Alice Roddy

I seem to have a different take on this than do many of you.
Years and years ago, the 40s maybe, there was an experiment in which toddlers
were allowed to choose their own foods and although they went on jags of
choosing the same food over and over in the long term they chose nutritious
diets. This was presented as liberating news for parents and children alike in
that parents did not have to force their children to eat what the parents
chose. In a second phase of the experiment they introduced foods with refined
sugar and that changed the results. Children chose the sugars foods to an
extent that unbalanced their diets. In the first phase all the food choices had
been natural foods.




It is my understanding that refined foods such as refined
sugar and refined flour throw off our bodies operation. We may feel fine and
normal if we typically eat these foods but we may not know how our bodies would
feel if they were on a diet of natural foods.





I saw an interesting example of this in a mother who made
the sacrifice of going on a paleo diet for the sake of her breastfed baby and
was amazed how much better she felt. The things that bothered her baby had
actually been bothering her all her life and she never know what normal could
be.





HTH





Gramma Alice



Breastfeeding is the biological norm for infants. It is a relationship that provides food, connection, protection from illness to the baby and stress reducing hormones to the mother.



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plaidpanties666

--- In [email protected], Alice Roddy
<amar0514412000@...> wrote:
>> It is my understanding that refined foods such as refined
> sugar and refined flour throw off our bodies operation. We may
feel fine and
> normal if we typically eat these foods but we may not know how our
bodies would
> feel if they were on a diet of natural foods.

I think the bigger issue, in terms of unschooling, is *how* we go
about helping our kids figure out what they are comfortable with in
terms of the vast array of choices available to them.

My stepson's mom went to a lot of effort to give her kids a great
diet - whole, organic, home-cooked foods. My stepson now calls it
all "hippie chow" and avoids it whenever he can. The first time I
made pancakes with white flour he thought they were the best
pancakes he'd ever eaten.

Here's an interesting tidbit, though: after a few weeks of being
allowed to have all the cakes and cokes he could eat at our house he
out-and-out said "You know what, now that I can have all the sugar I
want, I don't want nearly as much of it."

Scientific studies have their place in the world, but we can't let
them stand in the way of seeing the real-world behavior of our real
life kids.

---Meredith (Mo 5, Ray 13)

Alice Roddy

Meredith wrote:




I think the bigger issue, in terms of unschooling, is *how*
we go about helping our kids figure out what they are comfortable with in terms
of the vast array of choices available to them.





My stepson's mom went to a lot of effort to give her kids a
great diet - whole, organic, home-cooked foods. My stepson now calls it all
"hippie chow" and avoids it whenever he can. The first time I made
pancakes with white flour he thought they were the best pancakes he'd ever
eaten.





Here's an interesting tidbit, though: after a few weeks of
being allowed to have all the cakes and cokes he could eat at our house he out-and-out
said "You know what, now that I can have all the sugar I want, I don't
want nearly as much of it."





Scientific studies have their place in the world, but we
can't let them stand in the way of seeing the real-world behavior of our real life
kids.








Alice
here;


These are all valid points. The problem seems to me to be that
the natural limits that govern life are sometimes unclear. If a child is so
allergic to peanuts that eating any could send him into shock, then �limiting�
peanuts is a no-brainer. But most things are judgment calls. My son and his
wife (I live with them) select fresh foods of such variety that my granddaughter
really can�t eat poorly. Candy is available in smallish quantities. If she
wants something, it goes on the shopping list and she finds something else to
eat in the meantime. Soda, chips other highly processed foods aren�t controlled
but are seldom in the house. Curiously, they do require her to eat something by
way of breakfast before they�ll let her watch TV.





I take my granddaughter shopping with me and see the effect
of advertising and packaging on her. I have a rule of my own that I do not make
impulse purchases at the checkout counter and have extended that rule to her.
Arbitrary? Or sanity saving? She selects food such as mac & cheese because
it has Arthur or Dora on the packaging. Then she doesn�t eat it because she
doesn�t like it and I�m left with mixed feelings because on the one hand it�s
wasteful but on the other its respectful of her choices and eventually she
should learn she doesn�t necessarily like foods with Arthur or Dora on the
package.





I just recalled that when my kids where young I�d let them
each select one item, no questions asked. Had to put a $5 limit on that.





On another topic where limits may or may not be advisable, my
son has done some reading on pornography and says that first exposure can be
damaging and not undone (can�t unring the bell). He says he does not want to
create forbidden fruit nor rules that any kid with gumption will defy but he
doesn�t want his daughters, now 4.5 yrs and 5 wks, seeing porn at age 11
(supposedly the average age of first exposure on the web). We discussed the
possibility that if the girls really trust him and see him as enabling their
goals, they may accept his limits until they reach an agreed age (18? 21?). Whaddaya think?





Gramma Alice


Breastfeeding is the biological norm for infants. It is a relationship that provides food, connection, protection from illness to the baby and stress reducing hormones to the mother.




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Ren Allen

~~I have a rule of my own that I do not make
impulse purchases at the checkout counter and have extended that rule
to her.
Arbitrary? Or sanity saving? ~~

Completely and totally arbitrary.

Ren
learninginfreedom.com