The following article is offered for free use in your ezine, print publication or on your web site, so long as
author resource box at end is included, with hyperlinks. Notification of publication would be appreciated.Title: Love, Food, and Kids Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D. E-mail: mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com Copyright: © 2004 by Margaret Paul Web Address: http://www.innerbonding.com Word Count: 733 Category: Parenting
LOVE, FOOD, AND KIDS Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
Forty years ago I became very interested in health and nutrition. I had been a sickly child and I had hated being sick. As a low-energy young adult, I had decided to do something about my health, so after reading some wonderful books on nutrition, I proceeded to completely change what I ate. I started to shop at only little health food store in Los Angeles – Whole Foods was years away! I threw out all packaged food and ate only natural, fresh organic products – when I could get them. I made a decision that if people didn’t eat something 100 years ago, I wasn’t going to eat it now. I was extremely pleased with improvement in my health and energy.
When I had children, I wanted them to be healthy, so I made sure that I had only healthy food in house. By time my children went to school, they were not happy with food choices in their lunch boxes. Why couldn’t they have Twinkies and fluffy white bread like other kids? Why couldn’t they have Oreos instead of healthy cookies that I made for them? They didn’t like being “weird.” When we went to market and they wanted junk, I told them they needed to buy it with their own money – that I was never going to spend money on junk food. It didn’t take them long to know that I meant it and to stop asking.
No one else in my family was into nutrition in way I was. I was considered a “health nut” and often ridiculed. Yet my children were calm most of time and had no trouble learning and staying focused on tasks. I noticed that when they went to birthday parties and had lots of sugar, they came home bouncing off walls. Whatever criticism and complaints I received, I knew it was loving to them for me to keep only healthy food in home.
