^^ My Burr'd Dog^^Anyway... We had a great day, catching up. Then the nutritionist talked to us for 2 1/2 hours. WOW! She went right down to the cellular level on how things are affected by what we put into our bodies. Even things that we keep near, like chemicals under the sink. BUT the most important things I'd like to share with you are: Vitamin D. You're probably deficient. Vitamin D is WAYYYYYY more important than we ever knew. Seasonal affective disorder, autism, CANCER... When you go in to the doctor next, ask them to check your vitamin D levels. There can be no set RDA, there are too many variables. The other most important thing: Americans don't eat right. Meat isn't good for you. It creates an inflammatory response, and when our cell walls are made out of animal fats, they're flawed, and all the cells made from those cells are flawed. Moderation in all things is important, but what's most important is to eat lots of whole foods, vegetables of all types and colors, and the right kinds of fats (Omega 3's). Herbs and spices are good for us. I could go on forever, but I would probably get half of it wrong. All I can say is I'm changing my diet. I've already started that, but going to go whole hog on the diet she recommended for my sister. I also think I may have found my calling. This stuff is fascinating! I've always thought it would be great to be a horse nutritionist, but now I think I might look into what it takes for schooling to do this for people.
After that I got a call from my son's principal. I ask you - should my son be given a day of in school suspension for yanking on a kid's hood when the kid cut in line in front of him? Granted, he should have controlled himself, I am absolutely not condoning his behavior, but really - was it that big a deal? I have a reason behind my gripe. Unequal treatment. At the Christmas concert two kids sat on the bleachers and poked, prodded, and finally kicked my son until he cried. It lasted a long time. At first I thought it was moderately harmless, waited for the teacher to intervene. Nope... It just escalated until John went and asked them to put an end to it. THOSE two kids? THOSE two bullies who would pick on a kid for a prolonged period, who were not just making a momentary bad decision but enjoying what they were doing - THEY were only talked to. No in school suspension. What the hell? We're going to talk further with them about this one. John and I are both pissed. Also, just recently my son has developed some imaginary friends. I'm worried about what goes on at that school. Over and over I feel the need to get him out of there. I'm an overprotective mom, I know, but how much emotional damage should I allow the school system and his nasty little peers to heap on him?
On to happier things. That's getting me a little steamed.
My mom gave me some of her blueberry jelly today. YUM. Strawberry too. I cheated on my diet. It was tasty. I tell myself I'm celebrating my return to freedom. Speaking of which, I think I'll go grab a beer. (Nasty light beer...)
So tomorrow I think I'll get up early, feed (I'm going to keep the early feeding habit I developed while working. It'll allow me more time to work with horses if I don't have to wait until 10 for them to finish eating.), set a fence post, work on fence, ride my horse, go to town and buy feed and maybe paint, come home, and be a good, attentive, non-exhausted mom in the afternoon.
For now, it's time to go start picking burrs off my dog. Fun evening entertainment!
The nutritional stuff is fascinating, and it sure makes a big difference to how you feel. My husband and I have been working on this for a number of years - he had some heart problems 4 years ago that really caused us to look at what we were doing and make some fundamental changes. His doctor has him on Vitamin D supplements, and we're now vegetarians - we've had to learn a whole new way to cook and it's pretty fun. Good luck on your quest!
ReplyDeleteYay! Welcome to the Club for Enlightened Eaters.
ReplyDeleteLast year my sister became a certified nutritionist (it's a one year course here in Canada) and with that came a landslide on information on what constitutes a healthy diet. Turns out it's not so complicated - a tastes a lot better.
My SO and I are 'flexitarians' meaning that we didn't cut meat out of our diet entirely - it just tastes too good. What we did was almost eliminate our red meat consumption and we only eat meat about 4 times a week, and only at supper time.
If you want to read more on not just what to eat, but where to get it, check out the following books:
In Defense of Food
Omnivore's Dilemna
Food Rules
All are written with the intent of showing people that eating healthily is not rocket science.
My dad has been telling me all about Vitamin D, so I was surprised to see this on your blog! He asks me every time I see him if I've bought some!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I'm not a nutritionalist, but I have studied biochemistry, metabolism, and have read tons on healthy diets. I'm not so sure that it is true that our cells are flawed when they are made out of animals fats. Our bodies synthesize specific fats from our diet to make our cells. How our metabolism works to synthesize those specific fats does change with our diet, and the number of fat molecules in our cells is increased if we eat too much dietary fat...but I don't think it is right to say that eating meat creates flawed cells. I admit that I might not be up on the latest information regarding this, but I think it might be more accurate to say that moderation is best, and our bodies need a variety of sources of proteins and fats to operate in a healthy manner. And animal protein is actually the most efficient way for our bodies to recieve all of the essential amino acids our bodies need. To get them all from plant sources, you actually need to consume more than one type of grain/legume. I personally try to eat as many raw fruits and veggies as possible, eat lots of legumes (beans), occasionally eat whole grains, yogurt, nuts, chicken and beef. I also love salmon so I try to get lots of that when I can afford it. Salmon is also very high in Vitamin D, so if you suspect you have a deficiency (which most of us in the cold northern climates do), you should increase your intake of that.
ReplyDeleteNo one is going to stand up for yur son if you and John don't. Having been through all that years ago with one of my sons and its not fun. As I look back, I should have taken him out of school and home schooled him that year but I worked and didn't want to give it up. Bad mom I know. Anyway, do what you have to. Our children are given to us as gifts. Now I am lecturing, sorry. Just feel strongly about it. I am glad you are going to be there for your sister. Very important.
ReplyDeleteI would say two things that lead from one to another. You quit your job to help your sister. Your son needs to be out of that hideous mess before you lose him. You can homeschool him anywhere. The nutritionist would be a marvelous lead in to a whole packet of science, home arts, etc. Get him out of that school. I took three of mine out-twins were in first, Sis in fifth. The two girls were having horrible time. Boy doing better, he had a good teacher that worked with his foibles. The next year may not have been so good. I graduated all three of them. You can do it. As for vitimin D, I will try that. I struggle from January to March every year. Can only help.
ReplyDeleteI have been a vegetation since 1974. I will eat dairy and eggs (laco ovo), just no fishes or dead animals. My son William is a life long vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Vitamin D..I'm so confused about this. My sarcoidosis granulomas (all two million of them) produce Vit D and I have to avoid vitamin D, even sunshine which turns into D. All the extra D in my body interferes with the calcium. I think I have hyper-calcium because of it. Now tests show I'm slightly low on vit D but I'm told this is good in my case. (???) Some doctors don't understand the problems of Vit D and sarcoidosis and prescribe it. I need to talk to a pro about it because I'm really confused.
About your son; I used to go to our school and kick some arse whenever I had to.
I'd never home school for many reasons such as... I wouldn't be a good teacher, my boys liked to interact with other kids, I have other things to do during the day and need a break from children, but most of all I loved to hear about how their school day was. O god I miss hearing about what certain kids did or stuff about the teachers. We would laugh so much or get mad at certain idiots who we'd proceed to talk some shit about..lol. I can't imagine not having all those wonderful conversations over the years. It brought us so close and we learned how to deal with the idiots together. I'm still very close to my boys and there's not anything we can't discuss.