Food as a Need

     To celebrate the beginning of the school year tomorrow, now would be a good time to check on the Mama’s Needs.  After your kiddos head off to school and you are in the house with only the little ones or Alleluia yourself, where are you in your Needs?

     Quick review. According to the Mother Board Handbook our Needs are air, water, food, shelter, sleep, medical treatment, physical activity, an honest, loving relationship with our spouses, and one real friend. Necessary clothing is important, but nothing dies if you don’t have it. Everything else comes after.

     Let’s go back to the Needs Quiz (June 30) and talk about food.  Since you took that quiz, how has the one thing you wrote down to change improved your life?  If you forgot all about it, that’s okay. Tomorrow is a great day to put the pop tart down.

     Food is necessary, but the kind of food we need to  fuel our ability to think clearly and fuel our bodies for movement is probably not  what we think of when ch0osing what to eat. Just because you are not in school, does not mean that you do not need your brain to function at a higher level.

     Where we were told that grain-based foods should be the foundation of all of our meals, I am finding that using that guideline only makes me fat. If I switch the if I'm being honest huge bowl of cereal for Greek yogurt with blueberries and strawberries (huge antioxidant foods) and a piece of grainy toast, I have the energy for a three-mile run and two loads of laundry.  Eating half an apple with peanut butter at 10:30am keeps me from wanting a 600-calorie cheeseburger for lunch, so that I can enjoy a small plate of re-heated chicken and brown rice with broccoli.  Getting ahead of my hunger keeps me out of the junk food I crave when I allow myself to get depleted.

               Everyone has been in a grocery store with this one:  While standing in line to pay for groceries, a toddler wants candy.  The mama absently says, "no."  Having had only a pop tart and juice box three hours ago, the child cries.  The child screams that she is starving and begins to wail.  The grandmas in the line raise their eyebrows. The mama, her mind straddling the thought that people are seeing evidence that she has a terrible child (ergo she is a terrible mother) and knowing she had better hold her ground or all will be lost, repeats a quivering “no” to her little beast.  The child, hearing the uncertainty in her mama’s voice and realizing her own power in front of all of these people, lashes out physically and hits her mama.  Mentally exhausted because she did not feed brain-supporting food to herself, the mama picks up the candy and takes half before giving the child the rest.  All the grandmas shake their heads. 

     Let's back up. 

     One must always feed the mama and the kiddo a proper meal before going to the grocery store.  Even a snack will avoid the meltdown that may occur.  Mamas must keep in mind that toddlers are especially irrational when they are hungry.  Rationality is the mama's job.  The mama knows that candy tastes way better than chicken and brown rice with broccoli, so it is up to the mama to feed the kiddo before taking her into the wonderful land of stimulating, colorful, tasty treats. 

     Now that both the mama and the toddler are not cross-eyed crazy hungry, the Mama Bubble can be drawn. 

     The child wants candy—they always want candy.  The mama says, "No."  The child cries. 

     The mama gives child "the look."  "The look" is a flat stare, narrowing of the eyes, looking dead-on into the child's eyes without breaking the gaze.  Eventually, the child will look away--this how the mama knows she has won. Works with dogs, too.

     I did realize at one point that I have said “no” out of habit.  Occasionally, I allow one appeal.  It has to be a well-thought out appeal with good reasoning.  “If you buy me this, I will clean my room” bribes are instantly thrown out.  This exercise encourages them to understand how to make a logical argument.  “I ate all of my lunch and rode my bike 3 miles today, so could I please have this small bag of Skittles?” is a reasonable request.

     I'm feeling a little like a slug.  My kids have eaten pizza or fast food every night this week.  Yep, mine, too.  Celebrate the fact that it was fun and easy and move on.  Since the need for brain-food begins in earnest this week, eat lunch and make your list of what health-supporting meals you can make for you and your family BEFORE you go to the grocery store today. Otherwise, you will buy random items that look like they taste good, including that huge bag of chips you will open and eat in the car on the way home. As a side note, your kids’ lunches will be healthier if you do not take them to the grocery store with you. Mamas know that kids will eat the apple slices for a snack if the lunchboxes contain only apple slices and not chewy fruit snacks, but it is hard not to give in when we are having our own anxiety over how our kids will do in their new class.

     The lazy days of summer are over for now. It is a new start for everyone tomorrow. Fish and nuts help you to have better recall. If you have cancer in your family or a lot of allergies, antioxidants can help both of those issues.  Digestion problems? Make sure you grab the apples. I just heard on our local news channel that the healthiest population drinks two glasses of red wine per night!  Wahoo! To begin to have a balanced life, we must feed ourselves and our brains before tackling the challenges that are to come.