Someone critical of the recommendations about choices 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)