Organic Foods: Know the Facts - Dr. Trent Maly

family living
him play them, she allows Palmer, now 12, to play them for an
hour each on Saturday and Sunday, unless he has friends over
and they choose to spend their time together playing video
games. Since Rubin monitors the content and ratings and keeps
some games out of the house, Palmer has found creative ways
to educate himself about edgier games, such as by reading video
game guides.
To give the body the nutrients it needs to do the healing,
vitalists eat whole, natural foods, opting for whole grains over
refined white flour; organic instead of conventionally grown
produce; and natural sugars, like oranges and honey, in lieu of
a candy bar. While some vitalists prefer to adopt a vegan lifestyle,
others choose to remain omnivores. Those who do consume
meats and dairy products take a vitalist approach, opting for
growth hormone- and antibiotic-free products from grass-fed
animals whenever possible.
In order for children to use their innate sense to get all of
the nutrients that they need to continually heal and grow their
bodies, it’s important to expose them to a wide variety of natural
foods as soon as they’re old enough to begin eating them, including
ones that their parents don’t particularly like. “There is
no right diet for my daughter that I can determine by a prior formula,”
says Koch, who notes that yogurt didn’t taste like “food”
to him until he turned 30. “There is only the diet that works for
her, and only her body knows that diet.”
Dealing with Teenage Rebellion
Whether they’re raised in a vitalistic home or not, one thing is
certain: Children will question their family’s values when they
reach the teen years, if not before.
During the grammar school years, parents need only send
their kids to school with a healthy lunch to ensure that they eat
right. By the time children reach middle-school age, it’s more
complicated. Kids are exposed to new-to-them foods in other
homes and in school, and they will taste-test the boundaries.
Sometimes, teens are just curious about what the “forbidden”
foods taste like. But often, children give in to temptation because
of peer pressure—if they don’t eat what everyone else is eating,
it can affect their social status.
3 pathways | issue 26
“We keep our food selections at home
healthy,” Ohm says. “Most of our kids
choose to select the best foods they can
when not on the home front, but one of
our sons had a voracious sweet/carb tooth.
Eventually he discovered he preferred good
foods, but it wasn’t until he was old enough
to really grasp the need for healthy nourishment
and was able to recognize he felt better
when eating the better foods. I believe if we
give kids the room to discover on their own
and we stay consistent, they will eventually
come around to what is best for their individual selves.”
One interesting perspective is that rebellion in a vitalistic
home isn’t viewed as a rebellion against either the rules established
by the parents or the parents themselves. Rather, it’s the
children rebelling against their own responsibility to listen to
their innate, vital intelligence and do what is healthy for their
body, whether it’s wanting to experiment with alcohol or binge
on candy bars.
“We were ready to give our daughter that power as soon as
she was ready to take it,” Koch says. “When you have raised
someone with an attitude that says, ‘Your body knows what it
is doing,’ then it is easy to help them learn the lesson the first
time they try all those things that they think that they want to
try, even though they may be bad for them.” Whether it’s harmful
or healthful, he says, “your body is going to tell you.”
A Lifelong Lesson
For vitalists, raising their children doesn’t end when they leave
the nest. Rather, they continue to provide each child with the
support and resources necessary in order for his or her true self
to emerge, which will happen naturally if given the opportunity.
“I am a teacher, and I have lots of children in that sense,”
Koch says. “Students come to me and say, ‘Help me become who
I can become.’ I say, ‘I will do that, but I will do that vitalistically,
because I can’t tell you who you are becoming, and I can’t give
you that becoming; you can only create that for yourself.’ With a
lot of other child-rearing, people believe that children will fail to
raise themselves properly if you don’t do something about them;
they need to be directed and molded and shaped. I don’t believe
that at all. I believe that they need to be provided resources, but
that children have the perfect capacity to direct and mold and
shape themselves.”
Jennifer Maciejewski is a writer and the mother of two
(mostly) well-fed girls, Katie, 8, and Liz, 5. She can be
reached via her website at JenniferMaciejewski.com.
View article references and author information here:
pathwaystofamilywellness.org/references.html.
istockphoto: © Andrey Artykov / Sean Locke