Remember I mentioned that while I chuckled at that mom’s comment about being 1 of 10 families in the world who has never been to McDonalds, that I also thought it was pretty sad? I do.
I can totally understand how fast food places become a mainstay in the American family’s diet. They make it SO easy for us! The food is super cheap. It’s fast. There are a gazillion fast food restaurants and locations to choose from – there’s always one nearby it seems. And, in our crazy scheduled-life, it saves us tremendous time. Plus, the kids love it and never complain! Shoot, they’ve even got toys and playgrounds for the kids – who wouldn’t love it?? It’s a parent’s dream!
I get it completely.
And I hate it. It’s so unfair. Parents don’t stand a chance against these savvy marketers. Planning and creating healthy, interesting and varying home cooked meals for the entire family takes tremendous dedication and effort. If you’re purchasing organic products, in many cases, it also takes a bit more financial investment as well. That’s what the fast food mega industry is banking on… that you don’t have the conviction, determination or desire to go to such effort.
In our family, we make it work. It isn’t easy, but like I said last time, fast food restaurants aren’t an option. Our worst offense is an occasional take-out pizza, from a local place that prides itself on using the freshest high quality ingredients. All things considered, I guess it’s the best of the worst! We “health it up” by making a salad or veggies to eat along with it.
Other than that, I plan ahead. I shop once a week at Whole Foods Market and purchase our ‘clean’ meats, produce and personal care and household items that I know I won’t find at other local grocery stores. Once a week I also re-stock our produce at the local ‘mainstream’ grocery store that now carries a wide variety of organic produce… usually at even lower prices than Whole Foods.
So many people say to me that they can’t afford organic foods. All I can (or should!) comment on is how we make it work. We don’t spend a single penny in fast food restaurants. We don’t buy junk food. We don’t buy pop, ‘sports’ drinks or any ‘fake’ juice drinks. We don’t buy the pizza lunches offered at our daughter’s school. We eat at a restaurant on average 2-3 times per month. We rarely-to-never buy overpriced ‘designer’ coffee at the local hang-outs anymore.
The list of ‘common’ things we don’t spend money on is long and varied, and spans far more than just the category of food and nutrition. We don’t have video games or all the new, trendy toys. I won’t buy conventional cleaning or laundry products (I usually make them for pennies). We rarely go out shopping for ourselves or our home. We’re not misers or penny-pinchers. But we also don’t have Oprah’s money tree in our back yard either!
My point is simply to say that we choose to spend a lot less money than many families on certain socially common things. Therefore, we have ‘extra’ money to invest in higher quality nutrition and things we feel are critical at this stage of the game (education, a variety of extracurricular activities and experiences for the kids, etc). We spend our money NOW on the things we can’t go back and change LATER.
Establishing a solid foundation of health for children is absolutely critical. There are certain things that are irreversible. I believe that a childhood riddled with poor nutrition creates cellular dysfunction for life. I believe that the majority of the life-threatening diseases we see in adulthood actually begin in childhood. I believe that every choice we make on behalf of our kids does matter.
So, what’s going to work for your family? Do you have enough time to cook more home cooked meals? That’s up to you. Do you have ‘enough money’ to buy higher quality food for your family? I guess that depends on what else you’re spending your money on. The choice is always yours. I just always ask the parents who come to me for advice to be very clear with themselves first.
If you “can’t” find the time or “can’t” afford to eat better, remember what the word “can’t” really means. It means either (a) you don’t understand or don’t know how, or (b) you just don’t want to. If it’s (a), I’m here to help! Either way, I trust that you’re doing the very best you can with the resources you have available! Good for you!
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