Our family has been caught up lately in the movement toward eating more natural food. To be honest, it's kind of stressing me out, even though I know the changes are worth it. It's hard enough already to get two toddlers to eat well; now I have to worry that even the "best" things they're eating could be slowly killing them.Studies change overnight. Today olive oil is good for you; tomorrow it's carcinogenic (but only when heated!). All things plastic are killing us. Fruits and vegetables are killing us because they're covered in chemicals. Corn-fed cows are killing us. The list is endless. And when I start to make small changes to our diet, the onion just keeps getting more layers.
Ignorance was bliss. How easy it was to make my own 30-minute meals or drive through Chick-fil-a (and we still do those things every now and then). How much less time I spent doing dishes. How much money I saved buying foods loaded with preservatives and genetically-modified ingredients.
In many ways I'm happy to make these changes, but I do need to vent about how much they're really upending my convenient lifestyle. No wonder boxed food was invented -- it takes a ton of time to make stuff from scratch. And going to McDonald's is both fun (because of the playland) and yummy (they have the best fries on earth).
I joke about getting stressed out, but the move to more homemade stuff is kind of fun. Once my kids get used to me being in the kitchen a lot more, they'll eventually join me in the cooking. I enjoy knowing I'm feeding them what is as natural as it can be and helping them establish habits of eating well and well-rounded (although they haven't caught on to the well-rounded part yet). And I like researching these things for the betterment of our health.
It's just a much bigger project than I thought it would be. And everyone knows I like stuff to be EASY.
So what is for dinner tonight? Leftovers, because I'm tired of slaving in the kitchen all week. But you know what -- those leftovers are pretty darn healthy (unless we reheat them in plastic in the microwave...).
