Getting kids to eat...

What are some reasons or incentives you have heard (or used yourself) to get a child to eat?

I remember my dad telling me there were thousands of children starving in China, so I should eat my food. I still don't understand the connection between cleaning my plate and solving that terrible problem...

I am going to lay low with blog posting in the next few weeks. I think this topic would be a good one to linger on for a while. I'd love to hear your thoughts and questions.

What to Eat blog

Marion Nestle is well respected for her work explaining the relationship between the food industry and politics. She has also written a book, What to Eat, which apparently tries to decode all the mixed nutritional messages out there. Her books are on my "to read" list, but I was pleased to hear she has a blog called What to Eat. I can't really handle any heavy reading now, but her blog is a great resource for me. Personally, I like how she addresses her topics in a non-threatening way as well as encourages participation from her readers.

Where does your food come from?

My 4 year old son is the curious kind, always asking questions. Out of his own inquisition, he is learning that beef comes from cattle and pork from pigs, etc. Just recently he asked me where cookies came from...

On a recent trip to the beach, we discovered that goldfish crackers indeed come from the ocean. Here's proof:

Surprisingly, pop tarts come from the ocean too:

Well, this post is not as much about how food is produced, it is about where it is produced. September marks the Eat Local Challenge. There are many good reasons to eat locally, but my strongest ones are that when you eat locally, you are protected more from food safety problems (microbial and chemical) and you are most likely to be getting the best nutritional benefit the food can offer (some nutrients degrade over time, so you get fewer benefits the longer it takes from harvest to table). I'm nowhere close to eating as locally as I'd like, but I do intend to focus more on that in the upcoming year. Right now I am in a very transitional stage so I'll take little steps here and there. Hopefully, things will be more stable for me next year. I plan on starting my own container garden (growing herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, maybe squash) and become a member of a CSA farm. Canning and dehydrating foods are other ways to preserve food past their season. By the way, you can make a food dehydrator from a box fan, paper air filters, food grade mesh and bungee cords. Just another experiment put off to next year...

Have you ever given thought to where your food comes from?

How to save on groceries

I'll write about this topic in a personal way later, but I thought maybe someone would want to know about a special for an ebook called Supermarket Savings 101. I just got my copy last night and have only skimmed through it to see what it's like. It looks promising (although I have not looked at it from a nutritional quality perspective, I'm sure the principles can apply to any eating habit). The author piloted (i.e. tried it out on others first) it so I think it gives it more credibility. Anyway, why not save money on groceries? Maybe then the filet mignon will fit in your budget (if you love it that much). The price today is $11.97, tomorrow it will be $3 more until it reaches full retail of $17.97 on Friday. There are other ebooks thrown in the bundle too.

By the way, I did not sign up to be an affiliate, so I don't get any money for sharing this with you. But if you want to do that, there are instructions on her site. I am using the Frugal Homemaker Plus blog's referral site, since I found out about it there.