My War Against Food Nazi Moms

It's about a spurned ex-wife trying to control over a husband who no longer loves her. Trying to convince herself that she still matters.

It's a sad story. Putting the kids in the middle... is going to f**k them up far worse than white bread and Go-gurt.

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When I was 15 years old I asked my mother if I could have a drinking party at our house. My mother knew that if she said no I would likely sneak out to go drinking anyway and certainly not in a controlled environment. At that point my mother (who was dealing with two rebellious teenagers) decided that it was a good chance for a lesson...

She invited many of my friends and told their parents that the party would have booze but that she would be there to take care of us. All of my friends were able to come and truly the other parents seemed more worried about my mother having to deal with a bunch of drunk teenagers than about their children drinking. My mother imposed a limit for everyone at the party by not buying too much alcohol... a limit for everyone but me.

Since I had never up till this point been really drunk I just kept wanting more and more and more... until I realized that I was hanging over a toilet vomiting with such ferocity that some of it was splattering back onto my face... my caring mother was right there with me laughing and patting me on the back... "Having fun Jason?" she howled.

Many people equate this story with child abuse... I however, can not thank my mother enough. That torment is impressed upon my mind and when I drink now (and ever since) it is never to excess. It took till second or third year university for most of my friends to fully appreciate this lesson.

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Years ago I had someone leave their child with me for a day. My daughter was used to eating only healthy foods -- no white bread, no snacks, etc. This "visitor" proceeded to go
to the refrigerator wanting snacks and could not find anything to eat. I said we eat at
regular times and no snacks. He could not wait to leave with his parents the next day. I still eat healthy -- no white bread, fructose or palm oil in any food. And I read every label. I am very healthy and so is my daughter.

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a piece of the wellness profile, its the spirit of selfless acts that nourish the soul.

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Where I live, food-nazi-momism is a popular lifestyle. "You'd let your kid EAT that?" is not viewed as an impolite question here, even when the answer is self-evident. "Crunchier than thou" is practically a religion. So, although I try to give my kids reasonably healthy things to eat, I make a point of politely backing up the would-be nutritional advisors when I encounter them. One mom (a total stranger) saw me buying the organic version of GoGurt - that's yogurt in a tube - at the grocery store, and admonished me, "That stuff has no nutritional value at all! It's just like pudding!" That, of course, prompted me to reply "Oh yes! Pudding is next on my list. Do you know which aisle it's in?" :-)

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Isn't it time that AlterNet posts an article or two about "health food" industry, their totally unsubstantiated claims, and snake oil they are selling. And morons who are buying that propaganda seem to forget that all that "absolutely essential" nonsense is barely a generation old.

Guess what? 30-year long longitudinal study of life and health of thousands of nurses show that amount of dietary fiber ingested (soluble or not) does not correlate with probability of developing colon cancer. Recent studies of statins show the they do lower the "bad" cholesterol levels, but that this does not translate into lower probability of developing coronary diseases, heart attack or stroke.

We know next to nothing about detailed effects of details of our nutrition, especially its interplay with other environment factors and genetics. Most "nutrition advice" is old wives' tale at best and fraud at worst.

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... these cowardly, health-zealot parents worried to death that their kids will become obese and diabetic after eating just one Frito, Cheeto, Dorito, and/or Hostess cupcake will get their "comeuppance." Kids eating healthy is imporant, but denying them any kind of positive pleasure whatsoever 24/7 is not healthy, either. Moderation is what must be emphasized in teaching children how to be good eaters and discretionary food consumers. Kids indeed need to be taught that there are reasons why they can't have "junk food" treats at their beck-and-call demand. However, they should be treated as treats/rewards rather than be deprived of them entirely. The mother needs to calm down and let her ex-husband be a parent the way he sees fit, even if he feeds them foods that she finds objectionable. If I were the judge in her case, I would remind her that depriving her children of any aspect of their relationship with their father is even worse, unless he is physically proven to be abusive, or irresponsible (While I am no fan of "sugardaddies," I do not consider him having a significantly younger girlfriend a form of irresponsibility, unless she behaves in questionable manners in the presence of the children). Feeding children "imperfect" food every now and then is not what I consider a form of abuse, or even irresponsibility. Custody changes must take the children's best-interest needs into consideration, not a parent's form of "paranoia." If she cannot accept the situation I would strongly recommend that she consider seeking the advice of a professional, board-certified nutritionist, a licensed psychotherapist specializing in parenting skills, and not go by her instincts alone.

On another note, New Orleans was not alone. A friend of mine from the Washington, DC area tells me that DC had a drinking age of 18 years' ago. It was good for Georgetown bar business (especially when the Virginia and Maryland suburbs had drinking ages of 21), but too many tragedies were blamed on it. It's 21 there now, like everywhere else.

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The issue that never seems to crack even a shrug from wannabe social engineers who argue over who should control the children - and that includes judges most of whom seem to regard the child as no more than a parcel to reward the more compliant parent - is that these children are human beings and it is they who should have a say, usually a decisive say, over how custody should be shared (if shared at all) between adults willing to take responsibility for them.

The same applies to access (visiting rights) - how many courts recognise that the primary right needs to be the minor's access to the adult, not the adult's access to the child? Children are entitled to be treated as people, not weapons for adults to punish one another and officials to defend their own powers over people's lives.

