Prebiotic Probiotic Omega WHAT?!?

Hi All,

Is anyone else out there as confused as I am about all of the terms being thrown around by food manufactures these days? It's getting so bad that I think I might have to invest in a laptop with wireless internet to take with me just to go grocery shopping.

Our family always tries to eat healthy. This used to be easier before terms which I can hardly pronounce and would not even attempt to guess at their meanings. How much of these terms (because I don't know what else to call them) do I need in my diet? What if I eat too much omega 3, for instance, will my skin fall off? My research has shown me that basically I have no clue as to what these terms mean or what benefits they will have on our overall health. Guess it’s time for Michelle to head back to school.

It seems that it used to be ALOT easier to eat a healthy well balanced diet when I was a kid. Basic rules were eat something from every food group every day, try to limit sugar intake, stay away from too much processed food, and eat lots of vegetables. Today, I seem to sometimes be spending more time reading labels in the grocery store than I do actually filling up the cart.

Like most families, our biggest monthly bill appears to be food. Partly because we're a family of five, three being ravenous children who can never seem to be filled. My husband and I almost always prepare home cooked meals (at least for supper) and encourage our children to eat healthy by setting that example. It really wouldn't do much good, I think, for us to eat whatever we wanted and make the kids eat all the veggies. And we like eating healthy, it tastes good!

When our youngest son was a preschooler, the only vegetable he ate was potatoes. Through encouragement (and sometimes threats of "nothing else until breakfast"), he now eats a variety of vegetables. It was a long and hard road to get him to even try some of these veggies, but we were determined to try as many as we could to get him to eat a variety. And persistence paid off. Today one of his favorite vegetables is raw spinach. Really.

Schools are also, in my humble opinion, doing a fantastic job of encouraging kids to eat healthier. This year, my kids school introduced a breakfast program which hands out different things every week, mostly bananas, apples, yogurt and milk. Even though my kids eat breakfast every morning, they usually stop in to see "what's on the menu" and pick up a piece of fruit or yogurt and a milk. Schools in this area have also removed pop from the vending machines and filled them with water or juice, and removed deep fryers from the cafeteria. I feel they have come a long way in a short time to encourage kids to eat healthy. Not all parents were pleased with this. There was backlash in the news with parents complaining that their kids wouldn't eat the healthy foods made mostly from scratch in the cafeteria. To this I say, pack them a lunch then.

My children's school has a few kids who have severe peanut, fish, shellfish, and egg allergies. At first I must admit it was a bit difficult to find things that they could take for lunch. With all the "additives" in yogurt, bread, bagels, some cheeses etc. like omega 3 (which is a fish oil and on the "banned substance list"), and products which "may have come in contact with nuts", things were looking bleak for a while. Recess was not a problem because most times, we send fruit or something I made like cookies. I don't see the point of kids eating a fruit roll up for recess, there is NO nutritional value and as far as filling them up, they would be about as full as eating a single grape. We do buy things like dunkaroos and fruit snacks, but it is a very rare occurrence. I know fruits and vegetables are VERY expensive, but our feeling is we'd rather spend money on fruit and veggies than spend $2.99 on a 6 pack box of fruit snacks. Remember, I'm the Queen of cheap!

I know you are thinking it must be easy for us to prepare healthy meals because I have the opportunity to be a stay at home Mom. That does make it easier, but just because I'm "called" a stay at home Mom, doesn't mean I am. I have many activities within my children's school (I'm teaching a class there once a week) and community that keep me busy both inside and outside of home on an almost daily basis. It is not a sacrifice for me to feed my children nutritious meals; it is my obligation to them.

I'm not saying that everything we eat is healthy or organic (we still eat white bread) or that we never have treats or eat out, we just do it sensibly. Most Friday nights are movie nights, a tradition we started when my oldest son was in grade primary. It's a way to unwind from a busy week and spend some time as a family, which we all enjoy and look forward to. On these nights, we will often have pizza, sometimes pop, and chips or something. We don't give them treats everyday, and they look forward to it, rather than expect it.

So while I stumble around the grocery store scratching my head trying to read labels and determine what exactly is in what product, as confused as anyone else, I am truly trying to make an effort to teach my children the values of a healthy lifestyle.

You've all heard the old adage, "Healthy living begins at home". It's something we truly believe in and take part in because we believe our kids are worth it.

Until next time,

Michelle