Food Revolution part VII - The China Study

Now, before I go any further I need to throw out some pretty serious disclaimers.

I am not a dietitian, or a nutritionist. In fact, let me go a bit further and confess that I cheated my way through nutrition in College (please don't tell my MIL who actually is a registered dietitian)! I am in no way an expert.

I also didn't completely read the China Study, I only got through the first to chapters before it was due back at the library. So it might be possible that at the end of the book the author says, "Just kidding, we just wanted to see if you were paying attention" and then publishes different results. But some how, I don't think that is likely.

Now, with that out of the way I want to share how the China study helped us with our food revolution. See, I mentioned that my MIL is a registered dietitian, which means she know stuff about health. And, well, I don't really. I'm a pretty decent cook. I have a good instinct for substituting different flavors, and pairing food combinations that can make your mouth water. But as soon as someone starts talking free radicals and bonding, I can only picture tribal fighting in Africa.

Which makes me feel dependent on people who do know what they are talking about. The trouble is, THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE SAYING DIFFERENT THINGS! I hope you got that I was yelling, because that is how frustrating it can be. I don't know who to listen to, and its my kids health that we are talking about, not just my money.

Believe it or not, reading the China Study helped me relax. Which is unusual, since it makes many people uptight and they drastically change their diet from the extreme worry over cancer that they have submitted their children to previously.

We are big on dairy around here. As babies my kids would have some form of milk (breast, formula or cow depending on their age), yogurt mixed in with something (fruit, cereal, etc.), and generally some form of cheese. My MIL encouraged this because "growing kids and breastfeeding mommies need calcium." But...

Dairy is Scary
You have heard the reports and whether or not you believe them, it still makes you wary. Hormones fed to cows? Diseases?Poor treatment of animals? Puberty arriving sooner and sooner? Food Quality Testing Scandals? Doubling and tripling Prices? May cause Cancer?

What is a mother to do? Well, after reading the China Study I decided that we don't have to drink milk every meal, and that we can get calcium from sources.
Those other sources are usually vegetables, and they are not cheap, and my kids don't like them (yet), but I can make them, and I can offer them, and I don't have to worry.

So what does this have to do with teaching kids about money?

1. Ignorance is not a good excuse for bad health
2. I can do a little bit at a time
3. I can increase the good stuff, even before I decrease the bad stuff
4. Saving money is not a good enough reason to make poor eating choices
5. It's never to late to make a good decision