Memoir of a Kid on a Modern Diet–& the Journey Back

The Memoirs of a Kid on a Modern Diet

 

…and the Journey Back to Health with Real Food

 I thought cookies came from tree elves. 

 

Tree Elves & their cookies

Breakfast was cereal and it was cold and soggy, and its truest function was to infuse chocolate into the pasteurized milk.  Oh, and the toy-in-the-box factor was often the deciding vote as to which chocolatey morning treat made it into the shopping cart. 

We ate ice cream out of mixing bowls. 

 

Overdose of Ice Cream

We had an open-cupboard policy in which I never had to ask for a snack or a treat.  My mother was a business woman, and to survive life she filled the freezer with the prepared meals from the guy who came every two weeks in a truck (the one with waterfowl on the side).  Modern reality TV shows are loosely based upon the fad diet plans my parents routinely endured.

Then came junior high.  Crazy mornings and time-constraints caused by big hair meant that I traded in soggy cereal for the all-new cereal bar (glued together with corn syrup).  The junior high experience meant that we now had choices in the school cafeteria.  I will tell you what I ate every day of my junior high experience:  A Coca-Cola® and Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups.  No more, no less, that was my junior high school food experience. 

Please know that not for a moment do I want to cast blame on my family; my mom was an excellent cook but she was overextended.  My parents likely assumed I ate real food at lunch and I doubt I ever told them otherwise. 

We also grew up in an era of trust; there were certain things you just always believed:

* All Disney movies were appropriate for children, as was anything in cartoon form. 

Modern Family TV Time

 

*If you got in trouble at school you got in trouble at home because the teacher was always right.

 

Shiner

 

*If you paid your taxes you would never get into trouble legally, and if there is a law about something, there must be a very valid reason. 

Raw Milk Illegal in Many States

*If the FDA allowed it to be packaged and called food, then it was really food.

Twinkies, Food or Fiction

 

Here is my main question:  How common was my experience with food as a child and adolescent?  Is this more “normal” (should I say common?) or the exception to the rule? 

 What I experienced in a modern middle class family was malnourishment.  Actually it was worse, it was a slow poisoning.  What is your experience with this—do you think that my experiences in the late 80’s/early 90’s is still a common one?  If you have not ever checked out the book “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” (10 Speed Press) from your local library, it will be a worthy use of your time.

 

Hungry Planet

 

  It is a photographic study of families around the world as they eat today, in the age of globalized fast food and agribusiness.  Each page is a picture of the average family in a given country, framed in by tables of what that family consumes in one week’s time.  The book reveals a stark contrast:  You see some of those 1 billion souls in our world who (because of drought or politics) are still starving for a lack of food to eat; and you see the majority of the world’s citizens now who are increasingly overweight and unhealthy as the weekly food allowances consist of prepackaged foods, sweets, and food prepared by others.  This is no longer a problem for just those middle class Americans like me—this is cropping up in Africa and South America and in the Middle East. 

 

I came to learn about health and nutrition because of sickness and despair.  I know many others, many who might be reading this, who have a similar story to mine.  A reader said this in an email to me:

“I was a city girl nourished on Wonder® Bread and Velveeta®, so most of what I know has been through my own research and study.” 

 

So many of us are discovering these old-fashioned real foods together, we are discovering gardens, kitchens, and real food together.  We are leaving fad diet plans, processed foods, and even school lunches behind.   Please share where you are on your journey with us.  We hope, as we are all on the same road, that we can help you get a few steps further. 

 

We look forward to hearing from you,

Chaya

 

 

 


 

Photos:

The Keebler® Box of Cookies has not been altered in any way and is trademarked and owned by Keebler.  Pantry Paratus in no way claims to own this photo. 

Chocolate Ice Cream: nofeuL (http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/nofeuL4/chocolate+icecream+indulgence2)

Television Time: meMGfZi/ (http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/meMGfZi/Family+Time)

Norman Rockwell’s “Shiner” & “Runaway” through the Norman Rockwell Museum 

The Twinkies® photo has not been altered in any way and is trademarked by Hostess®.  Pantry Paratus in no way claims to own this photo.  

Raw Milk: elisharene (Creative Commons)

 

 

 

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