Tag Archives: food addiction

Dealing with Children, Societal Pressure, and Halloween

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day-of-the-dead

This is the day after the celebration of the Day of the Dead. Maybe mothers could take back the holidays and make them into something healthy for our children.

As a parent dealing with young children, I have struggled with wanting my children to have the best quality food possible and living in a toxic food society. So what’s a mother to do? Should I be a killjoy or conform to societal norms and allow my children to consume industrial junk? I refuse to call this junk, food.

As I see it, if we had one or two holidays a year that indulged the consumption of industrial junk, it wouldn’t be a problem. If all children normally ate whole foods from a quality source, I wouldn’t be worried. Unfortunately, industrial junk has become the normal daily fare for children and adults alike. It is also possible that industrial junk, for special occasions, has been the wedge that has increased industrial junk consumption throughout the year. Some people believe industrial junk is addictive and giving it to children will lead to a lifelong battle. Please read Zapping Sugar Cravings.

It has been the policy in our household to allow our children to go trick-or-treating for Halloween. Since my children never eat industrial junk, I feel it is okay for them to have one holiday a year where they can totally indulge in industrial junk. In fact, I feel my children need to have some exposure to industrial junk as part of their education. Here is how our household deals with Halloween:

  1. We allow the children to eat as much of the candy as they like for the one evening.
  2. If they don’t like the candy, I encourage them to spit-out the candy and discard it into a pile of refuse.
  3. After they have eaten their fill, the candy goes in the garbage. It is one of the few times I encourage wastefulness.

What I like about this policy is that I can conform to societal norms while at the same time feel confident I’m not hurting my children’s health. It’s just once a year, right? Unfortunately, after doing this program for a number of years, I have noticed a few negative outcomes, including lying and hoarding.

Every year my children agree to this arrangement around Halloween. They love dressing up and plan their homemade costumes for months. The act of going trick-or-treating and the excitement of the night is irresistible. When they get home, they are happy to spit-out yucky tasting candies and are grateful that I’m not worried about wastefulness. Within a few hours, the super sweet binge is over and the candy goes in the garbage.

Well, that’s the plan. But my children have dumpster dived for candy and even gone to the trouble of hiding candy at a friend’s home. I find the behavior of my children strange. Normally, my children don’t lie or hide a hoard, but candy seems to have the power to motivate them into less than ideal behavior. Even indulging once a year, these sugary treats have a powerful hold on my children.

I really don’t know what to do. As a mother I can only do so much. Our household is like an island in a sea of community. Without the support of other like-minded families, our battle with industrial junk is likely a losing one. In my mind’s eye, I can see our community change the nature of our holidays and make them fun and nourishing for our children. Jill Escher has some ideas about how Moms could transform Halloween.

One new idea I’m going to try this Halloween is to “trade” industrial junk for artisan quality chocolate. I would prefer to know and control the ingredients that are in their treats. My hope is that quality chocolate and confectioneries will educate my children’s pallet. None of my children have taken me up on this offer yet, but I am hopeful. Honestly, can a high quality organic chocolate or confectionery lose out to industrial junk? I will find out this year.

I find it ironic, that as I try not to buckle under societal pressure regarding Halloween, Michael Schmidt is into day 23 of his hunger strike, fighting for our collective food freedom. So what’s it going to be: trick-or-treat?

November 4, 2011: Both girls decided to trade their industrial junk for artisan quality chocolate, organic chips, organic mulberries, and organic nut butters. It was interesting to see what the girls wanted but the price tag was high. I spent about $150 on this experiment. We planned for a Bon Bon Fire but everyone was too tired by the end of an exciting Halloween day. I just gave away the industrial junk. My eldest daughter went to her first Halloween dance and enjoyed chocolate cupcakes and a few pieces of industrial junk. Yesterday, she ended up in bed with her first cold of the year. Some people believe sugar will suppress the immune system for a number of hours after ingestion. I treated her with homemade Elderberry Syrup and local propolis for sore throat and Hibiscus tea for extra vitamin C. I also made up some soothing homemade chicken vegetable soup with extra garlic.

