Resolutions

Looking at this guy's sweet face is good motivation for me to stick with my resolutions this year.  Over the past couple of years, S and I have really reformed our eating, after reading a lot of Michael Pollan, watching Food, Inc., Forks Over Knives, etc.  One of my favorite blogs is 100 Days of Real Food, and although we'll never be perfect, Greenling has helped a lot and I feel like we're moving in the right direction, with one exception.  Soda.  I still drink soda a lot for the sugar and caffeine rush, knowing it's terrible for me.  Last month, before we went to the Trail of Lights, I took both kids to Qdoba for a quick dinner.  While I was opening something for Eliza, I looked down and realized Ezra had grabbed my Coke and was slurping it like there was no tomorrow.  I wondered why I had something on the table in front of him that was full of high fructose corn syrup, if I didn't want him to drink it.  And why was it okay for me to drink it?  So, I decided to limit myself to one soda a month and I won't be drinking that one soda in front of the kids.  So far so good. 

My other resolution is to be more vigilant about artificial coloring in the kids' food and drinks.  I'm most concerned with Red#40.  I'll admit I've been the first one in the past to use food coloring to decorate cookies and cupcakes, etc. to make them fun.  And I don't like to subscribe to conspiracy theories.  I'd read about how artificial food coloring leads to cancer and hyperactivity in children, but I wasn't sure how mainstream some of the information was.  Then I heard about how American companies alter their products (M&Ms, Nutrigrain bars, etc.) for European markets to remove Red#40, but they don't bother to do the same thing for the US, because we don't regulate food as strictly and it's cheaper to use the artificial, petroleum based stuff.  That made it more real for me. 

This whole healthy lifestyle thing is obviously a continuum and I'm never going to be able to completely rid my kids from everything unhealthy.  But, I at least want to take control over my own household, even if I can't control everything at school, etc.  The good thing is that the kid's preschool is hyper vigilant about a lot of this stuff, so I'm a little spoiled.  I'm so used to our little co-op school requiring organic dairy, 100% whole wheat, no sugar for the first 3 ingredients, etc. Sometimes I forget it's not the norm.  The other day my friend said her daughter's preschool served her 1 year old a white bread sandwich, complete with fritos and fruit snacks!  She was about to have a discussion with their director, and I was reminded to be grateful for our current set up!