you for this post! As all the others have noted, I feel the same way. For me, I have to be careful I am not giving food such power over me that it becomes a small case g-od – in other words, an idol. I want my family to be healthy and happy and know that food can really support those efforts, but at the end of the day I know there will come an end to my life. I think God will have a few more important things to discuss with me in that moment than how often I soaked grains.
Thank you, Katie, for tackling the immense amounts of frustration so many of us are feeling these days. God bless, de-stress, and enjoy your afk family time!