Day 13: Food is Love

Photo: Darcy Kiefel

Food defines a family identity. And mothers set the pace for meals and nutrition. I worked for Heifer International, an international nonprofit committed to ending hunger by giving families gifts of livestock, and it was mothers who were responsible for family food security and health, and as you can imagine, most of the animal care. All over the world, mothers expressed their single universal desire to sustain their families with good, wholesome food - the ultimate gift of love.

For me, the last two weeks have been busy, but happy. Despite cries against green vegetables or dense, oat pancakes or the issue of my own seriously chapped dish-pan hands (remedied by new gloves), I feel like I'm doing the best I can for the kids and fulfilling a maternal promise. There's no judgment in doing this. I certainly didn't love the kids less when I served them Nutrigrain bars for breakfast and McNuggets for lunch. But food is about the present and the future. It's a gift of the moment, of nutrition and pleasure. And it's a foundation for their futures in health and habits. It's why moms are such a potent, tangible mix of meals and memory.

You bloggers are some healthy eaters! Processed food percentages are amazingly low. How about recipes for a family Sunday dinner? Any family favorites?

Menu
Breakfast: Yogurt, grapes, oranges and leftover pizza! With OJ and fish oil of course.

Lunch: Leftover chicken salad, pita, apples, carrots and milk. Aidan had is usual.

Dinner: Chicken, rice with wild mushrooms, berries and homemade whole wheat brownies.

Nugget o' the Day: "Did you put sugar on my apples?" - Patrick. The organic apples from the Kroger produce sale are so sweet and tasty, Patrick thinks I am adding sugar to them ...

Day 12: Vegetable Hunter

I got my first rejection from a CSA today. The farm already hit their 200-member "share" limit, and their web site offers little hope for an opening, ''We've reached 200! The application process is now on hold. IF any spots open up, we'll email those on the waitlist."

Thanks to a friend's recommendation, I'm making my way through more options on Local Harvest which lets users search by zip code to find farms, farmer's markets, restaurants and local-food grocers. I'm on the hunt for vegetables.

As a CSA member or "share holder," people pay farmers some of their weekly food budget in exchange for organically-grown farm products. I expect to spend anywhere between $450 to $600 for about 24 weeks from May to September/October or summer options for about $250. Joining a CSA is a garden gamble, like any growing venture. You never know what you're going to get. Product depends on farm output. And you may just have one of those harvests that yields endless recipes for things like "Summer Squash Cupcakes."

And ... check out the new poll. Dirk says to the great majority who voted for him as the most likely candidate to fall off the wagon, "I have iron will."

Menu
Breakfast: Yogurt, berries and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Leftover chicken salad, pita, hummus, bananas, apples, carrots and milk. Aidan took his usual - PB on bread, craisins, applesauce, grapes and pretzels.

Dinner: We had a pizza playdate (spinach, carmalized onion and roasted garlic for adults, plain for kids) with friends and they provided a delicious dessert - organic strawberries with balsamic vinegar and black pepper over vanilla Haagen Daz.

Nugget o' the Day: "We found ice cream with five ingredients!" - a very excited young family friend about a Fresh Mouth dessert discovery. This ice cream has fewer ingredients than even the organic stuff which is loaded with "guar gum" and stuff. Read yo' labels!

Day 11: Pig Blankets

Oh ... how can I say this gently? The lure of a "pig in a blanket" was too much to resist for our little man Patrick. Nothing tempts the palate like pork. He ate a hot dog.

He's not entirely to blame. His class is doing a cooking series and the teacher made, of all things, hot dogs wrapped in bread. When he got in the car, he said, "Mommy, I hate to tell ya this, but I broke the rules. I did."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I ate a pig blanket," he said.

This took me a minute to translate. When we arrived at the mutual understanding of a hot dog, it was clear that there was real ambivalence in his admission. He acknowledged enjoying it even though he knew it had more than five ingredients. The teacher confirmed that fact for him before he ate it. But he actually asked before he bit!

He didn't want me to come clean on the blog, to let everyone know that he strayed from this potion. He worked hard at convincing me that this was a minor indiscretion in the grand scheme of Fresh Mouth, that it takes two mistakes to count. I told him not to worry that Dirk and I expected moments of temptation and opportunity outside the house. He was still doing great, and I was so proud of his candor and honesty. I also said he needed some extra fruit at lunch to balance out the hot dog. He was good with that. But, boy, did I have to laugh ... those tempting "pig blankets." Who can blame the little guy?

So, we're working on a new poll. Stay tuned!

