So many of my grown kids have such similar issues and challenges.
I'd told my BFF recently that I always was positive that I could handle the physical work involved in parenting so many children, the wall-to-wall housework, the physical labor, the rigors, the incessant demands 24-7 upon my body, my time, and my attention, yet I failed to factor in the severity of the emotional Hell that would be involved.
I had no clue, still don't
There was no way to know up front, no way to predict the criminal predisposition of some, the violent, aggressive tendencies, nor even of the later mental health diagnoses.
That said, even if I'd just parented one mentally ill child, with no other children at home, well, I certainly could not have cured it, nor prevented attacks upon others in the community. There are some children that will thrive away from a family setting with its implicit expectations.
There were, and still are, no easy answers to some of that which I have faced.
I'm glad that my parenting adventure span will stretch out over a 48 year time period, from 1973 until Tabby's future graduation in 2020. I couldn't have done this in one short time period. Then at age 66 I will not have any minor children living at home, not since I was 19 years old. Oh my.
Sarah's reading Crazy, Sexy Cancer after having seen the film in which this feisty woman diagnosed with cancer decided to fight it nutritionally, it's become a can't put it down book for her, calling to tell me of that which she's learned.
Kris Carr, the author, tells us that hunger is how our body tells us it needs nutrients.
As a longtime, nearly lifelong, vegetarian I know when my body needs proteins.
Carr extrapolates that when we douse our hunger with Ho Hos, we are, of course, not satiated, the hunger continues, we eat chips or some other nutrient-void food, and the hunger then drives us to continue eating such crap, eventually making us overweight.
I so buy that theory. I buy it because I so rarely eat junk food, finding I don't usually crave it because I've made a concentrated effort to eat what my body needs. Therefore no vicious cycle and I'm not heavy. I know that junk food leaves me empty. I know that a baked potato fills me up.
So simple, yet so not comprehended in general.
Now I want to read this book, I also know that I'll soon find it at a yard sale, that has happened millions of times to me.
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5 comments:
Crazy Sexy Cancer is the documentary I watched, but the book I am reading is Crazy Sexy Diet (which was the only one the library had).
And if I can rephrase the hunger for nutrients issue: what nutritionists are saying is that our body needs nutrients obviously, but the only way our body has of telling us what it needs is to tell us it is hungry. If we do not eat the nutrients we need, then our body continues to tell us it is hungry, and it will continue the hunger cycle until it receives the necessary nutrients. A nutrient-deficient diet will result in never-ending feelings of hunger.
Ever eaten a 1000-calorie bag of potato chips and still been hungry? Of course. But have you ever eaten 1000 calories worth of beans and rice and still been hungry? Of course not. Your stomach can't even hold 1000 calories of beans and rice, and your body would have told you it was full after it had received the necessary protein, fiber, and iron (which would have occurred about 300 calories into that giant bowl of rice & beans).
I have recently read a totally awesome book by David Kessler - "End of Overeating". It talks about the food industry and how much research goes into that 1000 calorie bag of chips and why so many American's get hooked on it. He also talks about food in various chain restaurants and the tactics they employ in their food preparation to get us hooked. I recently signed up for Heather's webinar on cooking whole foods (referenced on Sarah's blog). I'm really excited about it!
Oh, Kelly, that workshop is so lovely. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
And that concept of getting us addicted to junk food is incredibly distressing, isn't it? It makes me sad.
I am a decades old cancer survivor. I was given 18 months to live when I was 19. I was told I would be dead before I was 23. By their standards I am ancient now. And I am in perfect health.
Eating the right nutrients is what saved my life. I continue that practice in my life every day.
I raise my kids to know not much else. My kids eat piles of vegetables and fruits instead of candy and cookies.
A person was recently worried that my son had not had a particular overprocessed commercial cookie. Like I was depriving this child.
But my son can name many types of peaches and apples at will. And his favorite soup is broccoli soup. I guess knowing the actual name of a junk food cookie is not so important.
Cooking whole foods - an awesome adventure.
Kelly - Now I wanna read THAT book too
Mama Sarah - I didn't know that about you, that makes your story even more powerful and encouraging
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