Nicole Koroghlian of Wholesome Kids Cook considers the message of Food Inc. and offers some commentary and “food for thought” in this edition of “Mindful Girl.”
Did you see the film “Food, Inc?”
Overall, I thought the movie was insightful and eye opening. My emotions were mixed: sadness, anger, helplessness; even relief and joy that I was not feeding my family foods from the “bad” sources. But as the movie ended, there was one image I couldn’t get out of my mind. In one scene, one family struggles to make ends meet and eat at a fast food restaurant off the “Dollar Menu” because that isall they think they can afford. They even showed them in a supermarket trying to buy produce, but the scene showed them struggling to buy any fresh fruits or vegetables because they cost too much.
I thought about this for a while. Okay, there are a lot of families who are struggling to make ends meet. Is it possible, despite my feelings and strong belief, that making homemade foods just can’t compete with the cost of buying fast food?
I thought about this for a good part of the next day with compassion. This just doesn’t seem fair. Before drifting off to sleep that night, I recalled the dollar amount the family spent on that fast food meal – $11.48.
Is it possible to feed a family of four dinner on eleven dollars with a home cooked meal using whole foods? I was at the market earlier in the day so food prices were fresh in my head. I did some quick calculating: 4 hamburgers (ground beef with no hormones, no antibiotics, vegetarian diet) – $4.49/lb.; 4 all-natural, whole grain buns – $1.60; homemade, baked French Fries (6-7 organic potatoes) – $2.00; vegetable (could be fresh or frozen) – $3.50. Total cost =$11.59. Then I thought of some easy, healthy options under $12: whole grain pasta with tomato sauce, plus a salad or a vegetable; vegetable bean burrito or wrap with brown rice.
Wow! You really can afford to make a healthy meal for a family of four for $12.00. It’s possible. I jumped out of bed and told my husband about my realization. Feeling totally vindicated, but soon after totally confused by the message the film was sending. My husband reminded me that the family said that they didn’t have the money, nor did they have the time. TIME! I have heard that before. From the poor to the middle class to the wealthy. “I just don’t have time.”
So I thought more about the notion of time and how it relates to how we take care of ourselves and how we set our priorities.
I thought to myself, “Do I really have more time than other families?” The answer is no. However, I make feeding myself and my family a top priority, therefore I make the time to reach this goal. Activities are planned around meals. Not meals planned around activities. If an activity falls around a meal time, I am very hesitant to participate.
This is the way I see it. Every meal, every snack, is an opportunity to help my child grow into a healthy adult. If I fill those “opportunities” with junk food, nutritionally-deficient foods, foods tainted with chemicals, foods produced in a science lab lacking any resemblance to a whole food then I have failed my child.
Why aren’t we paying more attention to the foods we feed our children than how many activities we can pack in? How can their bodies keep up with all these activities if they are living on junk food or nutritionally comprised/deficient foods? I don’t get it.
Since the time parents bring home their newborn baby, they are bombarded with information and messages about making sure you read to your child, expose your child to music to help their brain grow, get your child active with dance, karate, other sports classes. But there is no message shared with parents about the importance of feeding their children healthy foods and this is evident from the first year of life when we feed babies processed formulas and baby cereals to baby food from a jar that is also highly processed.
Don’t get me wrong, I value those other activities and believe they are important to the overall development of a child, but not at the expense of making time to prepare a healthy meal for my children or making time to share a meal with them.
To me a family meal is an activity and an important one. It is not only feeding our bodies, but it provides a chance to connect with my children and my husband. Don’t children need that? Don’t they deserve that time to be nurtured both physically and mentally?
We cannot make a change toward healthy eating if we don’t make a shift in our thinking and place a greater value on the importance of food. It’s not only about organic and buying local, it’s also about understanding why we need to eat and respecting our bodies and making that a priority in our life. Our children will be given a great gift–knowing how to take care of their bodies by eating whole foods and learning how to cook for themselves, a life skill that is facing extinction.
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