The Doomsday Vault and the blooming daffodils here have inspired garden planning. We're ordering our seeds from the D. Landreth Seed Company which specializes in heirloom seeds. They also have a great collection of vegetables, herbs and flowers for kids called "The Children's Garden Collection" and includes seeds for garden basics like carrots and peas and melons and pumpkins. The boys were really excited, too, because we got two free packets of seeds in the mail today - one for tomatoes and one for wildflowers - in the recent issue of Vermont Magazine, which has a stunning pictorial spread of Vermont farmers. We'll also pick up some local seedlings of green, hot and Hungarian peppers from Virginia farmers at the annual Maymont Herbs Galore & More in April.

And for those interested in the recipe for the dessert in the previous post picture, it's the Apple and Blackberry Kuchen by Nigella Lawson. We made it as a gift, but I gave the baby some of the apples as his "treat."

Off to find a Community Supported Agriculture opportunity in the area for spring ...

Menu
Breakfast: This was a real leftover mish mosh - strawberries, grapefruit, yogurt, corn muffins, cinnamon rolls and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Almond butter sandwiches, bananas, strawberries, mandarin oranges and milk. Aidan had PB and bread, grapes, craisins, applesauce and pretzels.

Dinner: Homemade chicken salad with veggies, olive oil, mustard and vinegar on homemade bread and leftover pumpkin chili. The kids didn't like the salad so I gave them some plain lemon garlic roasted chicken breasts. Craisins for "dessert."

Nugget o' the Day: "I ate a pig blanket." - Patrick

Day 10: The Big "O"rganic

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that d.d.t. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

- Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi"

Today's first foray into organic potatoes brought perfect brown spots and smaller spuds. They weren't pushing a pound per potato, and they actually had a strong earthy smell. All the organic produce at our Kroger was on sale this weekend and the store was packed. It was bumper-cart shopping amidst the organic broccoli and apples which, on sale, were still 10 for $10. There's demand though. People want to eat food with fewer chemicals and more taste and diversity. And these potatoes made great fries.

It's a primal right to eat the fruit of the earth in its real form and not some doctored version that has chemicals running through chlorophyll. We need to reclaim the food we eat in all its forms right down to the simple seeds. Just today, deep inside a mountain on an island in the Arcitc Ocean a band of Norwegians locked away 2 billion seeds in a "Doomsday Vault" to safeguard them in case of a disaster - natural or man made. These are the commodities worth saving when the big stuff hits the fan. Funded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and Norway, the vault will house everything from wheat and rice to many other crops that farmers no longer sow in their fields. It's as unreal as science fiction, but it's purpose is very real: to secure the "raw materials of agrictulture."

Here, we're trying to secure our own diet and its raw materials. We're eating better - more natural. And eating real and organic isn't just some new food trend. It's really the right way to relate to our food. It is the big "O." As the generic Kroger supermarket brand Private Selection says on their marketing materials, "Organic for everyone!" We're all about it. As one little family, we're getting back on the right track, and it does feel good ... even if the kids ask me if I put ear wax in our dinner.

Menu:

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast, yogurt, raspberries and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Bakery baguette, cheddar cheese, strawberries, carrots and milk. Aidan had his PB on whole wheat, potato chips, grapes, craisins and one small dark organic chocolate coin with four ingredients that I threw in for a "treat."

Snack: Aidan's best friend is a six-year old voluntary vegetarian, and his mom made us the most delicious all-organic brownies with carrots and spinach! I will get the recipe and post! Patrick loved them. Aidan was uncertain and gave the rest to Patrick.

Dinner: Ground sirloin burgers on fresh bakery kaiser rolls, oven fries with olive oil and kosher salt, green beans with balsamic vinegar and pepper and milk.

Nugget o' the Day: "These green beans taste like ear wax." - Patrick. I said, "At least it would be natural." He ate one small bite. It takes at least 10 times before a kid may even eat, let alone, enjoy a food I remind myself. We're workin' on it ...

Day 9: Cult of Perfection

There's a perfection in processed food. It's not necesarily in the taste or nutritional value, but in the pain-staking uniformity of every single tubular Twinkie, smiling goldfish cracker or crown-shaped Burger King chicken tender. There's rarely a mutant morsel of a goldfish with an oversized head and sinister stare or a Twinkie with a less-than-spongy shell. Everything is always exactly the same. And in this culture of perfection that affords the "taste."

And that's what my kids just love about it. Homemade cooking leaves too much room for error and diversity. Bread dough can fall victim to humidity, over-kneading and countless other kitchen mishaps. It never tastes the same. If the Pillsbury web site is right and "nothing brings the family together like the aroma of sweet rolls baking," then nothing sends them running like the imperfect roll of an uneven, ever-so-slightly dry homemade cinnamon roll with added wheat flour and "too-nutty" centers.

