Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I've Gotten a Wild Hair...

On Facebook tonight, I saw a link to Jamie Oliver's TED talk about childhood obesity and starting a revolution in America for healthier eating, both in schools and at home. I then followed a link to Jamie's "Food Revolution" page based around this premise, which includes a TV show about this topic. His goal is to revolutionize how we eat in America, but his premise is simple: using whole, natural ingredients in our cooking. I was immediately inspired. I have a new goal: to do some learning about nutrition and tweak our family's diet to be healthier.

Now here's my asterisk, my caveat:
I think that, on the scale of things, we actually eat rather healthfully. I cook at home probably 6 out of the 7 nights a week and we pack our leftovers as lunches. I use actual fruits and vegetables in my cooking and I'm trying to teach Lauren to do the same. I plan our meals about a week and a half, two weeks in advance, and do all the shopping at once, so we don't eat on the run much. So, the good news is that we already have a lot of structures in place.

Now the obstacles:
-While I'm the one who does all of this (pretty) healthy shopping and cooking, I'm also kind of a bad influence. I love treats, especially chocolate, and I'm usually the one that decides to go out to eat for dinner. Not that these are bad things, necessarily, but I think I can do better and be more intentional with my decision-making.

-I've let Lauren's (my daughter's) toddler-ness pigeonhole her into some bad eating habits. She was a pretty adventurous baby as far as food was concerned, but she got a little pickier and I got a little busier and she eats chicken nuggets more than I'd like to admit. Again, not a bad thing necessarily, but when it's the one thing she requests while shunning fresher foods, I wonder about the path she's on.

-I work 40 hours a week and have a toddler. Add to that that I'm trying to run about 4 times a week and sleep 8 hours a night, and there's just not enough time. Like I said, I have many structures already in place, but doing more than I'm already doing is going to be a struggle. I'm going to have to get the most bang for my buck.

I'm a goal-oriented person, so here are my goals:
1. Learn more about nutrition and the business of food in the United States so that I can make better decisions for my family.
2. Change the way I purchase and prepare food to implement what I have learned.
3. Work to expand Lauren's diet to include fewer processed foods.
4. Find ways of fueling my body for running and life in general while still enjoying food.

Next steps:
1. Learn more about nutrition - I've placed several books on hold at the library. In the meantime, I'm going to finish Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.
2. Brainstorm sources for healthier foods - I have some ideas, but I know there's more out there that I don't know about.
3. Invite other people on this journey. I need some accountability, and I want others to learn with me.

Well, that's it. I'm jumping off the diving board and into the deepend, and I really hope this makes some change for my family!


Here's the link for Jamie's TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html

Here's the link to the first episode of Jamie's show:
http://abc.go.com/watch/jamie-olivers-food-revolution/250784/254757/episode-101

9 comments:

  1. I appreciate your interest as well Sarah! I'm still in the 'gather information' phase, but am intrigued and have TiVo'd Jamie Oliver's show.

    I haven't seen it yet, but heard amazing things about the film "Food Inc."

    Also, watch this episode on Oprah - "The Truth About Food"

    http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Food-101-with-Michael-Pollan

    Another book to read: "Food Rules" by Michael Follan

    I'm also interested in sugar consumption and the overuse of artifical sweeteners.

    I like Dr. Oz's appraoch and especially his
    5 THINGS TO AVOID
    1) Hydrogenated oil or partially hydrogenated oil and/or trans fats
    2) Sugar
    3) High fructose corn syrup
    4) Enriched flour
    5) Saturated fat

    Putting all of this knowledge into action is still a challenge for me. When I compare prices - say of organic chicken breasts with Kirkland's boneless chicken breasts (both available at Costco), it is difficult to choose the higher price product. And just when I've found the perfect recipe for sugarless lemonade, I learn that the sweetener I'm using may be causing my joint stiffness. It's challenging and frustrating!

    I'm not a big fruit eater, but have found a homemade Smoothie both healthy and satisfying - of course avoiding anything but 100% fruit juice.

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  2. Hey Suzie! I'm so glad to be able to share in your learning on this too! I haven't seen that Oprah episode, but will watch it ASAP. I've also added the "Food Rules" book to my holds list at the library. That list is expanding rapidly in the last 18 hours!

    I like Dr. Oz's list. I would like to say that I'm already avoiding many of those things, but I'm not so sure. I'm realizing that I don't know much about what's in the things I'm eating. Sure, I cook with lots of vegetables, but I also eat a lot of processed things with long ingredients lists. It's a little scary.

    I have a feeling that it's the implementation that's going to get me as well. I have a feeling I'm going to learn a ton and then struggle to find how to make it work. The price is an issue, as wel as the additional time. We'll see, I guess!

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  3. Sarah:

    I think that this blog--and your goals--are great.

    Brian and I are picky about taste and so we cook great stuff...when we actually cook. The rest of the time, well, we're eating out a lot. (Funny how living in Seattle, with disposable incomes and no kids, it's super easy to go out instead of eat in.) Last night is a great example; even after watching Jamie Oliver's TED talk, we still went out. The excuses were the same as always: It was late, I was hungry, I wasn't up for the mega-production of making dinner, etc.

    But, knowing that we can be healthier and that I'll want to make smart nutritional choices for kids the same way that my parents made them for me, I'm totally in for your food revolution!

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  4. Hey Sarah,
    So excited you're doing this! I was all gung ho about where my food was coming from and what was in it after my nutrition class....and then school started up again...and work got busy. But I'm ready to get serious about it again.
    The one thing I did hold on to is try to make little changes. The idea of revamping our entire "food world" can be overwhelming. Little changes stick longer and make more of an impact.

    Good places to start: Watch Food, Inc. and get others to watch it. Get to know your local farmers at the Edmonds Farmers Market. They truly value loyal customers and try to give great deals (or hold on to the last dozen fresh eggs that everyone fights over).

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  5. Glad you're along for the ride, ladies! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that struggles with the "Too tired, easier to go out" battle. And, to be honest, I know I'm never going to win that battle completely. I just need to make those small changes and have a few different foods around and I think I'll be doing much better. It's not going to be easy, but part of the reason I invited everyone is to have some accountability! That, and I love hearing what others know and have found about this.

    I'm going to add Food, Inc. to our Blockbuster queue right now!

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  6. Good luck with this! I read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food last Fall and it was life changing. It's not a fun read, so I read a few pages at a time before reading my fun book each night, but it explains the science behind why Americans are so unhealthy and how to eat healthier. His food rules is probably a shortened version of the other book, but I really recommend reading In Defense of Food because everything is explained. If you understand why things are good or bad, it's so much easier to stick with it and make healthy decisions without feeling like I sacrifice anything. I think starting with that will get you on the right track from the start and will just make you more aware. Best of luck to you!!

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  7. Hey Jill! Thanks for the book recommendation. I have that on my hold list at the library and I'm looking forward to reading it, as much as you can look forward to such a thing! I'm definitely finding that I can only do my learning a few pages or articles at a time; it's just too overwhelming to think about it all!

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