December 8, 2012: Here is a documentary called Big Sugar: Sweet, White and Deadly by Brian McKenna. Join the movement to have a sugar-free Halloween.

December 30, 2012: Diet plays a very big roll in mental health. Here is a lecture by Dr Russell Blaylock about how poor nutrition can bring a young person into a world of violence, crime, depression and suicide. Not very sweet news.

Updated October 30, 2016: It’s been a long time since I wrote this post. Since I wrote this post, my girls have become young women. They are past the days of getting excited about dress-up and trick-or-treat. We now have a Mexican feast or Meat Lover’s Pizza for Halloween. We also enjoy watching a scary or spooky movie together! No candy to be found anywhere! I hope you have a safe and enjoyable Halloween!

Specific Carbohydrate Diet: Common Problems

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The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) has a number of problems associated with the diet. Even though most people feel great on the diet, they have problems staying with the program long term. I hope this posting will help newcomers to the diet overcome these common pitfalls.

The SCD restricts all processed foods and food additives. This in itself can make a big change in a person’s health. The number of chemical additives put in processed foods has increased at an alarming rate in the last 50 years. There is a great amount of controversy about the safety of these additives. Nevertheless, these additives are everywhere. Avoiding additives means avoiding all processed food and any food produced in a standard restaurant. To the sensitive person even a minute amount of the problem substance can cause great damage.

The SCD is not necessarily a low carbohydrate diet but compared to the Standard American Diet (SAD) it will be lower in fiber and carbohydrates. Grains, legumes and beans are by far the greatest source of indigestible fiber and carbohydrates in a healthy person’s diet. By removing these foods and changing nothing else, your diet will become lower in fiber and carbohydrate.

1. The Crash Landing is constipation. A vast majority of the volume of a healthy bowel movement is bacteria, not indigestible fiber. Constipation that is caused by the reduction of dietary fiber is a symptom of gut dysbiosis. Gut dysbiosis is a lack of healthy intestinal bacteria. There are a number of ways to increase gut flora. Start by introducing lacto-fermented foods and drinks into your daily diet. This is a very inexpensive way to get probiotics and will solve the problem for most people. If whole, fermented foods do not work within a month or two consider trying therapeutic probiotics.

You might be wondering why I am not recommending eating supplemental fiber. Fiber is good for us, right? I would suggest reading Fiber Menace by Konstantin Monastyrsky and coming to your own decision on the safety of fiber. It is a funny book that will make you forever look at the contents of your toilet in a new way.

2. Carb Addiction is a common symptom that will appear from nowhere. When a person starts the SCD there will be a sudden reduction of the person’s normal carbohydrate load. This reduction of carbohydrates will induce an unbelievably strong force which will drive a craving to eat the very foods that are likely to be causing the problem. The person’s “gut flora” will be calling for their feeding of carbohydrate using the “gut brain”. The gut brain is very primitive part of our nervous system. It is completely nonverbal, causes action without higher thinking, and is the powerful force behind craving and addiction.

The gut brain cannot be controlled. The only way is to live through the “die-off” of the bacterial strains causing the addictive behavior. The die-off can take a week or a month. It is horrible to live through but there is a world on the other side without craving and addiction.

Carb addiction is a symptom of gut dysbiosis and gut flora imbalance. Carb addiction is the beginning of the long road to diabetes. If a person has a problem with yeast infections, hypoglycemia or diabetes, it would be wise to go low-carbohydrate with the SCD. Please see Life Without Bread for a low-carbohydrate protocol that works with over 90% of people.

3. Eating Out is very challenging. High end restaurants that make all the food in-house might be safe. I still have to be very careful and I never know if the waiter has transmitted the information to the kitchen. I have heard of people who do a lot of traveling making up a business card with their dietary restrictions. Generally, I do not eat out. When I am traveling I bring my own food in a cooler and have a bin full of dried food. I eat my dried stores and shop at local grocery stores for fresh foods.

The SCD will cause social and family problems. The people who love me are just happy to see me well again. They help make the diet easier by their acceptance. Not everyone will be as supportive. It is my responsibility to take care of myself and do what is necessary. What I put in my mouth is completely under my control. No amount of pressure from the outside can change that fact. Just watch out for the “gut brain”!