Argh. After a request for cinnamon rolls for breakfast, I decided I could make a healthier breakfast alternative. I doctored a James Beard recipe and used whole wheat flour, added nuts and reduced the sugar. The kids were excited by the prospect, but the visual inconsistency of the rolls themselves sent them second-guessing. Some were too plump. Others had too little cinnamon in them. And there was a whole section of the tray that had sugar bottoms too sticky to touch. Aidan said, "The Pillsbury ones are good because they don't get your hands as dirty." Patrick was upset because his coiled little bun came undone. And how could I possibly have made these without icing?

There was no tolerance for imperfection this morning. I Googled "processed food and consistency" later in the day and this brilliant link to the US Patent site came up. It was titled, "Processed food and a method for making a processed food product for mass distribution." It's an invention designed to ensure food with layers - like burritos or burgers - "has uniform consistency throughout the assembly, has a uniform outer appearance, and is portable and suitable for consumption as a finger food, with a minimum likelihood of spillage. The product is pleasing to the eye, as well." In the description it also says:

"Often the loosely packed ingredients will fall out of the outer shell when the food is picked up, especially after the product has been partially eaten. This is particularly true of products intended to be consumed by young children. This causes both waste of the food product and an undesirable sanitation problem. It is common for such product to be eaten in personal cars while traveling, both by the driver and by the passengers. When such foods have a tendency to fall apart when held and eaten this can create a safety hazard as the driver's attention is diverted from the highway to the food in his hand. There are reports of numerous accidents caused by attempts to manage food while eating and driving." More ...

I guess this is why the processed cinnamon roll doesn't come undone in your kids' hands and there are very few crumbs from the roll of a fast-food burger all over your lap when you're driving? Aidan rejected homemade sandwich bread at school last week because it "made too much of a mess." We had an undesirable sanitation problem and a waste of the food product. He tossed it.

But for dinner I made the best chili suggested by a friend with added pumpkin puree in it. I made homemade James Beard corn muffins, and when Aidan saw the batter, he asked, "Are these homemade, too?" I almost lied, but went with the truth. They were a little dense, but both kids ate two each and two servings of the chili. The floor was a mess from the food product, but I was happy.

Menu:
Breakfast: Homemade cinnamon rolls, pink grapefruits and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Pita pizzas, carrots, strawberries, almonds and milk. Aidan had PB on bakery bread, grapes, nuts, potato chips and apple juice.

Dinner: Pumpkin chili with pinto and white beans, ground beef and lots of cumin, corn muffins and milk.

Nugget o' the Day: "On no. These don't look right." - Aidan at the site of the homemade cinnamon rolls.

Day 8: Good Table ... Better at Least

United States: The Dolbeare family of Virginia

Food expenditure for one week: $197.34 (so far ...)

Favorite foods: Homemade bread, salad, berries, coffee, red meat, cinnamon rolls

Here's our homage to the Hungry Planet book by photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio. The book examines how people eat around the world and the changes evolving in the global diet with photographs of 30 international families from Chad to China posing with the food they eat for a week:

"Today we are witnessing the greatest change in global diets since the invention of agriculture. Globalization, mass tourism, and giant agribusiness have filled American supermarket shelves with extraordinary new foods—and McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Kraft Cheese Singles are being exported to every corner of the planet." More ...

It's all out on the table - the food from our second week in changing our own diet. One down, three to go. Conventional wisdom says it takes three weeks to break a habit so we're really just getting started. The most stunning change? More fresh fruit and vegetables and far fewer cookies and goldfish crackers. Aidan was eating the "colors" version of goldfish crackers every day. Here's the ingredient list:

Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour , Flour , Niacin , Reduced Iron , Thiamin Mononitrate - Vitamin B1 , Riboflavin - Vitamin B2 , Folic Acid , Cheddar Cheese , Pasteurized Milk , Cheese Culture , Salt , Enzymes , Water , Salt , Vegetable Oils , Canola Oil , Sunflower Oil , Soybean Oil , Salt - 2% or Less , Yeast - 2% or Less , Sugar - 2% or Less , Yeast Extract - 2% or Less , Blue 2 - 2% or Less , Red 40 - 2% or Less , Spices - 2% or Less , Red 3 - 2% or Less , Leavening - 2% or Less , Monocalcium Phosphate - 2% or Less , Baking Soda - 2% or Less , Ammonium Bicarbonate - 2% or Less , Annatto - 2% or Less - Color , Yellow 6 - 2% or Less , Onion Powder - 2% or Less , Blue 1 - 2% or Less

A lot of useless oil and dye. We have a friend who calls food like this "fud." It just doesn't quite rally to the ranks of actual food. We're aiming to do one big weekly shop and supplement during the week as needed. We're flying through eggs, milk, butter and fruit with all the baking. We started our first week strong with everything from homemade pita and bread to granola and muffins. But mid-week we already hunted for a bakery for sandwich bread with "5 or less" ingredients. Is the craze for convenience already creeping in?

