Overweight children

This morning there was a very interesting topic on the radio show in which also we participated back in September last year (Patiperros on air). This time the program was about children with a a tendency to become obese, and what parents can do about this. I once again cheer this fabulous program for giving the listeners a down-to-earth and informative session about obesity, children's diet, family reality and expert knowledge on the subject. This is my favourite radio show, it's just great! Still, I think the program completely missed out on a couple of very essential issues.

First of all, I did not hear anyone say explicitly that sugar (and some other substances that children eat) are addictive. Yes they did talk about candy bags being bigger, and children consuming much more sugar today than before. But nobody mentioned that we are talking about toxic substances which lead to overeating and cravings for more, and which cannot be changed simply by "having a calm situation at the dinner table" (although this might help). In a way I can understand that this very essential piece of information was left out, afterall, not everyone agrees on this subject. Particularly here in the Nordic countries, I believe the mainstrem medical approach has been that sugar is not addictive. Still, many report personal experience of addiction (White desire), and now there is even scientific indications that this is the case (Toxic Sugar). Not to mention the effect also wheat (substance that is present in almost all meals) can have on humans and tendency of overeating (It is more than gluten).

My point is that if we could talk openly about what the problem of the sugar-filled food products directed to children (not talking about only candies and soda here) then maybe these overweight children wouldn't be so stigmatized. It is not their fault that they start endulging in sweets and unhealthy food! Its like talking about alcoholism and how to deal with it, without mentioning that alcohol is addictive. Obesity is only a symptom. And most of the time (not always) it is the symptom of a bit of a too sweet tooth, a tooth that has been fed with sugary substances from a very early age. Not all children become addicted (as not all adults either) but for those who do, sugarfilled yougurts or sweetened white bread, or even the jam on the oatmeal porridge can be the starting point of an uncontrollable craving for more.  We can empower our children by creating awareness of the link between the wrong kind of food and of the cravings for food that cause obesity.

When we participated in this radio show I was very nervous that our choices would be considered too radical by the listeners. I was nervous that the listeners would feel pity for my children. Imagine a childhood without candies! Almost unimaginable in today's society. The reporter even asked whether I was concerned that this choice of cutting out refined sugar would lead to rebelling children or eating disorders in their teenage years (I think this was not included in the show). My spontaneous answer was "no, absolutely not, I was more worried about that before than now". That is because I had seen how sugary foods drove Kidone to only crave for such foods, totally neglecting real nutrious foods and then screaming for sweets when hungry. This didn't happen as much with our new food policy. Also, considering my own newly found sensation of being in control of my mind and body, I knew that eating the right foods automatically excludes cravings and creates a balanced body weight. I had a hard time understanding how this way of living would expose my children to higher risk of eating disorders.

The second point I totally missed in this otherwise very balanced discussion was the role of fat in a child's diet. I strongly believe that there is a link between how much real fat (not talking about fake fats such as margarines) children consume and the sense of hunger. Extremely hungry kids will crave quick carbs to satisfy the hunger. School lunches are not exactly overly abundant in fats. There are more carbs on the plate than proteins and fats together. No wonder children grab an icecream or a soda on the way home... it is my personal experience that fatfree lunches (and maybe also the carb-filled breakfasts) do that to the metabolism.  But I understand that this is a controversial issue, with the state dietary recommendations being what they are. Still, I insist, to understand childhood obesity you need to understand the whole picture.

Talking about school lunches. I was delighted this morning to see a letter-to-the-editor in the Swedish newspaper ("Kosten har betydelse för skolelever ") talking about the link between quality school lunches and performance. The author referred to several studies in the U.S that clearly showed a link between high quality food and increased school performance. Also teachers reporting on more focused kids. Finally! I hope this sparks some debate over here. How wonderful it would be if somebody with authority could get it already. Margarine does not feed growing brains; real fat does!!! Bring back the whole milk, and butter to school and daycare! In the best case it could give us leaner, healthier and above all smarter kids! What's there to loose?

Made it through the week

This week has been insane! Maybe not so productive workwise but right now I am just hanging in there... hubby had a knee surgery last Monday, I have been working in three shifts to get everything to go around. But happy to say that all food has still kept up to my standards, no premade junk, all made at home. And this is not an attempt to brag, infact yesterday I was about to post something very nasty here as I was totally beat. But then I was actually too tired to think my thoughts true. Its no easy task to stay allive over here, in -15 degrees. But as said hanging in there, confident things will go better.

Bone broth (and meat) hase been staple in this weeks dinners. Breakfast has been eggs with coconut milk and spinach/cinnamon and sesame seeds. Trying to fill the gap of calcium deficiencies as milk was eliminated both at home and daycare for kidtwo (amazing results!).

Looking into how to ferment our own yogurt. Since its clear to me that milk is a no-no now, I need to find supplements. Fermented yogurt (self-made) seems to be a viable option. But where do I buy the beginner's batch? Or should I try to get some kefir grains. Got to work dectective to find out!

