We were at the grocery store and there was a pyramid of sugary name brand cereals on display. My son, George reached for one of the more brightly colored boxes emblazoned with a collection of animated figures. Out of curiosity- I read the long list of ingredients and thought; this type of aggressive marketing-aimed at children – should really be illegal or – atleast, publicly frowned upon.
I wondered how many popular food products in the U.S are banned elsewhere and – as it turns out – quite a few. For starters – many of the reds, blues and other cheery hues we add to breakfast cereals.
I’ve been thinking about why we are attracted to the things that we are attracted to. The people- the food, the places – and – how, it – in turn-shapes our ever evolving consciousness. In other words- our powers of discernment are doing more than potentially staving off a few pounds – that’s just the outward manifestation; it’s shaping our awareness.
I remember when I was a teenager – just beginning to make the correlation between a healthy diet and an all-around more positive disposition – so I began stripping down my lunches to fruits and peanut butter. Then- one day, a friend informed me that the peanut butter I was consuming was filled with unhealthy oils .
This information only came through once I was ready and willing. Sometimes it’ll take years for a positive change to take effect but – in the interim, it’s all the little changes and new insights- we are ready to embrace- that lead to these overarching changes.
While I’ve been thinking about all of this -there’s the subject of my son, George and outside food.
He’s still quite young so – I’m able to control whatever food he eats- but- recently, we started attending a new community playgroup – which, he really enjoys except- that, the food breach was broken. At the end of each playgroup – they have the children sit around a table for snack time.
Last time – they were offering pretzels and/or goldfish and George was eager to try whatever the other children were eating. I allowed a few pretzels yet – all the while thinking -these are probably bioengineered processed and bleached while I kept the goldfish as far away as possible.
I considered a few options. First- coming equipped with a banana- of which-George batted away. So – I thought; it will have to be a snack that would trump all the others. Something he loves yet -limited and – I thought… pickles!
But- what would be worse- pulling out a cup of pickles for snack time as all the other children enjoy their pretzels and goldfish -or – just leaving and- never coming back.
What I’ve come to is; it could very well be that-in this strange world- a few bioengineered pretzels are just what George needs in his life and-for me to be – somehow, cool about it.