There are the average alternating bouts of happiness and misery in a family of five on Fresh Mouth as there were when our bodies were processing processed food. But honestly, I would say we all seem more even tempered. My Hungarian grandfather insisted that the recipe for happiness was good table and good bed. Cheers to that.

Menu
Breakfast: Spinach omelettes, homemade pancakes, apples, coffee and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Pita, hummus, grapes, carrots and organic milk.

Snack: Mandarin oranges and potato chips made with three ingredients (potatoes, oil, salt).

Dinner: Whole wheat spaghetti, ground sirloin meatballs, homemade wheat baguette, steamed broccoli with lemon, milk, red wine and Haagen-Daz vanilla ice cream (it just makes it with 5 ingredients!)

Nugget o' the Day: "Ah, come on, it's good for you." - the deli employee at the supermarket after he read the list of ingredients (more than 5) for me in the Boar's Head "Golden Classic Oven Roasted Chicken Breast," and I said no thanks. The Boar's Head nutritional guide on the counter had the nutrition info but no ingredients listed.

Day 7: Turnabout

Today started rocky. Aidan woke up saying, "I had a dream I had a million 'cinnabons' in my mouth." Patrick spurred on by this fantasy announced, "I hate Fresh Mouth. It's boring." I was grumpy, too. I felt overwhelmed by food. Excuse the melodramatic moment, but I was mixing homemade pancake batter with corn meal, whole wheat flour, egg whites, the works, and I couldn't help but think to myself, why are we in this predicament? Why has food become so weird? Did we really allow food marketing and food politics to affect fundemental food. Our primal sustenance? Do we have to embark on a food challenge to avoid junk? Nobody deserves this.

I did the dishes and decided we needed a change of scenery. We went to the Science Museum of Virgina for the first time, and we were smacked with serendipity. We hit an exhibit about the mysteries and ills of processed food. It was super. There was a kiosk where you could compare the ingredients between homemade and processed food: the difference of ingredients between an apple and a Nutrigrain apple bar or between sweetened oatmeal packets and real oats. Some of the ingredients were linked to definitions and warnings about their negative effects like cancer and tumors and alternative uses in, oh say, plastics. The kids were beautifully grossed out. They loved the diner-style spinning food pyramid, too, that showed them how much of each type of food they should be eating. It was the perfect teachable moment.

Menu
Breakfast: Homemade pancakes from an old Jane Fonda cookbook (don't laugh), apples and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: PB and bread, pita and hummus, carrots, grapes, organic milk.

Snack: Toasted bread, almonds, pretzels, cookies and OJ. We were starving from our adventure.

Dinner: Homemade pizza with spinach, onions and salad. The kids ate a bite of the spinach pizza and opted for plain. Little by little. They ate their lettuce.

Nugget o' the Day: "There's stuff in our food that they use for plastic?" - Aidan reading some of the other uses of chemical food preservatives

Day 6: Bionic

My boys have good energy. But on this diet they're bionic. Patrick never stopped talking today. Not for a second. He wants a talking mouse like Stewart Little. We decided that wishing on the first star tonight might grant him his wish. So he spent the day crafting a dollhouse for the mouse complete with a bed, port-a-potty and stretcher. Things every mouse needs. He ate everything I served again. He is seemingly so much happier without processed food.


In six short days, Aidan is radically more adventerous with food. It's a shock. I hoped, but I wasn't sure even Fresh Mouth would change him. I didn't believe that I could have a case study or story of success here. We served tonight's dinner like a soup bar and the kids added this and that to their bowls. Ultimately, he wasn't keen on the celery that he put in his bowl so he picked out the chicken and a few carrots to eat. And then he ate his entire salad. Cue the choir of angels. He hasn't eaten that much green in a year, at least.


I haven't touched much on Jack's diet because he's not really in rehab like the rest of us. He's eating all fresh fruit, vegetables, meat (pureed at this point), yogurt, cheese, pasta and organic rice cereal and oatmeal. But as you can see food makes him happy.


Dirk is on the wagon with us - but he came dangerously close to falling off the other night. When he called to say hi before he went out to dinner, I asked, "What are you going to eat?"

"I don't know. I heard the food is great at this place," he said.
"I mean with Fresh Mouth."
"Oh ... (pregnant pause) I completely forgot."

He ended up having a salad and a beer and came home and ate our leftover pizza. He's not eating enough in general so we've decided with all of these wonderful suggestions that he's going to start packing a full meal every day. Residency is ridiculous for docs. I might start a "Feed Your Surgeon" campaign. Stay tuned.

Me? I officially hate dirty dishes. I so have dish pan hands. And I have to admit, I'm tired from cooking. This is work on the primary cook, boy. And speaking of tired, check out this new documentary about kids and food. It's called Two Angry Moms:

"Are you sick and tired of packing your kids’ lunch box everyday because the cafeteria food is unfit for human consumption? Do you feel guilty when your kids “buy”? Are you annoyed at all the junk being handed out and sold at school? Are you angry enough to do something about it? We are!" - Amy Kalafa and Susan Rubin.

