Do you ever feel like you chose the wrong "pill"?

[leila1213]

(reference to The Matrix where Neo chooses to take the pill of knowledge that reveals humans' terrible condition, instead of the pill that would launch him back into the blissful dream of ignorance.) I mean seriously. This whole TF/WAP business is such important information, right? We had fun on the thread talking about people's faces and palates. But I really feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders trying to get DD (and myself) to eat healthy foods, and shielding her from the "foods of modern commerce" that are all around us, including the stuff brought into our house by my DH.

I wanted to come post here to ask who is a TF "evangelist" and how you get the word out, what you say to people, how you feel about this important knowledge re: preventing miscarriage, birth defects, disease, you name it. I want to go out and spread the word on how to have healthy babies, but I have such a hard time within my own family that I feel like it would be so much easier to be blissfully ignorant and go on eating like everyone else. Does anyone else feel this way?

BTW, check out the book in my siggy. I want to tell everyone about it!! But then I kind of feel like a hypocrite acting all "high and mighty" about doing things the way nature intended...who am I to preach about this stuff?? It is pretty controversial, and touchy. You have to tread very lightly. Makes me want to just give up and crawl into a box of cookies.

[godusjourney]

Ugh. I totally know what you're talking about. I was raised health conscious and, while it definitely has made me interested and passionate about bodies and biological diet, it has also made me very focused on food and prone to food obsession. I hate it (the food obsession part). It's really, really hard, and sometimes just looking at someone who's more or less healthy, of good weight, and seems to have been raised in a French Women Don't Get Fat sort of way, and continue to maintain it, I can't help but be jealous of their lack of care in regards to food. kwim? Someday I know I will heal my physical ailments, help my dcs be strong and healthy, achieve a strong, healthy body, feel like I'm bouncy and too energized for my own good, and I'll look back and know that the path was worth it. But in the meantime, I can't help but cast jealous glances at those folks who seem to feel good, look good, and put horrible things in their bodies.

ETA: just looked at the book in your sig, and lol, I have it, too. Haven't read it yet, but skimmed here and there, and it's fantastic!

[lastrid]

Absolutely. I feel so helpless when trying to tell people the truth too because I think they all think I am a loon. Ignorance is truly bliss.

[snowbunny]

Originally Posted by lastrid

Absolutely. I feel so helpless when trying to tell people the truth too because I think they all think I am a loon. Ignorance is truly bliss.

I know how you feel. TF has made such a huge difference in my life. When people I know talk about their health and problems associated with them they'll often ask me what I think. For example, a veg*n from work kept complaining of digestive stress so I suggested soaking her grains and limiting soy, which she thought was too much work. I find people generally listen until I mention the benefits of saturated fat and then they immediately tune out.

So, now I just direct my energy to my blog on TF.

[kylatay]

To be honest I feel this way about everything! Not just TF, but I feel like I wish I was 20 again and (I was stupid lol but) didn't care about food, health, economics, politics, religion etc.

I wish life was simpler but the older I get the harder it gets lol.

[quietserena]

To continue your Matrix comparison, most people aren't ready to see the truth. People don't really want to know about diet of cows, or about phytates, or about most of this stuff.

I'm not a TF evangelist. People think I'm weird enough as it is. But when they note certain things about our health and all that, I mention things about our diet. Sometimes people are interested. Rarely are they interested enough to try it but never know.

[MadameXCupcake]

Originally Posted by kylatay

To be honest I feel this way about everything! Not just TF, but I feel like I wish I was 20 again and (I was stupid lol but) didn't care about food, health, economics, politics, religion etc.

I wish life was simpler but the older I get the harder it gets lol.

Haha, I'm 20.
Home birth, traditional foods. etc
I tell DH all the time sometimes I wish I never learned any of this!!

[spughy]

I'm not a TF evangelist, per se - but I am a sustainable local-foods evangelist, which generally works out to the same thing, in practise - but it's easier to go this route and be socially acceptable, somehow. Like it's ok to be evangelistic about the environment and food security, but not what people are feeding themselves.

Whatever. I try to promote my way of eating by focusing on the positives, not the negatives. I SUPPORT local farms and local businesses, my food TASTES FANTASTIC, I SAVE MONEY and I SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT. So far I have partially converted my nextdoor neighbour, in that I buy local organic veg, meats and nuts for her, and when I buy whole chickens I cut hers up and make broth from the carcass and she gets half. I got other friends into my cow share, and I have another friend eagerly awaiting my copy of "Real Food" which is loaned to yet ANOTHER friend at the moment. I am also demonstrably very healthy and have the least pickiest kid around, so that helps. And, once in a while, I slip in a tidbit of info like "you can't get dietary calcium without dietary fat at the same time" and explain why the push for low-fat dairy was instituted by the dairy industry, not Health Canada, and nobody seems to ostracize me for that.

