PART 2 – What Are We Feeding Our Children?

Read PART 1 if you missed it.

My sister-in-law with a friend, and no she wasn’t giving him the Coke. :-)

(Note: I do not necessarily agree with every conclusion or idea that these people put forth, but the overall message is sound and we have found it to be true on a number of levels for adults, let alone children.)

Nourishing Our Children – Timeless Principles for Supporting Learning, Behavior, and Health Through Optimal Nutrition – This page has a wealth of information that is essential for the modern parent to know.  There are so many lies being put forth about food and what we should eat, and yet children are looking malnourished – their eyes may be more or less sunken looking, they may be super thin or obese, their skin may be pasty looking or they look anemic, they may lack a look of vivacious health even when they are active, their hair may be limp and lusterless, they may have learning disabilities or thinking and emotional problems related to lack of proper nutrition – or, even worse, from the introduction of dangerous additives in their food.

The parents are not always at fault.  They think they are feeding their kids a “pretty good diet”, not knowing that the food they think is “good for them” is so processed and stripped of nutrition that, although their bellies are full and they are sometimes even fat, they are not healthy.  Only if it gets to the point of serious brain malfunction or physical problems do they realize that there is a problem.  It is time to Wake Up, as this page says.  There is much information here, but when you stop and think about what they are saying much of it only makes sense; after all, this is the way people did eat in the past before “super-processing” of food came into common practice.

Be sure and read this page at their site for the basics on good-for-kids-and-you foods that are lied about by the present food cartels:  Top 10 Facts You May Not Know About Your Diet –

A few to get you interested:

3. Saturated fats and cholesterol are vital for optimum health… (Yes, it’s true!)

6. Modern soy products are dangerous…

4. Foods from grass-fed animals are important for good health…

9. Not all “organic” foods are healthy…

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By the way, if you can’t imagine how food can make that much difference in a kid’s behavior I’d like to tell you about a cat. 

Some friends of ours had a cat that had a nasty temperament  - was ornery and mean and probably “violent”.  The wife/owner read about the proper way to feed dogs and cats on raw meats and vegetables rather than the highly processed food product sold as cat food, and decided to try it.  That cat calmed right down and became a pleasant and respectable member of their pet population.  How much more important do you supposed a proper diet is to the development of a human baby and child? 

Proper nutrition is really of vital importance for anything to be healthy, and as with animals, small kids and babies cannot always tell you that they don’t feel right.   If proper eating could help the behavior issues of a cat don’t you suppose that it might make a difference in some children as well?  This is not to say that they will stop being sinners.  They won’t.  But, there may be things in their diet that are irritating their bodies and brains in ways that God didn’t intend and thus causing emotional disorder that leads to behavioral problems.  It is something to think about.

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CONCLUSION

These things are very thought-provoking, and in light of the present world situation I think it is of interest that there is a grass roots (no pun intended) movement toward growing more of our own food needs; buying local, grass-fed, raw and otherwise more healthy food products; and learning to enjoy less more.  World situations make it seem that the Lord’s return is imminent and this turning toward older more simple ways makes me wonder if there is not a desire rising up in some people for the very thing that God Himself will shortly bring to pass.  I certainly know that the Kingdom is a time when agriculture will be emphasized and personal ownership of food sources will be the norm.  And, that food will be wholesome and pure as God intended it to be!  No more GMO, praise God!

Micah 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

If that doesn’t make you want to shout for joy after what you read and heard in these two posts on food, you might want to check your pulse and see if you’re still alive. :-)  (Unless you are not a Christian born into God’s family through Jesus Christ.  Then you need to go here and do some reading: The Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

PART 1 : What Are We Feeding Our Children?

An East African boy enjoying traditional Tanzanian food.  Original photo taken my by my grandfather, Glenn Hoover.

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Is this how meal times in your house sound?  Fake, Fake, Fake

Here are some very important links regarding the nutrition of children’s food.  Please, please read this if you are a parent or help with the feeding of children in any way!  Our food supply has been terribly messed with and corrupted.  The babies and children are going to pay the highest price for that because it is effecting their health and their development.  You may not be able to make a lot of changes at once, but it is important to know what is good and what is not and to make strides in the right direction in the area of feeding your family and loved ones.

(Note: I do not necessarily agree with every conclusion or idea that these people put forth, but the over all message is sound and we have found it to be true on a number of levels for adults, let alone children.)

What Are You Feeding Your Children? – One woman’s journey from “healthy” junk food to nourishing foods for her family, here is a video discussing the additives and things in food that can actually harm your children or cause allergic reactions. Please consider doing what this lady suggests - changing you family's eating habits gradually for the better.  Some people make this process unnecessarily hard by demanding or thinking that all these changes need to be addressed at once.  They do not.  You CAN change the way your family eats one step at a time.  And, may I suggest that, as Robyn obviously did, you include your kids in the process.  Tell them why you need to make the changes and educate them so they will understand and hopefully agree!  Kids are lot smarter about these things than some parents think.  When they find out there is trash and bug killer in the food they may be   more angry than you are.  Who wants fish genes in their tomato anyway?  Make it a family project to improve the diet and find out why.  (Be forewarned, though; as one friend of mine found out, the kids may be more diligent at checking ingredients than you are!) 

In case you think the kids can't get excited about this subject, check out this lecture on the subject from an 11-year-old homeschooled boy: What's Wrong with Our Food System.