Menu
Breakfast: Homemade bread, almond butter, raspberries, strawberries and OJ with fish oil.

We had a little icy, snow mix and a two-hour school delay and the boys asked for more food:

Second Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, leftover kaiser rolls toasted with butter, the last of the homemade granola and apple juice.

Lunch: Patrick and I had hummus, pita, carrots, apples with cinnamon and milk. Aidan had bread and pb, yogurt, apple and pretzels and five organic chocolate chips.

Dinner: I made chicken stock from the roast chicken last night to make chicken soup with rice, carrots and celery, and a garden salad with veggies. We bought bread at a local bakery with five ingredients. And we also picked up lunch bread with less than 5 for the week. Dirk and I had red wine and the boys milk with these wholesome choclate chip cookies.

Nugget o' the Day: "Food." - when I asked Dirk if he craves anything on Fresh Mouth.

Day 5: Food Mood

We get in ruts with food. We eat the same things night after night to leverage leftovers or just because. We stop making homemade baby food every night because we burn out. We stop serving kids vegetables because it's not worth the whining. And we even hit the drive through because a hot meal in two minutes for two bucks is sometimes tempting, and admit it, even tasty.

That's why you need a good ol' fashioned challenge to kick you back in gear, break the rut. It's the reason for Fresh Mouth or this awesome blog called The Great Big Vegetable Challenge that user "mamabird" pointed out. The goal: "Take one seven year old boy named Freddie and his mother as they face the challenge of turning him from a Vegetable-Phobic into a boy who will eat and even enjoy some of life's leafier pleasures. Join us as we work through the A to Z of vegetables!" There's beautiful food and photography and another kid gagging and surprising himself.

I know these challenges can seem ridiculous and even pointless, but I think they're life affirming. They move toward change. And moods here are changing, attitudes re-aligning. Literally. And not just to the idea that we're doing "the potion." I know we're only on Day 5, but we're detoxing, man. I feel clearer. That's all I can say. Lighter. I don't know about pounds, but I feel less weighted down by hydrogenated oil and corn syrup. Patrick's enjoying fewer bouts with his darker side that often compels him to tell me he's moving to Grandma's house or Spain or the homeless shelter. When I asked Aidan if he feels differently on Fresh Mouth, he said, "I think I feel happier. I have more energy for school." Check out one of my favorite articles from Ode Magazine called "You Do What You Eat," which covers the impact of a fresh, healthy diet on learning and behavior.

Dirk says he doesn't feel a lot different, but I don't think he's eating enough. When he's at work at the hospital, he eats very little. He needs easy, power snacks. Thoughts? I'm trying to stay on top of food diversity. It's not easy tracking intake of fruits, veggies, protein, dairy, etc. But user "momentofchoice" offered a really useful daily checklist that helps you manage.

I shopped again today and spent $82.86. The Fresh Mouth grand total for a family of five in five days is: $290.22. Keep in mind I had to restock a lot of food this week in general. After the purge, we lost our stock of pasta, peanut butter, tomato sauces and other staples of everyday eating. So, some of this week's costs are just to account for restocking the larder. But we are flying through fruit and veggies. We used a dozen eggs in five days. And I bought some organic produce, organic milk and almond butter which cost $8 a jar. One label nuance of note with the almond butter was the cost of convenience. Straight up almond butter was $8. For "no-stir" almond butter, you pay $3 more. That's convenience, right? But the rub was in the ingredients. "No stir" comes with added hydrogenated oils to keep it from separating.

Menu

Breakfast: Yogurt with homemade granola, leftover blueberry muffins and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Patrick and I ate carrots with hummus, strawberries, cheddar cheese, homemade bread with almond butter and organic milk. Aidan - pb on homemade bread, craisins, applesauce and pretzels. After school, I made air-popped popcorn with melted butter.

Dinner: Grilled hamburgers, fresh kaiser rolls from a local bakery made today with five, whole ingredients, homemade French fries with olive oil and a little kosher salt, salad, apples, yogurt.

Nugget o' the Day: "Mommy, I'd like to take you on a dinner date." - Patrick eating lunch with me today. Mood is good.

Day 4: Their Piece of the Pie

We're warped with food. There's recalled beef from cows too sick to walk. There's talk of FDA approved cloned meat on the horizon. There's big, genetically modified apples that are only chalky reminders of their juicy, ancestral cousins. And that's just on the processing end. Add to that all of the psychological complexities of eating that contribute to eating disorders, obesity and misery, and I wonder how best to make Fresh Mouth and all of our future eating as a family healthy and happy. For me, feeding a family is tough business today. Is this a universal maternal misgiving?

