A "beef" with American food

About a year ago, I made a pretty significant change in my habits that also helped me lose weight and keep it off. No, it's not the new diet magic bullet, but it certainly wouldn't hurt you in that department: I stopped drinking pop every day. The best part is that I didn't give up my lunchtime caffeine bump. Instead, I switched to bottled sweetened iced tea -- this brand, to be exact.

I stopped with the pop (regular Coke had been my drink of choice) mostly to avoid the high-fructose corn syrup that pervades our food system. I also had heard anecdotal evidence that Coke and the like can cause you to crave sweets and actually eat and drink more than you would otherwise. So, I substituted the tea -- with real sugar, mind you -- and not only did I enjoy something more natural, but I lost weight! About 12 pounds. Let me repeat that: I consumed a decent amount of sugar on a regular basis and still managed to lose and keep off weight. I think that's a testament to how insidious high-fructose corn syrup is to the American diet. (The only downfall to all of this is that the tea may have been an accomplice to my problems at my recent dentist visit)

Speaking of the American diet, a while back I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a non-fiction story of how her family vowed to eat locally for an entire year -- winter and all. The book is wonderfully written and engaging, and it also changed my perspective on our food system and habits. I have consciously made an effort to eat more locally and in season so as to support local farmers and conserve fossil fuels used to deliver our food nationwide. Our local farmer's market, grocery stores and even many restaurants also have responded to this call and offer a big array of locally grown foods.

Also as a result of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (and an excellent episode of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days), I have decided to eat only beef that has been grass fed. Cattle were not made to eat corn and all the other by-products we feed them. Ever hear people joke about cows' flatulence? That's mostly due to their inability to digest the corn feed -- we just feed that to them because it's cheap. They were designed to eat grass, and the nutrients in grass affect the composition of the meat and actually make it healthier for us. Grass-fed beef contains significantly less saturated fat than traditional beef, as well as significantly more omega-3 fatty acids. Not to mention the cattle are raised more humanely than mass-fed cattle on the factory farms.

Locally raised grass-fed beef is available in our local grocery stores, so it is easy for me to find for all my cooking needs. I don't plan to eat the other kind of beef because as a consumer I want to send the message that factory-produced corn-fed cattle are unacceptable for my family and me. I hope to be a part of changing our agricultural system for the better, and I'm voting with my dollars.

(By the way, I now have ranted against high-fructose CORN syrup and CORN-fed beef. I don't have anything against CORN per se -- I just wish we could limit its uses as a substitute for better ingredients.)

Open wide

You may or may not know this about me: I have very healthy teeth and have never had a cavity. I needed a check-up, so I made my appointment and scheduled L to be with the kids.

Jellybean is 3 now, and that's the recommended age for a first dentist visit (according to our more lenient pediatrician; some say age 1, which I think is insane). So I thought this would be a good time to talk to her about the dentist and how easy it is, to get her primed for her first visit.

I explained that a dentist is a doctor for your teeth and told her how my appointment would go. I'd go in and open my mouth, and the dentist and the "nurse" would look in my mouth and see all my teeth. Then the dentist would tell me, "Your teeth look great! See you next time."

Except (and you may have figured this out by now) that's not how it went for me at the actual visit. Yes, I had a cavity. A tiny one, but it still counts. In all my efforts to care for my toddler and newborn in the past 18 months, I had neglected my dental hygiene a wee bit too much. And now I was going to pay for it -- literally, because we don't have the best dental insurance.

So I had to schedule my filling visit, which I did. Then I had to figure out how to handle this with Jellybean. I have a feeling that her first dental appointment will fill her with a great deal of anxiety -- a new place, people sticking fingers in her mouth. I don't want her to think that she'll have to come back the following week like I did and then, on top of it, have a numb weird mouth for a few hours like I did. So we did what we thought we had to do: We lied. When I was gone last week to get my filling, we told her I was running errands. I don't like covering up things like this, but it's for her own good -- and all the rest of us too.

Jellybean's appointment is in a few days. I told her about it today, thinking she would be excited because she had been so interested in the dental topic. For a second she smiled, then she got a worried look and whimpered, "Mama..."

All I can do is hope for the best. And maybe a little bribery. I don't ever resort to that, but I think a dentist visit is the ideal such occasion.