Activist for the kids
We would take to the barricades to shout it from the heart: when it comes to children, you really should make an effort. That you yourself don't see your health as a top priority is your perfect right, however questionable we may find it. But your child during most of its young life depends on what you feed it. Indeed, you are programming your child with a set of beliefs around nutrition.
Because just think how you yourself were raised: traditionally making coffee cakes on Sundays? Or baking pancakes when it rains? French fries on Fridays? Easter eggs, speculaas from St. Nicholas, indigestions as an annual Christmas gift and on your birthday you blow out candles on your cream cake, right? It feels so natural. It's the way it's supposed to be, right? After all, doesn't everyone do it? Look very critically at traditions and how we are culturally formed. Is it necessary to do all that? Can we do it differently? You choose which lines you draw for your offspring, but it is our mission and ambition to wake you up and encourage you to raise your child better.
This is not without controversy,
because the food industry is aiming its marketing arrows right at your children. You can't pass a rayon or somewhere one of your children's idols appears on a package of ultra-processed, high-sugar, low-nutrition products. Not to mention free gadgets with candy and chips. Have you ever considered how fast food chains set their sights on your child with both a playground and a free gift and fries and ice cream. You can't pass one of those big yellow ‘M’ or your child is yelling for you to stop.
As much as your child wants that, you don't want that for your child. No matter how many vitamins they add to breakfast cereals, it is still essentially a sugar bomb poor in nutrients. Your growing child cannot function on that. The fledgling gut microbiome that is actually still under construction is being broken down bite by bite. Immunity is weakened with all the consequences: our children are getting sicker and sicker.
Today, one child (ages 2 - 17) in four is overweight. One in twenty is obese. And those who struggle with excess pounds at such a young age are more likely to develop obesity later in life. That, in turn, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, as well as cancer. A gut microbiome that does not get the proper prebiotics (fiber) also produces fewer happiness hormones. Consequently, more than one in four adolescents say they do not consume fruits or vegetables daily. Nearly one in three young adolescents (ages 16-24) has depression. While there are numerous factors at play here, you can build a better foundation for your child with healthy eating.
Fortunately, the consequences of unhealthy eating are not immediate. Young children move around a lot and so for a long time it seems like they can eat anything and just not gain weight. But the bill, meanwhile, is made and delayed and presented in the form of continued bad eating habits that make children fatter and sicker. This may come in hard, don't take it personally, but you are sabotaging your child that way. This is not your fault because you yourself have been misled by marketing and cultural habits.
But after reading this blog you will understand how serious this problem is and here you will find the knowledge to make better choices. If you don't make extra efforts then, the responsibility does lie with you. It doesn't have to be difficult or hard, it doesn't have to take you more time. Time to re-educate yourself so that the bad eating habits end with you and you don't pass them on to the next generation. You can break the pattern for your family.
Are you awake? Then you start here and now with a clean slate.