In terms of logistics, Fresh Mouth is on track as a first step for ingredients and the menu, but I came across a practical, really positive resource for the act of feeding kids. There's an author and "internationally recognized authority on eating and feeding" named Ellyn Satter who's mission is to "help children and adults be joyful and competent with eating."

How? She sums it up like this, "Feeding demands a division of responsibility. Parents are responsible for the what, when and where of feeding; Children are responsible for the how much and whether of eating..." It seems so simple, but even practicing the method at dinner tonight was so helpful. I offered pizza - a known quantity and sure thing- but I added a salad and let them pick what to put in it salad-bar style. They never eat salad, but tonight they actually put some in their bowls. Aidan added a few shredded carrots (yes, the exotic carrot) and Patrick topped his with cheese. Each one only ate about one bite of plain lettuce, but this is a small miracle. It made them feel positive and in control. I felt good because it was healthy. What a simple win-win. Fresh Mouth in the house. Yes.

Check out Satter's site and books. There are good tips and common pitfalls to avoid like short-order cooking to appease all palates - something I struggle with.

And in a small act of synchronicity, Patrick's class is studying "Healthy Habits" this week. In lieu of a snack, each one of the nine kids was to bring in a component of a salad to make as a class today. He provided lettuce. He was a bit bothered to learn that salad would be his snack today. Still some requests for dessert, but overall this was a good day.

Menu
Breakfast: Yogurt with homemade granola and OJ with fish oil. (Still a lot of sugar, here, I know. I am being more conscious though!)

Lunch: Patrick and I ate his salad, grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread and strawberries. Aidan's lunches are tougher because they have to hold up. I bought him a Bento box for kindergarten, and he stopped using it. I think we need to use it again. Check out Laptop Lunches. He ate homemade bread and jam, applesauce, dried cranberries and more pretzels. Any ideas for snacks?

Dinner: Homemade cheese pizza with some of the baby's pureed carrots in the sauce, salad, apple slices with sprinkled cinnamon and organic milk. Dirk is out to eat for work. He may just be the one to fall off the wagon first as predicted. We don't eat out (maybe five times a year) so this could be a downfall.

Nugget o' the Day: "Is everyone doing Fresh Mouth?" - Patrick after learning that his class was making a salad for today's snack as a part of their "Healthy Habits" week. I think he thinks it's a global conspiracy.

Day 3: Tit-for-Tat Eating

A diet under scrutiny keeps you on your toes. Fresh Mouth was mentioned on Marion Nestle's informative food blog What to Eat, and a user offered some constructive criticism:

"It’s great that they are trying to teach their kids awareness of real food, where it comes from, how it’s prepared, and so forth.But I have to tell you, when I read their list of allowed foods and that sugar was not only on it, but at the top, I kind of rolled my eyes.Especially after reading this on one of the early posts: "We’ve decided to do an experiment and teach the kids about healthy eating and real, whole food as a way of life and not as a means to scoring sugar." And then on day 1 she rewards the kids with chocolate chip cookies! Why not reward them with a non-food (and non-sugar) item like their favorite video or book? Isn’t she working against her own purposes?"

I agree. We definitely don't want to restart tit-for-tat eating and reward good food with sugar or "treats" as we had come to call them. Point taken.

We want to reduce consumption of processed foods and make fruits and vegetables mainstream in our meals and lifestyle, not exceptional. As for sugar? We've definitely cut back. Dessert was out of control. One week we topped out with something sweet served after every dinner and more than a few lunches. I can't recall how that habit started, especially since neither Dirk nor I grew up that way or even ate like that when we were young adults. The kids mind controlled us into it, I guess. They have a way of doing that.

There were some outbursts today. Patrick found a rogue Valentine lollipop in all it's red-dye extravagance in his room. I told him he couldn't eat it because of Fresh Mouth, but he could put it away and save it for another time. He said, "You're mean." But he also ate everything I offered and all of his portions willingly. And happily. Aidan did well, too. But when did the carrot become exotic? When he found out I was making them for dinner, he said, "But I haven't seen one of these in years." He nibbled a small piece and then did deep, exasperated breaths like he survived a near-death experience. This from the kid who ate broccoli every day until he was three.

I'm working on balance and choices. This meal plan is a work in progress not perfection. I'm serving long-lost or forgotten foods, but not forcing them. Food and family meals should be about pleasure, not anxiety.

But what if they don't eat the food I offer? I try to serve a mix of "sure things" with the new stuff to make sure they're eating enough. Tonight I offered Aidan more yogurt after he only ate his chicken and the carrot crumb.

We're all still on the wagon. And we're sticking to the rules. That feels good. But sugar is still a sticky subject for consideration, isn't it?

