“Successful People Don’t Feed Their Kids Honey Buns –and You Shouldn’t Either” PART IV
Story behind my WAKE UP CALL and “non-expert expert” status for all things Parenting and Nutrition
When I was 5 wks pregnant my husband left to the Feds. I almost lost my son, I was so stressed out. For almost a year prior to him leaving my husband had been on house arrest and I was pretty isolated during that time. After he left, I was pregnant, working from home, I was all alone, my closest friend lived 35-40 minutes away. So when the nurse told me about a new parenting program sponsored by a major university hospital, I was game!
I became obsessed with learning everything about the health of my pregnancy and my son. The more I found out the more diet became an issue. I never thought about childhood obesity as a major problem for blacks and Latinos—I always thought about drugs, crime, violence, and education. I never thought about food being responsible for kid’s learning and behavior disabilities. I never really actually realized how drastic their numbers are to OURS when it comes to diseases and concerns for OUR kids. Or that food leads to problems and problems lead to kids being labeled as “bad” by teachers and then those teachers push them out of school and just like that…you have 40, 50, 60% of kids dropping out of High School and into welfare and prison!
As a community we just don’t think about that stuff. I learned so much from being around those people in class. That’s one of the reasons why I’m going all in on the Urban Bailout and other place that gives me any opening to talk about our kid’s diets.
Because they are really killing us. As a group, as a community. This food is killing us. Just by keeping information from us and stocking our stores with garbage. It’s GENOCIDE!
And we have to WAKE up! Wake the HELL UP!
Let me give you a perfect example…at my health clinic they told me, take a pre-natal vitamin, any pre-natal and if it upsets you just take a few Flintstone vitamins it’s the same thing.
But it’s NOT. The mothers I went to class with were taking medical grade multivitamins with OMEGA 3! Omega 3 is found in fish oil and it develops the BRAIN of a baby! Every pregnant and nursing mom should be taking and every child should be having it in his/her diet (yes, my son STILL takes Omega 3).
People need nutrients to work function right! A Balanced diet even calms you down and deal with stress better. In a child it makes a HUGE difference. Actually, it is the single most important factor that you can control when it comes to learning disabilities.
It’s not just about eating your fruits and vegetables to be strong or not be fat. It’s about…getting cancer and having a stroke from eating this food. It’s about your kids getting cancer, and diabetes, and getting strokes from eating this food. It’s about your kid being able to learn and do math and deal with stress like any other kid, one of “their” kids.
You see, what our kids go through, what we go through…it turns out that is NOT normal.
Some studies show that a kid that is breastfed does better in school, has higher IQ, is less likely to be overweight and have high cholesterol…for LIFE! When he’s a baby and then a child he’s also less likely to get cancer, asthma, ear infections, and so many other things. But it seems like, in our culture from our friend’s to WIC encourages that we give them formula! Women that breastfeed their kids are less likely to get ovarian and breast cancer…again…they want US to give them formula.
Got to a Chinese restaurant, look at what THEY are eating…you will not see a family in a Chinese restaurant eat the food they give you. They are eating plain rice, vegetables, and fish.
Yeah, Americans as a whole are fat and getting fatter and sicker…a lot of people say that when I bring this issue up…I hate to break it to you, but there’s just some stuff that they don’t sell anywhere but in the hood. No one is stupid enough to eat this stuff but us.
That bothers me. It should bother you. If you take only one thing away from this series is that it should bother you if not for yourself then for your kids.
There’s a reason rich, successful people don’t eat this stuff. No one should.
So what can you do? Healthy food is expensive! I feel you and it’s true.
Here’s my affordable and will even save you money list:
- Kids don’t need all those snacks anyways–If anything use, candy, desserts, and chips (snacks) as treats for them doing good things (chores, reading a book, picking up their toys). This saves you money too! Remember, they really don’t need all those snacks.
- Kids (or YOU) don’t need all that soda and they don’t need all that ‘fruit drink/Kool-Aid” none of that. EVER—you did READ the other posts right? They need water! They don’t even need that much JUICE—Juice-REAL 100%-once a day is fine.
- Kids SHOULD be breastfed 6 months to a year. Follow celebrity news and see most celebrity women BREASTFEED their babies, it gets you back into shape faster and it’s the very best. They know this and so should you!
- After they are 2, kids don’t need WHOLE milk, give them Skim/NON-FAT milk. No chocolate or strawberry “pink” milk. Would you give your kid a glass of milk that you just put 18 spoons of sugar into? NO! But that’s exactly what you are doing when you put that chocolate/strawberry mix in it!
- Hot dogs…all beef or turkey if you most…don’t get the super cheap kind. PLUS, if you can…avoid hotdogs—remember Gwyneth!
- Making your OWN mini pizzas is not difficult or expensive, do that don’t buy Tostinos and frozen mini-pizzas. You are killing your kids!
- If you HAVE to use hamburger, use half hamburger and half ground turkey.
- Get NATURAL no sugar added applesauce and light syrup or juice fruit cups as snacks and freeze them for frozen treats.
- Use BROWN rice and WHOLE wheat bread. NOT White or White Wheat bread!
- Don’t use 1 minute or those little packaged oatmeal with flavor oatmeal, get quick cooking whole oats.
- Don’t give them any cereal that tastes good. (Okay, I’m so serious right now) or comes in a bag! You are just hurting your child. This means, pops, lucky charm, captain crunch, cinnamon toast…none of that!
- When you buy pasta buy whole wheat pasta! Do not buy regular pasta! Even if you are going to make macaroni and cheese form box…throw away the pasta they give you, keep the seasoning, and use the wheat pasta with the boxed seasoning.
There are lots of other changes you can make of course. These were some of the once I made that I know anyone that wants to change can make. Are these changes easy to make? NO! Will everyone around make the “stupidest” comments ever to you for making them…yes! Are they inconvenient? Yup!
Are they worth it? You tell me.
Real Talk. My role is to inform you and build you up. You have the info so you are no longer ignorant. If you choose not to make changes…then you are just ACTING ignorant and you are everything they say you are.
NOTE: We’ve added a page dedicated to parenting on this blog and have a parenting blog coming out soon! Stay tuned! And don’t forget for $10 a MONTH membership you have unlimited access to classes, coaching, tips, and access to experts that include parenting topics! Make an investment in yourself and your family today!