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Watch for PART 2 coming soon.

Food Safety – Should We Eat Food from China?

There a lot of people concerned about the safety of food produced in the USA.  This is a legitimate concern and something that should be addressed.  However, I would like to suggest that if you are worrying about the level of contaminants and additives in American made foods but are still eating Anything from China and other east Asian countries, you need to re-evaluate your eating habits.

Here’s why:

The Great China Milk Scandal – Milk powder for babies, etc. is tainted with melamine to a toxic level.  At least 269,000 children fall ill from ingesting it.  Some die.  Over 1000 fur animals fed the product die.  Two men were actually executed for producing this milk.  Chinese milk products are pulled from shelves all over the Asia and beyond.  The melamine is also found in eggs.  (Note: This is partly a problem with China’s aversion to breast-feeding.  People do sorry things to their children whenever they refuse to use the natural method of feeding children that God created and intended.)

Bessie or Mama?  Genetically modified cows in China give “human” milk. – OK, this is rather weird.  Some people will find it very revolting.  I kind of “get it” in some ways (not approval!!!) because I’ve read and heard a fair bit about China since my Gramma was born there to missionary parents.  The Chinese have had customs for centuries that seem very strange, even revolting, to Westerners.  While their civilization in some respects was very advanced at an early age – building of cities, gun powder, art, language, etc. – some of their habits and customs have been extremely primitive or vulgar right into the modern era.  I remember reading about things like how they used human dung to fertilize their fields, thus spreading contamination and disease; foot binding; atrocities of various types, etc.

So I read this quote: “In ancient China, only the emperor and the empress could drink human milk throughout their lives, which was believed to be the height of opulence. Why not make that kind of milk more available for ordinary people?”  And, that makes sense in a Chinese sort of way.  Disgusting, but not as shocking as it might seem when viewed in context.

As I mentioned with the melamine contaminated milk, when people reject the methods of life and living that God has ordained in His creation (in this case breastfeeding their children), they run into all kinds of problems and foolishness.  Genetically modifying cows to produce “human” milk will undoubtedly have an unforeseen and undesirable consequence – besides revolting Westerners.

I for one propose not to eat any Chinese dairy products wittingly!  Who knows what might be contained in them.

By the way, we have recently learned that un-homogenized, un-pasteurized cow’s milk, in other words raw cow’s milk, is the closet thing to human milk in nature and the most easily digested by humans.  It contains more pro-biotics and other good-for-you things, and probably retains the protein that they’ve actually reduced in the GMO Chinese cows.  No surprise for the Bible believer.  The land of Canaan was called “a land flowing with milk and honey” no less than 8 times in the scriptures.  (Probably a combination of cow, goat and possibly sheep milk.)

That Nasty Oriental Shrimp/Tilapia Pond, among other things. – (Not recommended to be read while eating.)  Several years ago a friend of our brought a National Geographic magazine to my family’s house to show us the picture of a shrimp pond in China where shrimp for export was grown.  It was an ugly, dark looking cesspool – not a place where you’d want to find your Food.  I think she even mentioned at the time that the Chinese were feeding the shrimp chicken manure as part of the their diet.  If you read this link, from Ghana in Africa, you will find that it’s far worse than that.  Personally, think I’d rather eat partially hydrogenated oil and GMO corn than this stuff!

By the way, I’d like to know how many of you heard of all the health dangers that were addressed by US and EU government agencies that are listed in this article.  I had only heard of a few.

Another look at imported seafood, including other countries besides China. – In relation to this article I would like to mention that I have heard that a certain amount of contamination by certain types of bacteria is normal in food.  The problem is high levels of contamination in these things, and lack of proper cleaning or cooking.  The presence of things like disinfectants, pesticides, animal and insect droppings, additives, and antibiotics is disturbing because they were introduced, on purpose in some cases, from unnatural sources.

The most important quotes to me in this article are:

“Just Wednesday, the agency issued an ‘import alert,’ which is like a hazard warning to its port inspectors to detain shipments from specific companies until tests conducted by the importer indicate that the food meets FDA standards.”

“The loads were seized until the company could supply proof that the shrimp were safe.”

“Obtaining the clean bill of health raised more issues as FDA found the company had been ‘shopping’ for private labs that would and did produce an analysis declaring the shrimp was salmonella-free and safe to sell and consume. The FDA didn't buy it and the shrimp were kept off the market.”

[Emphasis added.]

Hello!?  Are we going to trust the companies and importers who are trying to pawn this filth-polluted food off on us (as the consumer) to test the product and prove that it is safe?  Doesn’t that sound just a bit unlikely?  And, what if the FDA doesn’t catch them at their “lab shopping” shenanigans next time?

Have you ever eaten any shrimp or other seafood that just didn’t taste quite right?  It was kind of tasteless or even had a nasty after or “under” taste?  I really wonder about that now!

And, remember “Less than 2 percent of foreign seafood is even eyeballed, let alone analyzed in a laboratory.”  For the first time in quite a while I actually feel kind of sorry for the FDA.  How can they be expected to deal with the enormity of this problem? 

Conclusion

I think that we, as consumers, can make a difference by what we buy and don’t buy.  This has been proven recently by the fact that more and more companies are removing hydrogenated oils, MSG, and other allergens and additives from their food products.  When all else fails, let’s insist on clean food at the cash register!  This is where the local sellers will feel it and they will be “inspired” to make changes in what they stock!