I never, ever tell anyone that what they eat is BAD. Except I accidentally said something pretty much that about breakfast cereal, which sent one of my friends - the one who is waiting for "Real Food" - into a paroxysm of "OMG it's all I feed my kid for breakfast, OMG I'm poisoning her" so I don't do that any more, it's not nice.

[flowers]

spughy, i do the same thing.

I have been on a food journey for such a long time. Veggie to vegan to raw to everything and now very happily landing in tf and local foods.

[leila1213]

Originally Posted by godusjourney

ETA: just looked at the book in your sig, and lol, I have it, too. Haven't read it yet, but skimmed here and there, and it's fantastic!

Cool, thanks for letting me know!

[Ruthla]

I'm just doing the best I can, trying to improve my own diet first, then my kids' a little less directly, and I don't even worry about the rest of the world. I don't have the energy to deal with that- I'm not about to argue with an MD that her 9yo DD should be drinking whole milk in spite of her high cholesterol, YK? (who on earth tests a 9yos cholesterol anyway?) I'll offer guests the food we have in the house (and this poor child who's been raised on skim milk only may accept or decline the whole milk we keep in the house- I can also offer her juice, water, tea, etc.)

[avent]

Yes, I definitely feel this way and unfortunately I am angry about it a lot of the time.

I am frustrated that the generations before me didn't have this pressure, either because eating this way was their default or because they were blissfully ignorant. I am mad that I am, once again, the woman who is undoing crap that has happened in my family, like getting therapy to deal with problems that really should have been dealt with even before I was born.

I am secretly jealous of people who don't know, parents who heat up a mac and cheese dinner in the microwave, grab some conventionally grown baby carrots from a bag, dump 4 cups of white sugar into some water with a Kool-aid packet and are done with dinner. Plus they get to feel good about it because they mac and cheese is fortified, the carrots are healthy, and the Kool-aid has Vitamin C so it's just like fresh juice, right?
But the worst part, the very worst part, is the feeling that I have to fight major capitalistic forces to make any progress. I feel like I am fighting "the man" in order to eat this way and live this way. I am battling billions of dollars of marketing dollars from powers like agri-business, the pharmaceutical industry, the US government, just about every entity that is the most powerful and wealthy in the world. And as a somewhat extensive traveler, seeing them move into untouched, pristine places in my lifetime. I am angry that thousands of years of knowledge have been lost in a few generations, through systematic and deliberate obliteration of knowledge in the name of expediency and greed.

I am angry that it's not supported by society to eat the TF way and that it's not difficult, expensive and time-consuming to find and eat junk.

I feel ashamed to think that if I had decided not to have children I probably would have given in by now and simply decided to be the last in our line of people with malformed facial structures and other nutritional failings, victims of aforementioned greed, to be looked back upon by future generations as one who was a victim of the dark ages of nutritional knowledge.

Whew! Umm, yeah, I guess I do know what you're talking about.

The children keep me going. The hand that rocks the cradle and all that. Plus,a secret feeling of "sticking it to the man" when I drink raw milk or get some eggs from the local kids' chickens.

As for telling people, I am lucky enough to be an alternative medical practitioner so I have some credibility and an opening for discussion with clients. (Although that facet leaves me with a similar ball of wax about the current state of the medical field!) With friends it's more difficult, and with family except kids and DH, forget it.

[spughy]

Originally Posted by avent

But the worst part, the very worst part, is the feeling that I have to fight major capitalistic forces to make any progress. I feel like I am fighting "the man" in order to eat this way and live this way. I am battling billions of dollars of marketing dollars from powers like agri-business, the pharmaceutical industry, the US government, just about every entity that is the most powerful and wealthy in the world. And as a somewhat extensive traveler, seeing them move into untouched, pristine places in my lifetime. I am angry that thousands of years of knowledge have been lost in a few generations, through systematic and deliberate obliteration of knowledge in the name of expediency and greed.

Oh yeah. That part SUCKS. BTW, if you want a good read, check out "Kitchen Literacy" by Ann Vileisis. It does a fantastic job of showing how social and economic forces shaped today's food preferences and assumptions. It will be largely preaching to the choir for you, but still worthwhile.

A good portion of my food is borderline illegal. I have an awful lot of meat with an awful lot of "NOT GOVERNMENT INSPECTED. NOT FOR RESALE." stamps all over it in my freezer.

