My Husband is a Skeptic
Let me start by saying I've read the entire first portion of the book I'm about to name except for the part about breastfeeding and first foods to feed your child, since, you know, I'm not even pregnant yet. The book is entitled Beautiful Babies: Nutrition for Fertility, Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, & Baby's First Foods by Kristen Michaelis. (The second part of the book is recipes.)
Besides learning things like how irresponsible the FDA actual is when it comes to MSG in food with regard to nutrition labels and the benefits of raw milk (presuming you can get it in your state, which we can't in ours), she also talks about fertility diets in traditional cultures around the world and in the past and just what is so great about the nutrients they're getting in the food (as opposed to through supplements). Having read this, I went on a venture to Whole Foods yesterday and bought things like chicken livers and milk that was low-temp pasteurized from pastured cows. (By the way, I do NOT intend to "eat" the chicken liver. I intend to use the trick she mentions in the book of cutting it up into pill sized pieces, freezing it, and then (14 days later) taking it as if the pieces were pills. Sorry, I'm too picky an eater to try it legitimately.)
But anyway, I stopped by Matt's office this morning for something work related and then mentioned that I had eggs this morning for breakfast and how that related to the book. As I shared some stuff, Matt was struggling not to laugh at various points, and in all honestly, I kind of wanted to hit him. Instead, I just got upset in a controlled sort of way, and he realized that I was at a level of serious that didn't leave room for humor. I can joke often at the worst of times, but when I feel I'm not being taken seriously about something that is important, it's different. So we made up, and I told him that the bottom line is that for me to pay attention to my eating habits in this way certainly can do no HARM, while if I go out gorging on Wendy's or funnel cake cooked in vegetable or some other yellow oil, that very well could. What would you rather put your money on? He then agreed that it was better for me to be prudent so long as I don’t turn into Kaiya, a friend from his parents' old youth/college group. She goes so far as to request the parents of other kids provide alternative birthday cake icing for her children if hers will be at the party. I told him there's no chance I'm going to be like that. We live in the modern world where people will do something if your child has a peanut allergy but not if you tell them you don't feed your kids sandwich bread from the store. Besides, I can completely get behind the author's suggestion to eat this way most of the time and to cut yourself some slack the times you indulge here and there. So anyway, all is well; it's just that my husband is a skeptic in general.
Funny thing is, when I told him I'm going to be keeping kefir and hopefully sourdough in our kitchen, he got excited about the sourdough, which I plan to use to make rolls for his sandwiches. He won't know it, but I might make an effort to get more of the lunchmeat he eats at Whole Foods (at least on occasion), as they take some care with their meats. They're not from exclusively grass-fed animals, but the dude I talked to at the meat counter said essentially half their diet is grass. They do sell some beef purely from grass-fed cattle, but not all of it is. I would imagine the lunchmeat situation is similar. (By the way, grass-fed beef has a more favorable ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.)
Now I’m going to stop dropping tidbits and actually get to eating my roast chicken (yeah, crock pot chicken!!) and kale pie. Hope you're all having an okay Thursday!
Besides learning things like how irresponsible the FDA actual is when it comes to MSG in food with regard to nutrition labels and the benefits of raw milk (presuming you can get it in your state, which we can't in ours), she also talks about fertility diets in traditional cultures around the world and in the past and just what is so great about the nutrients they're getting in the food (as opposed to through supplements). Having read this, I went on a venture to Whole Foods yesterday and bought things like chicken livers and milk that was low-temp pasteurized from pastured cows. (By the way, I do NOT intend to "eat" the chicken liver. I intend to use the trick she mentions in the book of cutting it up into pill sized pieces, freezing it, and then (14 days later) taking it as if the pieces were pills. Sorry, I'm too picky an eater to try it legitimately.)
But anyway, I stopped by Matt's office this morning for something work related and then mentioned that I had eggs this morning for breakfast and how that related to the book. As I shared some stuff, Matt was struggling not to laugh at various points, and in all honestly, I kind of wanted to hit him. Instead, I just got upset in a controlled sort of way, and he realized that I was at a level of serious that didn't leave room for humor. I can joke often at the worst of times, but when I feel I'm not being taken seriously about something that is important, it's different. So we made up, and I told him that the bottom line is that for me to pay attention to my eating habits in this way certainly can do no HARM, while if I go out gorging on Wendy's or funnel cake cooked in vegetable or some other yellow oil, that very well could. What would you rather put your money on? He then agreed that it was better for me to be prudent so long as I don’t turn into Kaiya, a friend from his parents' old youth/college group. She goes so far as to request the parents of other kids provide alternative birthday cake icing for her children if hers will be at the party. I told him there's no chance I'm going to be like that. We live in the modern world where people will do something if your child has a peanut allergy but not if you tell them you don't feed your kids sandwich bread from the store. Besides, I can completely get behind the author's suggestion to eat this way most of the time and to cut yourself some slack the times you indulge here and there. So anyway, all is well; it's just that my husband is a skeptic in general.
Funny thing is, when I told him I'm going to be keeping kefir and hopefully sourdough in our kitchen, he got excited about the sourdough, which I plan to use to make rolls for his sandwiches. He won't know it, but I might make an effort to get more of the lunchmeat he eats at Whole Foods (at least on occasion), as they take some care with their meats. They're not from exclusively grass-fed animals, but the dude I talked to at the meat counter said essentially half their diet is grass. They do sell some beef purely from grass-fed cattle, but not all of it is. I would imagine the lunchmeat situation is similar. (By the way, grass-fed beef has a more favorable ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.)
Now I’m going to stop dropping tidbits and actually get to eating my roast chicken (yeah, crock pot chicken!!) and kale pie. Hope you're all having an okay Thursday!