Menu
Breakfast: Homemade blueberry muffins, yogurt and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Leftover lemon, garlic chicken breasts, mac and cheese (I called it this but it was really reheated couscous leftovers with some melted cheese), mandarin oranges, applesauce and Snyder's hard pretzels which I sent in Aidan's school lunch.

Dinner: Whole roasted chicken with rosemary, lemon and garlic, roasted potatoes and carrots and yogurt. A sample taste of the granola bars the kids helped make for tomorrow's breakfast. (This was not tit-for-tat, I swear.)

Nugget o' the Day: "Carrots are sweet!" - Patrick

Day 2: Beans and Bowls

Real food is pleasure. And it's work. Eating fresh and whole is time consuming and we're only 24 hours in. I spent the day planning the next meal and cleaning up from the last. Existence without a dishwasher makes this tough. I had to be on top of all the prep and baking throughout the day which produces a lot of big dirty bowls. I've got to get a better game plan on Sundays for upcoming weeks. I made a cursory list of meals for this week, but it was too loose. Since I'm working from home, I can find the time here and there to get stuff done, and Dirk's on laundry duty for the month. But if we were both working out of the house, this would be tough to swing. Ripping off a box top or opening a bag of processed food would be tempting and necessary. All I can think about is how we're culturally divorced from real food. It's been squeezed out of our schedules.

The kids are doing well. Patrick doesn't have a concept of time and thought Fresh Mouth was over this morning. He went trolling for Panda Puffs. I told him he could have bread, jam and berries of his choosing. When I offered raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, he screamed, "I don't know. I don't even know what a strawberry looks like." We've so stymied them with fruits and veggies, they can't tell what end is up. He ate everything I served.

Aidan is a perfectionist and doesn't want to be outdone. He had a meltdown at dinner over a single green bean. We're not force feeding or insisting on eating anything. The goal is to keep the meals relatively stress free. We're just offering because kids need to see a fruit or veggie 10 or more times before they'll even try it. We put one green bean on each of their plates. Aidan woudn't eat it. "Does that mean I failed Fresh Mouth?" he asked. We told him he didn't fail, but it's good to try new things. He bit the bullet and the bean and took a huge swig of milk. There was some gagging, but he swallowed it. Baby steps.

Menu

Breakfast: Homemade bread with organic peanut butter and natural strawberry jam, raspberries, strawberries and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: This was a weird hodge podge of applesauce, cashews, oranges, milk and leftover chocolate chip cookies. I wasn't prepared. All the bread was gone. Had to make more in the afternoon.

Dinner: Stuffed chicken breast with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, onions, parmesan cheese and garlic for adults, baked chicken breast with garlic and lemon for the boys, homemade bread, couscous and green beans.

Nugget o' the Day: "It doesn't taste too filthy." - Aidan after swallowing a single bite of a green bean.

Day 1: Pitas and Parsley

Day 1
Today's dozen homemade pitas, six oatmeal pancakes, three dozen chocolate chip cookies with organic chocolate from scratch and 16 ground sirloin meatballs meant six sink loads of dirty dishes, which Dirk and I have to do by hand. We don't have a dishwasher. It's not that we want to experience an authentic Jamestownian existence here in Virginia. It's just that our 1940s original kitchen has no room.

We also had an unexpected turn in our hypothesis about the kids. Aidan's been psyched about the expriment for days, and Patrick's been bad mouthing Fresh Mouth from the start. But today Patrick was a champ and ate everything we offered with no complaint. Aidan did every dance of procrastination he could think of at all meals - getting up for water, bathroom trips and retrieving napkins for anyone who needed them. We rewarded them both though with homemade cookies - Aidan for a valiant effort of eating a meatball with something green in it (parsley) and Patrick for eating everything.

Dirk and I are exhausted from cooking and getting ready for tomorrow.

Menu
Breakfast: Oatmeal pancakes, clementines, apples and juice with fish oil.
Lunch: Homemade pitas, hummus and yogurt.
Dinner: Ground sirloin meatballs with parsley from the garden and garlic, whole wheat spaghetti, green salad with veggies and homemade balsamic vinaigrette, organic milk, and chocolate chip cookies with organic chocolate.

Nugget o' the Day: "These meatballs smell like they have veggies in them." - Aidan after gagging at the thought of green in his meat

Processed Binge and Purge

We purged all the processed food with five ingredients or more and any of the "outs" on our Fresh Mouth list.

What were we left with in our cabinet and fridge? A sampling of flour, sugar, canned veggies, pumpkin puree, spices, whole wheat pasta, milk, eggs, yogurt, juice, and some dried lentils. All the non-perishable, unopened stuff - organic peanut butter cereal, refried beans and flavored oatmeal included - were boxed up. Patrick had to verify the ingredient list on Panda Puffs twice before parting with them. We'll save them in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, and we get banished to the basement. And Dirk had to kiss the ketchup with high fructose corn syrup goodbye.