[nicolelynn]

I feel this way sometimes. At first it was easy being TF because eating so much butter was so delicious. Now that I am on an elimination diet with no diary and have to face that dairy might be one the things I need to cut out of my diet long term....it isn't so novel without butter hehe.

Also, people ARE starting to ask me alot of questions now. Without reading books and articles, they seem so confused and wide eyed ("what, soy and organic boxed cereal are bad for you??"). Rather than hardcore preaching TF to them, I encourage them to eat whole foods..basically stay away from anything packaged...and give them a 2 minute primer on fats. They are overwhelmed with that as it is, so I start small.

Its so hard watching people eat sometimes, the things they give their kids! I wish I didn't know so much so I wouldn't freak out and judge them so much on that (I never verbalize it, I just scream "noooo!" in my mind haha).

For myself, I sometimes wish we would have stuck with out former diet. It consisted of all Trader Joe's food, so nothing too horrible (but lots of white flour pasta and stuff) and cost almost half of what we pay now. It also was alot of packaged/prepped TJ stuff so saved lots of time. *Sigh*.

But now that I am dealing with food sensitivities, I am so thankful to have found TF and this forum. Otherwise I might be going to an MD and taking drugs, when all I needed to do is an elimination diet and replace whatever food culprit with other whole foods.

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

I'm just doing the best I can, trying to improve my own diet first, then my kids' a little less directly, and I don't even worry about the rest of the world. I don't have the energy to deal with that- I'm not about to argue with an MD that her 9yo DD should be drinking whole milk in spite of her high cholesterol, YK? (who on earth tests a 9yos cholesterol anyway?) I'll offer guests the food we have in the house (and this poor child who's been raised on skim milk only may accept or decline the whole milk we keep in the house- I can also offer her juice, water, tea, etc.)

: We do the best we can and try not to worry about anything else. It is not that I don't care, but I cannot get my stress level up worrying about things I cannot control. I feel strongly about a lot of things, but have found being a crazy evangelist doesn't help anything. I try to be a good example, but as always there are places to improve. I am sure as it is now they think that since my kids are on a limited diet to to intolerances etc that I am horribly, horribly ruining them and it must be my fault for feeding them health food. My cousin actually thinks my kids are kind of picky as I won't let them eat junk and they cannot eat gluten,dairy, preservatives, colors etc etc . She really doesn't get it.

[quietserena]

Originally Posted by spughy

A good portion of my food is borderline illegal. I have an awful lot of meat with an awful lot of "NOT GOVERNMENT INSPECTED. NOT FOR RESALE." stamps all over it in my freezer.

You! you.. rebel!

(I'm along with you, we just got our 1/8 cow and our freezer is the same way. )

[avent]

Originally Posted by spughy

BTW, if you want a good read, check out "Kitchen Literacy" by Ann Vileisis.

Thanks, added it to my wish list. Will also check the library.

Originally Posted by spughy

A good portion of my food is borderline illegal. I have an awful lot of meat with an awful lot of "NOT GOVERNMENT INSPECTED. NOT FOR RESALE." stamps all over it in my freezer.

Yes, or "Pet Food Only" is another one.

[avent]

Originally Posted by nicolelynn

Rather than hardcore preaching TF to them, I encourage them to eat whole foods..basically stay away from anything packaged...and give them a 2 minute primer on fats. They are overwhelmed with that as it is, so I start small.

That's great. It's also what's scary, that we've been so brainwashed (e.g., "fats are bad") that it is overwhelming to acquire even this knowledge we once had innately.

Originally Posted by nicolelynn

Its so hard watching people eat sometimes, the things they give their kids! I wish I didn't know so much so I wouldn't freak out and judge them so much on that (I never verbalize it, I just scream "noooo!" in my mind haha).

It can be hard to watch, but I've moved my judgment from the people to the powers that have taught them to think this way. It's been systematic and deliberate and these companies prey on our natural instincts, giving us fake creaminess instead of real fat, and soda which attracts us due to our natural instinct to prefer slightly carbonated (fermented) foods and beverages.

[Holiztic]

Yes, we eat "Pet Food" also, but don't tell DH!

[blueridgewoman]

I feel that way sometimes. Mostly, it's a sense of deep deep guilt that I ate SAD probably when pg with DD. I knew better but I was so sick through the pregnancy that I told myself it's all I could eat. I should have tried harder, I should have made myself. DD is fine- beautiful, brilliant and incredible, but still.

And heck, I do sometimes envy people that can just go into a grocery store and shop! My trips turn into hour long ingredient reading expeditions where I can only end up eating like 10% of what is on the shelves.