But it’s So Difficult!

Some people think the concept of eating real food to feel terrific is total nonsense.

Others think it’s great in theory, but it’s just too difficult. I work long hours. I don’t have time. There’s more to life than food. It’s simply too much trouble.

Truth is, it does take more time and effort to drop 2 eggs in a pan with butter and fry them up than to put a box of cereal on the table. Not much more, but more. It’s slightly more time consuming to mix honey and tehina to make my healthy 30 Second Halva than to open a Mars bar. And homemade broth made of bones certainly takes more time and effort than using instant soup powder.

But what about the bigger picture?

I just read a post in a blog called the Hawaiian Libertarian that gives a beautiful portrait of the bigger picture.

Keoni and his wife, like many other young couples, were expecting and had a baby. Mazal tov. Unlike other couples, they went all out and truly did it the real food way (based on principles of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Paleo Diet).  

Their strategy:

During Pregnancy

1.    The pregnant mother ate ample protein and good fats.

2.    All sugars, processed snack foods, and Omega-6-rich vegetable oils (soy, corn, canola) were eliminated from her diet.

3.    All grains, bread, pasta and other high-carb foods, including so-called “heart healthy whole grains” were “highly restricted”.

4.    The mother didn’t take maternal vitamins, only supplemented with high quality fish oil pills.

After the Birth

1.    For the first 4 months, the baby was 100% breastfed – no formula whatsoever.

2.    Solid foods were introduced after 4 months (and you know it wasn’t Gerber). They included grass fed beef, free-range chicken, wild caught fish, free-range pork pureed with a wide variety of vegetables and butter, 100% organic, whole milk (full fat) yogurt, and full fat sour cream, high quality cheeses. Fruit consisted of an occasional bit of banana or pear, after finishing full portions of the main food.

3.    The baby was fed until full and didn't want more.

4.    Baby was exposed to the sun daily, weather permitting.

5.    No diaper cream was used.

Their results:

During pregnancy

1.    During pregnancy, the mother gained weight only in her belly. Excess fat on arms, face, neck etc. disappeared.

2.    The baby could support his/her head at ten days (author doesn’t divulge the sex of the baby for privacy reasons.)

3.    The baby is cheerful and very easy going.

4.    The baby regularly sleeps the entire night through, occasionally wakes up to breastfeed.

5.    “80% of the time baby awakens without crying. Paleo baby will coo, giggle, or laugh until my wife or I awake to feed or change the diaper.”

6.    Baby has never had a sunburn in spite of exposure to the sun with no sunscreen. Read here to see why sun is beneficial.

7.    Baby has only been sick once (head cold) during the first year of life. No diarrhea, no ear infections, no allergies.

8.    Baby has had one rash, which happened when diaper not changed in a timely manner.

9.    Baby’s poo isn’t stinky like that of other babies. It is “solid, not that smelly, and easily cleaned up with a single baby wipe.” Personally, I’m a big fan of unstinky poo.

10. Growth: 94th percentile for height. 40^th percentile for weight.

11. Main point: The Baby's pediatrician told the couple that they were “the most well-rested, relaxed and least distressed parents of an infant she's ever seen”. And a pediatrician sees a lot of parents! They report that they are not sleep deprived nor stressed from listening to cries. Is it possible that this is the natural state of parenthood?



So yes, what these parents are doing is difficult. They are making all their own food. The father, who was the driving force behind this, had to deal with opposition from his wife, the grandparents, and the pediatrician. That’s tough. So making this life choice is difficult in the small picture.

But if you’ve ever been a parent, you also know how difficult it is to watch your child burning up with fever, or suffering from an earache. How many babies do you know who are just constantly ill? It’s also no picnic to handle a bad tempered infant.

It’s difficult to eat right, but it’s also difficult to wake up repeatedly every night – oh so difficult! Ever spend time with a colicky baby? Oh, my goodness. Difficult doesn’t begin to describe it. It’s difficult spending time trying to pacify a colicky baby who cries for two hours every evening. Wouldn’t you rather eat right during pregnancy and feed the baby right after birth if you had the choice? Oh, wait, you do have the choice!

Oh, baby!

I focus here on the big picture of raising an infant, but the same can be said for adults. It’s difficult having aching joints. It’s difficult living with allergies. It’d difficult going through high school with acne. It’s difficult going through life overweight. It’s difficult battling cancer.

I believe that with excellent diet, problems like acne, allergies and many more can be (for the most part) avoided. In many, but not all cases, it is possible to cure these problems with the right diet – but it’s not always enough to simply start eating well to correct the wrongs done to the body. 

Happy baby photo courtesy of Joost Assink. Crying baby photo courtesy Brandon Baunach.

This post was shared with Natural Family Awareness , Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Gnowfglins, The Nourishing Gourmet, Food Renegade, and Butter Believer.