Saturday, June 30, 2012

Bad Advice

While we were splashing away at the beach the other day, I found myself following my daughter around as she toddled her way around beach blankets and other people. She was admired by everyone in her adorable swimsuit and commented about how tiny she is. This I'm used to. Yes, she is tiny and she's been moving since she was about 5 months (she learned quick that it was move it or get plowed over).
I happened to meet another mother who also had a tiny daughter, who had just turned one and was a pound shy of my daughter's weight. We talked a little bit about them and then she asked what my pediatrician says about her growth. I shrugged and said that she is constantly reassuring me that "She is Indeed Growing, slowly, but she's growing."  Then the other mom said that her ped told them to stop feeding her fruits/veg and to give her fattening things like mayonaise, cake, icecream, etc. The father was nearby and made the comment "Who gives their kid straight Mayo?".  I was shocked. I told her I wouldn't give her that stuff and just keep giving her the healthy foods. There are plenty of healthy fatty foods that you can give your kids like nuts and avacados. Ok, maybe peanut butter or cashew butter instead of straight nuts, but still. Most of those foods are high in sugar! I would rather my child gain slowly but beg for carrots over cake. That kind of diet gets them used to a bad diet and sugar fluctuations that will just lead to a bad eating habit roller coaster.

I understand worrying about a child gaining weight, especially if they are formula fed and the parents stop giving it at 1 in exchange for whole milk, but come on Cake? Really? Hummus is much more healthy and just as fattening. Granted it takes some being crafty on the parents part to get them to eat it, but it's worth it in the long run.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Bad Organic Pie

The other day we decided to go down to our local farmer's market and see what there was. Sometimes we score some fresh vegetables and fruits, sometimes baked goods or sweets.  My son wanted the blackberries and my husband was on the prowl for a good pie. I was just happy looking around and contemplating whether or not I wanted to buy squash and zuchini.
We bought the blackberries and my husband was mulling over the small selection of pies left.  He spotted that one was sugar-free and a organic blueberry pie. He asked if I was interested. I said sure. Then I asked the man at the stall if there was a sugar substitute. He nodded and said it had Aspartame in it.
Aspartame? Really? Of all the sweetner substitutes out there they picked that one? The one linked to cancer and alzheimers? I was expecting at least Stevia, but I guess even that was far reached. Maybe the news of how bad aspartame is hasn't reached them or maybe they just don't believe it. Either way, I declined on the pie.

The next day I went out and bought some overripened strawberries and rhubarb. I then made a sugar-free pie using agave. Which by the way is fantastic.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Conditioning...

I don't like to sweat. My skin doesn't like taking showers twice a day. I get sick of water easy. I fatigue easy in the heat. My hair frizzes like crazy too.
And yet, I do not believe in Air Conditioning.  I never have.

I grew up for years without it and suddenly in my teens my father decided it was time that we had a unit stuck in every window in every room in their house. I protested. I fought. And most of the time I won.  My room as a teen had only one working window. There were two, but the other was huge and didn't have a screen, so I never opened it. Then after I graduated HS, I moved to a room in the attic that only had ONE window. I would often come home from school or work to find an A/C until shoved in my one working window and my bedroom a frigid temp. I always shut it off, unplugged it, pulled it out, put it out in the hallway, and proceeded to put my box fan back in. We argued relentlessly about this. He was angry because my room was leaking warm, humid, awful air into the rest of the cool house. I said that my room was full of fresh real air and that he should just keep my door closed. Eventually he got tired of hauling it back into my room and window. Especially when he realised that I was younger and could literally keep this up all summer.

One of the things I have come to love about my husband is his love of hating A/C.  We have been criticized for this of course. We're crazy with the heat. My dad made comments that he did want grand kids someday. (Yet somehow both of ours were convived in hot late spring weather without it.lol)  Our reasoning is simple, our bodies can be trained to deal with it. Not saying that in winter we go without heat, but we do keep ours set at 62-64 all winter.  Yet when the weather gets sweaty and hot, we just turn on a fan and down the liquids. The first day is always the worst. The second is better and by the third you're fine. I even turn on my oven in 94' in the shade, heat. Doesn't bother me anymore.
What does bother me is when people tell me I'm a bad parent for subjecting my children to it. I make sure they are hydrated as well. I buy electrolyte drinks and give it to them diluted. I want my children to be able to regulate their body temperature's naturally. What good are we doing our children if they are always in an environment that is the perfect temp? Then I hear about deaths and hospitalizations in the news during a rolling blackout. Yes, most of them are elderly, but some are adults who just didn't know how to hydrate themselves.
I have gone through two summer morning sickness, pregnancies this way too. Never once begging for A/C. In fact we sold the unit my dad bought us when we moved into our apartment. Brand New still in the box.

I know it seems like such a silly argument, but people are very emphatic about their A/C. To the point that they state "I can't live without it." Which really is total crap. People lived without it for decades. To have A/C was a sign you were rich. Then central air became that sign. Now it is everywhere. People have shut themselves up in their homes with recirculated indoor air blowing cold in their faces. Some people have it on so cold they need a blanket along with sweats and a long shirt. You can claim it is for comfort and in some places I understand. Yet in those places, people don't have A/C in their huts or tents. I find it funny that people who live hundreds of miles from the equator cannot handle or will not handle what it takes for their body to naturally regulate itself. Yet the people who do live close to the equator, don't need it. They wear long pants and shirts in 100' sun.  Water is life. Same goes for people who live near the poles. 75' hits and they are sweating. They are conditioned to their environment, not the other way around.

I worry that down the road several generations, we may suddenly see people who cannot regulate their body temperature at all. People who must live in climate controlled buildings. Also who knows what kind of illnesses will come about from people breathing in recirculated air and not fresh air?
Most of this is speculation. But I prefer to do what my ancestors did. Drink, eat, play and live while my body does what it is designed to do.