Since we had the baby I've become keenly aware that practically everything we eat, sleep in, drink from, floss with or inhale is toxic. We're bombarded daily with the message that everything we do (and above all everything we eat) is bad for us and we'd best make sweeping changes to our homes, work, diet etc. lest we perish horribly in the very near future. Oh, and would we please buy this uber-expensive solution to our mortal peril.
I am a skeptic, especially as regards this zealous North American fear mongering about everything in existence. I am also a person who does not *ahem* take orders very well...or in fact at all. So this veritable avalanche of frequently alarmist (and not infrequently biased, green-washed) information is kind of grating on my nerves at the moment.
The problem is, as a new mother you're bombarded not only by the media, but by everyone else around you. People you normally like start proselytizing about the horrors of plastic and how disposable diapers will leach dioxins directly into your baby's tender little bottom. I've had it up to the gills with hearing about this stuff and especially hearing others list off, for the millionth time, all the steps you should be taking to protect your darling. I mean, honestly, who cares if your q-tips are organic?
Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time with the "V"-word. I can certainly rattle off a string of expletives that would curl my mother's hair. Well, if it weren't already curly. But I can't bring myself to say the "V"-word, lest I sound like one of those crazy Type-A Consumers who will have to take out a mortgage to pay their grocery bill because they'll only shop at a well-known lifestyle/image store masquerading as an actual healthier alternative to mainstream groceries. I buy from farmers markets, because I like knowing where my food comes from and because I think it tastes better. I am not, however, about to buy that $6 imported organic mango out of a sudden fear of pesticides because, come on - flying a fruit halfway around the world isn't exactly "organic", is it?
I guess I can't ignore some things much longer though. After my husband, having perused the weekly menu up on the white-board beside the fridge, asked rather directly, "where's the meat?", I can't help but notice that we've been eating a lot less of the red stuff and a lot more of the green stuff lately. Not that it was ever a conscious decision...it's just sort of evolved that way over the last couple of years.
So no, I'm not a vegetarian. And I most certainly am not one of those "I'm a vegetarian, but I eat chicken and fish" sorts either. In fact, I'm going to cook me up a great big steak now. Bloody rare too. Well, I would, except I'm rather stuffed full of refried beans and avocado...
This is the first time i've commented on your blog, but i had to say right on. I'm so sick of listening to every one of my co-workers with new borns telling each other and me (someone who does not yet have kids) all the evils and lethal dangers of every possible permutation of normal living. The height of ridiculousness was my one co-worker refusing to take baths (shower only) because she was afraid of boiling the baby !!
We've managed to raise perfectly good generations of kids for the last couple of thousand years without being so paranoid that children are no longer allowed to live.
That being said the mushroom empanadas sound incredible. any chance for a recipe?
Posted by: Blaise | March 05, 2008 at 06:41 AM
I totally agree with your point of view and thanks a lot for saying it! I am French but live in the USA, so I can tell you that this ridiculous fear of everything is unfortunately also increasing in our country...
Posted by: Lolotte | March 05, 2008 at 11:03 AM
A long-time lurker coming out of the woodwork...
As a mother of three, I've been there with well-meaning (meddlesome) people who share their opinions on every aspect of pregnancy and motherhood. The proselytizing is downright annoying, actually. Thanks for speaking out!! :-)
Posted by: Andrea | March 05, 2008 at 12:44 PM
This is long, but it points out "nutritionism" as an ideology that's not getting us anywhere with quick fixes: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html
Oops, now requires (free) login -- anyway, as heard on CBC!
People look at me funny when I say I like to keep my kids (both under 2) out of the car, partly for safety reasons.
Posted by: Pam | March 05, 2008 at 04:25 PM
Under 3, meant to say...sheesh!
Posted by: Pam | March 05, 2008 at 04:26 PM
Love this post! (round of applause here)
I don't have any children, but your point is totally valid even for non-parents!
Posted by: Aime | March 05, 2008 at 05:43 PM
Also, you make menu boards like this at home? Well done.
Posted by: Pam | March 05, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Blaise - I am hoping to get the empanada recipe up this weekend.
Pam- the menus are an experiment to see if I can actually plan meals ahead (which I am not very good at doing) thus minimising the need for 20 kazillion grocery excursions each week. So far it seems to be working.