Busy day - bone broth and Latin flavors!

Got home from Sweden just in time to prepare some lunch. Luckily we had some home made liver casserole (yet another of these reinventions with many good vitamines) in the fridge, and lunch was served within 20 minutes. But this was just a parenthesis. What really kept me busy on this election day was: bone broth.
On Friday we got a 10kg deliver of fresh organic, grassfed beef, straight from the farm, homedelivered. I had also ordered extra bones, and so I got some 1,5 kg extra of bone accompanied by meat.

I cooked two batches of bone broth right after lunch. Calculate some 3 liters of broth. This will take us through the winter.

And lucky us, there is -20 degrees outside. I used this opportunity to freeze the broth in the open air (and I thank my addiction to Greek yougurt for having somewhere to freeze it all).

Check out the snow... I was wishing for a snow free winter this year... HAHA, somebody is laughing in my face right now!

Once the broth was over and done with, I suddenly faced the problem of what to do with the meat... surfing some paleo pages I got the idea of making chili con carne. And lucky me (considering the -20 degrees) we had all the ingridients at home. I am not going to write down the recipe tonight, too beat for that... But the big secret to my own dish was that added the already cooked meat to the blender, together with the onions and carrot left overs from the broth cooking. I had precooked white beans in the freezer and heated these in bonebroth, then took out half of them and used the hand blender to mash before adding them back into the pot.

I also made som guacamole, as I had to make use of one avocado and two tomatoes before they went bad.

Hubby and I added some "Merquen" to the dish - but we spared the kids from that VERY hot experience. (Read about Chilean merquen here: "Tu Chile aqui" )

We ate at the "round table" tonight. Special day, election day and all...

This was an excellent draw, hubby was happy to get some flavours from home and Kidone showed once again that she has inherited her dads tastebuds. I was more than surprised to see how she swept down her plate of chiliconcarne. Kidtwo did not go for this bean filled dish. He tried to insist on meatballs, yes kids ate Swedish meatballs while we were in Sweden over the weekend, and then he just got up and left the table....But I do not worry, he'll come around, someday.

There will be blood...

Fair warning: This might be appauling for some, especially vegetarians...

I promised you some time ago that I would do a blogpost on blood! I have come to realize that if we are to eat meet, then better utilize as much as possible from the poor slaughtered animal.

When I was little we used to frequently eat blood pancakes in school. Sometimes at home as well. These were one of the dishes that I never remember having eating made from scratch. The pancakes came in a box of 20 and before the microwave entered our household (long story, my brother and I tried all tricks there were to it to upgrade our parents from the stoneage, until we finally bought a microwave oven for my mom as a Christmas present...) we heated the black pancakes in a frying pan, with a lot of butter (must have been before the margarine days). Anyway, it is time to reinvent this dish!

I am also hearing from friends in Sweden that their children just love blood pudding... Better try it out...
all that iron, waiting to be useful!

I googled the recipe for Swedish Bloodpudding and made some wheatfree adaptations:

Ingredients

• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 small apple
• two dices of organic spinach 
• 500g  defrozen blood (beef, bought frozen)
• 1-2 tbs Fiberhusk (grounded psyllium seeds)
• 1/2 dl quinoa meal (could probably be replaced by almond flour)
• 1-2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp grounded ginger
• 1/2 tsp grounded cloves
• 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
• 2 tbs butter /coconut oil
• salt, pepper
• Lingonberry to accompany the dish

 

Peel and chop onion. Peel and chop apple in dices. Fry onion in butter or coconut oil until soft, add apple and fry. Add the spinached (roughly chopped). Poor the blood in a batch. Add quinoa flour and fiberhusk. Add egg(s). Add spices and then the mix of onion-apple-spinach. Let cool in fridge for 30 min- 1h.

Blood pancakes: fry in coconut oil. Keep on first side until thickened and then flip over (takes longer than normal pancakes, due to the lack of - thank goodness- gluten).

Picture blood pancakes:

Verdict: Kids ate one each. Were not too eager first but did eat enough...

Blood pudding: Poor the reminder of the batch into a oven mold. Cook in oven (200 degrees) for 60-90 minutes, depending on the deepness of the mold.

Picture blood pudding:

 Verdict: After hubby had eaten half, and I had saved a couple for lunch the rest went into the freezer for future needs.

A message from the snowed-in biker:

With this snowstorm outside (and -15 degrees, mind you) I'll just have to accumulate some fuel storage for the summer season...

Times are changing?

Yes! This kind of articles are good wake up calls!!!

Should sugar be regulated like alcohol and tobacco?

And my answer is: yes, please. The way sugar is consumed, particularly by children, and considering the risks this high consumption  poses on their health, some kind of regulation (or at least warning texts!) would be more than welcomed. That would help us parents who think that sugar is not good for our children to gain influence in the overall debate (instead of discharging us as freakstreet freaks!).

That's all folks. Good night.

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