Then we hit Kroger. What was most stunning was how off limits everything was. The periphery of the store with the fresh fruits, veggies, meat and dairy was easy to shop, but when we ventured to the inner aisles for snack food - pretzels, applesauce, popcorn, organic chocolate chips - there was very little to eat. Bread has an obscene number of ingredients and so does juice. The hardest staples of our diet to find were canned tomato sauce and pita bread. Too many additives and preservatives. So we're making pita bread tonight. One of the biggest impacts of this experiment is going to be how much time I spend in the kitchen ...

We had to make a second stop at the local natural food store - Ellwood Thompsons - to find the tomato sauce, bulk nuts, natural bread (there weren't any with 5 or less, so I have to make bread, too), kid toothpaste without dyes in it and the secret fish oil. All told we spent $207.36 which is about $50 more per week than usual. We've planned out our meals for the week including stuffed chicken with spinach and mushrooms, homemade pizza, roast chicken, homemade chicken soup from the leftovers and fruit, nuts and dairy. We hope to make it through the week without shopping again. Is this elitist? Can everyone afford this? Pollan says if we can swing the extra $100 or more that we now find ourselves shelling out for wireless Internet, broadband and digital cable, then we can afford to spend more on good food. Easy to say when Cheez-its are half the cost of organic lettuce.

We kick Fresh Mouth off tomorrow morning. Tonight, as a swan song to ersatz food, we're binging on a good old American meal of hamburgers on processed rolls, frozen fries with soybean oil and leftover ice cream with "natural tara gum." Wish us luck.

Nugget o' the Day: "You need coupons for fruit,
Mommy." - Patrick

Our Methodology

How should we eat? It was a dizzying dilemma for us to devise a methodology for Fresh Mouth. It seems like it would be a simple question. It wasn't. We had to figure out if we were: all organic; all local; vegetarian; preservative free; low-carb; low-fat; or even just raw.

We turned to Pollan's book, In Defense of Food, as a guideline, and we came up with some happy, realistic family choices of our own. We want this diet to be sustainable so we're keeping things like butter and sugar and beer. Here's our lists of ins and outs:




In
- Sugar
- Flour - even though it's white and processed, we'll stick with King Arthur brand b/c it's unbleached, all-natural
- Butter
- Oils - olive, canola
- Salt
- Coffee
- Multi-vitamins
- Baby formula
- Cod liver oil - I secretly put it in the kids OJ every morning
- Meat - organic when we can swing it
- Fresh or frozen veggies and fruit (canned only when they have the "5 or less" ingredients and none of the "outs.")
- Milk
- Eggs
- Nuts
- Alcohol - beer, wine, the works

Out
- Artificial sweeteners
- Fast food
- Soda
- Food dyes
- Hydrogenated oils
- High fructose corn syrup
- Processed foods with "5 or more" ingredients
- Things we can't pronounce. Think "Sorbitan monostearate."
- Eating in the car or standing up
- Microwave

Nugget o' the Day: "Mom, how come we don't have more pictures of the supermarket at home?" - Aidan

The Fresh Mouth Potion

Our family diet was in trouble when the exchange rate for eating a single blueberry was four gummy frogs. One bite and an actual swallow of broccoli netted a heaping bowl of strawberry ice cream for our four- and six-year-old boys.

We've decided to do an experiment and teach the kids about healthy eating and real, whole food as a way of life and not as a means to scoring sugar. Our 10-month old son is motivation, too. He's on the cusp of eating real foods, and we want to sustain his untainted palate for as long as possible.

So, we start Fresh Mouth - our 30-day bender on all things fresh, whole and reasonably unprocessed. We're not as hard core as the locavores of late. We admire Barbra Kingsolver and her crew, but we'll still eat chicken from the plants of Perdue. We can't go all organic all the time because we can't afford it. So, we'll make compromises here and there. Organic milk one week, organic beef the next. We'll sow our seeds and grow our own herbs and veggies in the spring.

We'll take the lead from food studies prof Marion Nestle and writer Michael Pollan. We'll eat only fresh foods and processed foods with five ingredients or less. If we can't pronounce the names of the ingredients, we won't buy or eat them.

We're an average American family trying to eat better and enjoy it more. We'll convince our three little kids that fresh food is about pleasure, rituals and family - and not about red dye #40, high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils.

The kids seem receptive so far. They're already counting ingredients lists. Our four-year-old asked if we'll be able to eat cereal on "this potion." Since we dubbed it an experiment, he assumes it must involve a potion. We told him he can have oatmeal, but no Cheerios on this potion.

And as a requiem to all of our lost foods and our kid favorite - the chicken nugget- we offer "Nugget o' the Day" on each post. Those little nuggets of goodness that happen when you change the diet of a family of five.