There Is No Love In That Food

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing healthy food for my family. When I am not in the kitchen, I spend a lot time thinking about future meals, snacks, browsing blogs, magazines, cookbooks, and discussing food with friends and family.

Cooking is therapy of sorts for me. I frequently get asked if I actually like to spend so much time in the kitchen. I do. I love it. Cooking, to me, is as relaxing as crawling into bed with a good book, a long, sweaty workout that leaves me feeling flushed and tingling with energy. I rarely cook junk anymore and have been trying my darnest to put love and thought into the meals I serve.

So, it irks me when we pass McDonalds and my girls squeal with delight, as Lila did today. For our family, McDonalds is frequented on very rare occasions (as in, 3-4 times a year). A very rare "treat" and almost always with me in disagreement - even if I don't publically share my opinion, so as to not be rude or, possibly, offensive.

I had no response to Lila's McDonald's envy today. Except to say, "We don't eat there because it's junk food."

However, it's more than that, obviously. Those of you who know me, personally, can list off the reasons I avoid the place like the plague.

So, when I saw this post from Food Renegade today, I laughed. The explanation to Lila was so simple and, yet, someone else had to come up with it for me. I'll use this each and every time my family asks to go there as we pass (I'm not sure they've ever asked to go unless we have recently driven by).

There is No Love in That Food:

“Even though the food is bad, I really like McDonald’s,” my son explained.

“Why is that, son?” my husband asked. He expected to hear something about indoor play places or ice cream. Instead, my soon-to-be five year old continued, “Well, I think it’s special.”

“But they’re not special,” I interrupted. “Every McDonald’s is exactly the same. They all look the same, make the same foods. There is nothing special or unique about them.”

“The really special food is the food Mommy cooks for you,” my husband contributed.

“What makes it special?”

“All the love that goes into it. The food Mommy makes is full of love every step of the way — from the way the vegetables and animals were cared for and raised, to the way the animals were killed and turned into meats, to the way Mommy bought them and turned them into meals. But the food at McDonald’s, there’s no love in that food.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, maybe there’s love in the heart of the person buying it for you, like Granna or Grandad. But there’s no love in how the animals were raised or how the food was prepared.”

“What happens if there’s no love in the food? Can you eat it?”

“Well, you can eat it. But if all you ever ate was food without love, a little piece of you would die. You’d suffer in a world with just a little bit less love in it, and that’d be sad.”

“I don’t want to be sad.”

“Neither do I.”


Jump to the link below to access the Food Renegade blog:

There Is No Love In That Food

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We're All Going to the Dentist!

Olivia receives her check-up & shares the experience with her baby

A couple of weeks ago, the girls had dentist appointments. I have yet to have had a full-blown cavity and, therefore, have always enjoyed the dentist. I hope my girls will grow to enjoy their visits as much as I did (do). When a friend told me about The Smile Center here in Leavenworth, I had to get us all appointments. While the kids wait in the lobby, they can read books, play video games and watch TV. During their cleaning and check-ups, they can view the TV from the ceiling and listen by use of headphones. Though, my girls were more impressed with all the instruments than the TV.

During my appointment next month, I get treated to a paraffin hand treatment! How cool is that! Spa treatment at the dentist!

Olivia took this picture of Lila getting her teeth checked

The dentist was very pleased with the health of the girls' teeth. No cavities! For the most part, we follow all the rules the dentist went over with the girls and I. No drinking juice (Our dentist recommends that children get all their fruit intake through eating fruit, rarely, if ever, drinking juice-which is what we follow. The girls drink juice only on special occasions or at restaurants as a treat), limit sugary sweets, nothing other than water at bedtime, etc.

As children/teenagers, DH and I had overbite problems and, eventually, needed quite a bit of orthodontic care to correct our problems (spending three years of high school in braces was a real pain in the butt, to say the least! Oh, and expensive - I'm sure my parents would have liked to have put that few thousand dollars elsewhere). Therefore, I've been concerned that our children will also need extensive orthodontic care. One of the many reasons I chose extended breastfeeding (into toddlerhood), was to help with the development of their jaws and teeth. ProMom, Inc. sites this by stating:

"Breastfeeding...Facilitates proper dental and jaw development. Nursing is good for a baby's tooth and jaw development. Babies drinking from the human breast have to use as much as 60 times more energy to get food than do those drinking from a bottle. Obviously, a nursing baby's jaws are receiving much more exercise as she pulls her mother's milk into her mouth. Apparently, this constant gentle pulling assists the growth of well-formed jaws and straight, healthy teeth. Among breastfed infants, the longer the duration of nursing, the less chance of dental malocclusion. The Complete Book Of Breastfeeding M.S. Eiger. MD, S. Wendkos Olds, Copyright 1972, 1987 Comstock, Inc., Workman Publishing Co., Inc., 708 Broadway, New York, NY 10003Labbok, M.H. "Does Breastfeeding Protect against Malocclusion? An Analysis of the 1981 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey" American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 1987 "

BBC News also had a good article here on the subject a few years ago. At any rate, so far, our dentist says it looks like our girls have great teeth and jaw development. Though, we'll have to wait until their much older to be sure! Here's hoping!

I was impressed with the girls behavior and interest in what the dentist and hygienist were doing throughout their visit! Hopefully, every visit will go just as well!