Are you a mom riding the emotional parent-child rollercoaster with a moody, irritable teenager? This is the third of three sneak peeks at my next course, The Ultimate Parenting Toolkit: Connecting With Kids in a Disconnected World.
I chose this segment from Busting Those Parenting Myths, since this month’s theme is Food Focus. Here are a couple of free strategies to add to your parenting toolkit!
Sneak Peek to The Ultimate Parenting Toolkit: Connecting With Kids in a Disconnected World: Part 3
I know. I know. It’s soooooo inconvenient!
But, here’s some food for thought.
Look back on your health 3-5 years ago. Also, look at your kids’ health back then. Compare the size of all of your bodies from back then to now. Are things improving… or declining?
What If You Don’t?
What if you don’t get a handle on your family’s nutrition? Where will you, and your symptoms be 3 years from now? Or, in 5 years?
It’s important to wean your family and yourself off of fast food and fast snacks.
Cold turkey is one way to go, but that approach could generate anger, and sneaking junk food on the side. Instead, try reducing gradually.
Either way, whenever you take something away, you have to replace it with something else if you want it to stick. So, this week, pick up favorite in-season fruits, and some nuts for nibbling, instead of a comparable amount of sweets and snacks. Don’t make a big deal about it. Just put the fruit on the counter and the nuts in a bowl, and watch them disappear. When they’re idly looking for something sweet, they’ll pick up the fruit and nuts if nothing else is around.
Skip the chips, and purchase corn for popping. A little oil in a pot with a screen over it, a little heat, and Voila! A treat with zero additives and zero chemicals, that’s fun to make.
I know it’s more expensive to eat organically, but do it for your kids.
Even if you can’t afford to go full out, try devoting just 10% of your grocery budget to organics. That will be like making your family 10% healthier.
The Dirty Dozen
When trying to decide what to include in your 10%, go organic with fruits like grapes and tomatoes, and veggies like kale and spinach. Foods like melons, avocados… and peas have a rind or pod you take off, and most of the applied chemicals with it, so it’s less important to go organic with them.
Check out the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide To Pesticides In Produce™. I’ve listed The Dirty Dozen in the video notes. Absolutely, positively don’t eat these foods if they’re not organic. Don’t buy non-organic processed foods made with them, and don’t eat them in restaurants. (It’s not that big a deal. Restaurants have plenty of choices.) Some of the pesticides used on them contain neurotoxins that do terrible things.
If you do buy them, wash and wash and wash them in running water. And keep them away from your children until you do. Many chemicals are absorbed through the skin.
The Clean 15
If you’re not going fully organic, you can choose foods from EWG’s Annual Clean 15 list of non-organic crops. These are conventionally grown non-organic foods that test at only 30% or less for pesticides and chemicals. This is a good compromise in your quest to protect your family and keep them healthy. This list is also in the video notes.
Here’s another easy fix. Avoid beverages in plastic bottles. They crinkle. That leaches bits of plastic into the liquid, which you ingest. Now your body has to devote its energy and resources to removing the plastic, instead of boosting and aiding your immune system.
Choose glass or metal reusable containers. Let your bodily resources be directed toward your on-going health instead.
Besides, exposure to the sun breaks down plastic, which also gets into your beverage. We’ve all seen pallets of water bottles sitting outside convenience stores. Who knows where else in their journey they’ve had to sit in the sun, or in a hot storage container?
By the way, if your bottled water ever has a weird after-taste, throw it out.
As with everything I’ve presented to you, protect yourself from getting overwhelmed by choosing just one thing to do to get yourself started.
It doesn’t all have to be done at once, or even this year, but it does have to be done. The sooner, the better, but take it one step at a time.
How do you feel, now that the veil has been lifted from all of these subversive parenting myths?
Think about it. After completing just this module:
- You no longer have to strive to be the perfect parent, that super-mom or super-dad (which don’t actually exist), who needs a super-kid
- You’re going to heroically let go of any guilt you’ve been holding on to, and replace it with self-forgiveness and self-love. When you sense guilt raising its ugly head, you’ll cut it off! (including any guilt that snuck in during this video.)
- You are going to teach yourself and your kids how to leave time for living, rather than cramming your time full of too many activities and obligations. No more pretending you can fit it all in.
- You’re ready to help your family through the inevitable adolescent issues that are going to pop up, instead of naively believing they won’t ever affect your kid.
The next module takes a look at different ways a parent-child relationship can get a little unbalanced. Get ready to objectively examine your parenting style. And bring your inner ref along. Don’t worry. I’m also going to reveal how to bring your parental power back to full strength. See you there!
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I hope you enjoyed this third preview from my next course, The Ultimate Parenting Toolkit: Connecting With Kids in a Disconnected World. In case you missed them, don’t forget to check out Part 1 and Part 2.
The course will be coming out in a few months. If you’d like to be notified, send me an email at info@DeborahAnnDavis.com.
Meanwhile, be happy and healthy, and enjoy your family!
Deborah