Posted by: lyn | March 06, 2008 at 02:44 PM
I just made a cabbage roll recipe and happened to see "The V word". Being a hard core vegetarian is a lot of work and maybe not totally necessary but healthy eating is better then non-healthy eating. In your blog you talk about the raising and feeding of children and how we as humans have been doing this successsfully for thousands of years. Thousands of years ago or a hundred years ago or fifty years ago our children were not eating the processed foods the corner store of the fast food restaurants are feeding our children today. One has only to look at a group of children today to see that well over half of them are obese to the point of sadness. The chances of these children to ever lose this weight and thus avoiding the diseases and health problems that accompany this problem is almost poor at best. What a young child eats for the first seven or eight years of their lives is so important. Let us as parents be very vigilant in what our children are fed, as it is not only our duty as parents it is also the right of our children to lead a healthy life.
Posted by: Randy | March 06, 2008 at 04:16 PM
Lynn....
Wow...broken washing machine is getting to you hey? Let's face it, there is better living through chemicals. One just has to be careful what they buy and where its from.
Posted by: Tim H | March 06, 2008 at 05:33 PM
Thanks for you comment Randy, I agree completely. I don't feed my child processed foods - I always cook from scratch, for him and for us. I don't buy prepackaged garbage. My point is more that I'm tired of hearing the same old platitudes regurgitated by people who have really given no critical thought to the messages the media is sending. Are veggies better for your kids than McDonalds? Absolutely! Do I need to buy everything possible at Planet Organic? Nope. But I'm not going to run home and chuck out my whole wheat flour because it is not organic, either. And I kind of resent other people imlpying (or outright saying) that if I don't become the ultimate "Green Consumer" - that is run out and buy the latest, safest whatever is in the news this week, every week - that I am a bad parent or I don't care about the planet. Whole Foods and Planet Organic are in the market to sell a lifestyle with little actual thought to what is beneficial to our health and to the planet - look at all their excess packaging and all the "organic" processed foods they sell... I think it traps people into thinking they are eating or living healthier when in fact they aren't really. They are just eating organic macaroni & cheese from a box.
Tim - you're a dork. ;)
Posted by: lyn | March 06, 2008 at 06:04 PM
You got me laughing there.
I have a different view on the whole issue, as I was raised on organic foods long before they were considered cool. It wasn't a trendy lifestyle back then--and quite frankly I would have been thrilled to have traded places with any of my school mates and gotten to grow up on packaged food. It was a trial to be different.
Whole Foods and the like are absolutely in the market to make a buck--I can't stand those places (they're not actually as good as they make themselves out to be). Yes, there are people buying into it now without much thought, and absolutely there's a ridiculous amount of fear-mongering (as there is with much of American culture these days).
For me it comes down to this: if I have the chance to make a decision that is better for the planet, the environment, and/or my own health, then I'm going to do it (and yes, at the moment most of them cost more--hopefully with more widespread adoption the prices will come down). But it needs to be a proactive thing--trying to do something better--rather than reactive and out of fear. Fear and preaching don't help--they just make everyone cranky.
All best with the little one--what a cutie!
Posted by: Tea | March 13, 2008 at 09:05 PM
Tea - actually, I don't think our views are all that different! I agree - out of a range of choices I will always try to pick the one that is best for my family's health, the planet and our community. Unfortunately, places like Whole Foods fool people into thinking that they are doing that when they really aren't and it lulls a lot of people into a false sense that they don't need to actually think about these things as long as they buy everything that they are told is "organic" or a "greener" choice. Also unfortunately, most of the people who blindly follow the fear-mongering that the media is pushing are precisely the people who feel they need to go forth and enlighten everyone else on the topic... Sigh.
Thanks making it clear that it really is a matter of informing yourself and realising that not all the things touted by the media as a safer or better choice actually are.
Posted by: lyn | March 14, 2008 at 01:01 PM
It is so true! I am always trying to convince my family that eating "normal" foods won't kill them. I think people can definitly take the health food thing way too far. don't get me wrong I am a huge proponent of healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, I am a fanaticle rock climber so I have to eat well and excercise, but I think that more often than not when we take things to extremes we almost always end up getting burned. I think your post was "spot on".
Chad C.
Posted by: veteran loans | September 02, 2008 at 04:24 PM
moms are the endless targets of marketing, fear mongering, and guilt tripping.
I was a nervous wreck with my first child. Like a doubting wave in the sea of marketing, blown and tossed about by the winds of criticism.
Good thing she's tough and insists things get done her way.
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All best with the little one--what a cutie!
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