When Life Happens

I like to think I'm like most other moms out there.  We give a good effort to feed our families food that is healthy and then when life happens we slide back.  Since I was in one of my slide back times this past month, I quickly became interested in a post I received from KC Food Circle advertising a Eat Local & Organic exhibition. 

Beth Bader...Mom, Author

You can imagine my daughter's excitement at having to attend this event on a Saturday morning, especially when I tell her that the first thing we're doing is attending a "Real Food Your Kids Will Love" workshop.  Beth Bader, co-author of The Cleaner Plate Club is a great example of a busy, working mom who has found ways to overcome the obstacles thrown into her path while trying to feed her family in a healthy way.    The  statistics she gave on the status of children's health was saddening:  "If obesity levels continue at the current rate, the lifetime risk for a girl to be diagnosed with Type II diabetes is 40 percent. For boys, it is 30 percent."  We could be raising the first generation that will not out live their parents!  

What can we do as parents?   Beth had several good tips that are shared in her book.  Simple ideas like sneaking peppers, squash and other veggies into meatballs and sauces.  Another thing we need to keep in mind...it can take as many as 15 tries before a child accepts a new food!  It actually makes sense.  How many times have you reminded your kids to pick up their shoes?  

Veggies as far as the eye can see!

I just wanted to buy the whole basket!

After the workshop, we headed into the gym.  It was filled with vendors from all over the Kansas City area selling local, organic and free-range food.  Immediately I could smell the freshness.  It was so exiciting to see the season's first greens filling beautiful baskets with color.  It was like walking through the "best of the best" Farmers Market.  There were a lot of different meat vendors:  beef, pork, chicken, buffalo, lamb.  Emu anyone?

Homemade lotions, soaps, handmade crafts.  They had it all.  This was a great way to get an early sampling of what's to come.   The vendors were happy to be there.  I overheard a ranch hand explaining to some kids what goes on at their horse farm.  At other table people were in line for coffee samples.  I spotted a bumper sticker that said "NO FARMERS- NO FOOD."  Very true, I thought to myself and grabbed it.   

Worms.  Probably some mom's ideal gift!

Rounding the last row I saw a young couple staring down at a plastic box and a man scooping things from it into a bag.  My daughter and I squeezed in to see.  Worms for sale!  That's not one you see every day.  The woman was saying that there was also bugs in the bag, at which the vendor replied something like, 'there are going to be bugs...there is a complete ecosystem in this box.'

Who doesn't love books?

Ah, the books!  Books on everything.  I love them so much I wanted to stop, but needless to say my companion was getting restless.  But I made sure I got a picture. 





Overall, it was a great event and time well spent.  So there we are back in the car and I'm all pumped up about eating healthy.  I'm talking about new things we can try and about throwing out Pop-Tarts, chips and fruits snacks when my daughter says, "Mom, you always do this.  You talk about eating healthy and we do it for a while and then we start eating junk again!"    I laugh.  She knows me well.   
 

Just a mom trying to keep up!