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"It's madness: Feeding your child a sandwich made with
white bread or a bag of Doritos could cost you custody
of your children?"

Oh, pulease! The law has make it pretty clear, that a
parent has to do something pretty heinous to lose custoty
(especially if divorce is not involved).

"Sheltering children from every evil in the world does
them a disservice; decision-making is a skill, learned
with practice from the time they are small. At some
point my boys will go out into the world and have to
decide for themselves what is right and wrong."

Sooo, you would have no problem with your child
*choosing* to watch "Saw" or "The Exorcist"?
Or playing "Grand Theft Auto" or "Manhunt" as
long as it was his *choice*? What about alcohol,
cigarettes and/or pornography? What about playing
with real guns? All ok as long as he is decision-making?

I think not, I bet that you would not allow any of
those things. The only reason you allow TV and junk
food is because you've rationalized them as not particularly
harmful (despite the evidence), and because you've come
up with this wonderful rationalization for doing
what's most convenient. After all the TV makes an amazing
babysitter.

"I get similar reactions from the kids who are denied
cartoons, video games, or porn. (Okay, my kids don’t
exactly have porn, but South Park comes close, and
I do have a book of Helmut Newton nudes.) They stand
wide-eyed in front of the screen, unable to move as
my boys beg them to come and play."

How about unplugging the TV, and putting it in the
closet for a couple of weeks? I bet your kids would
survive fine, it's the parents who suffer the most
from the lack of the peace and quiet that the
wonderful television brings.

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I had 2 daughters about to have ear tubes put in, we had to see a pediatrician to determine if there was any special problems before they went under anesthesia. We asked him about nutrition..about why one of our children eats healthy most of the time and one kid seems to live on air and choose junk. He replied that he had the same worry with his son..who seemed to pick french fries over salad. He worried about it in shame as a pediatrician. HE combed the research. What he found was/...moderation...the more kids have nazi parents on food the less they can self moderate. IN fact studies in preschools show that if good and bad food is placed out for grazing over a period of a month kids will take a balanced diet. More of one thing one day and another the next. But the study showed that being a food Nazi did not produce better nutritional outcomes. From that day we guide our kids, make good food availabele, but don't have a coronary when they get some junk as a special treat or at a friends' house. SO CHILL OUT and MODERATE!

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i could care less how other parents think i raise my kids... what matters is if they are polite, nice young men. and they are, for the most part. being teenagers, and brothers, they have their moments, but i am very proud of who they turned out to be. and they eat junk food. LOTS of it (teen boys!!!). but, they also eat healthy stuff, like broccoli, green beans and spinach....

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It sounds like this is more about her than the kids. Go figure.

And isn't that the story of today's soccer parents: a bunch of narcissists who would rather keep their kids in a bubble than teach them to live in the real world, because they themselves can't deal with it?

Good article...especially the stuff at the end...Wait! What's wrong with fruit roll-ups?

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It's obvious that there is a rather contentious divorce going on. I suspect that while the Mother's values are good, the real motivation behind the militancy of the objections is that it is a way to get leverage against the Father.

Somehow an ex-spouses faults all become magnified in a divorce.

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I loved loved loved this article! I agree completely. Actually I'm into the organic stuff a fair bit now, but I don't plan to ever ban the junk because I have had visiting kids in my home from the exact scenario the writer described, and experienced the same thing! I want my kids to see it as 'no big deal' - something they know how to manage.

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"I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps it was her husband who should pursue a custody change. Her reaction was manically disproportionate. It’s not like junk food is akin to child abuse."

Did the writer think before saying that first sentence? Where is the female-female compassion? Understandably, this woman doesn't want a young floozy "mothering" her children by bribing them to like her if she packs them a "normal" lunch. Of course this would enrage the birthmother who apparently goes to great lengths to feed her kids the healthiest food possible. That doesn't make her unfit. Perhaps over-protective, perhaps fearful of losing her children's loyalty and even preference. Those are normal feelings in a circumstance such as hers. If she carries out that battle through food, because it is tanglible, then that's how she needs to do it to get through the situation. I doubt a judge would take her seriously, but hopefully the lawyers would carefully calm her down and try to get her to frame it in a different way to make a lesser claim of some sort.

And, um, you are mistaken, article writer, because junk food can be a form of neglect and abuse if that is all you are feeding your child. Too much can lead to childhood obesity and diabetes, and that is serious. Younger and younger kids are having hypertension and problems like that, which are linked to unhealthy food and being sedentary. Those lunches might be fine for the kids if they are active and eat well overall, but the writer goes too far to other extreme championing the cause of less healthy food, and I am left wondering if the writer doesn't protest a bit too much?

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...when referring to anything extreme. The other day a co-worker of mine referred to fellow church members as "liberal Nazis". My point is that this term should not even be in anyones every day lexicon, I don't think I even need to explain why.

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are a standard battle between divorced parents... judges are tired of hearing it... the parent in this article must get a good chunk of child support because lunches like she describes cost a fortune to make and SHE'S benefiting from the support too by being able to feed herself in this manner... what would she do if she couldn't afford that free range amish chicken breast to poach to go with the micro greens???

food wars are parent made... balance is the key... kids will tank up on a nutrient that their body needs when available... and a treat left out will be rejected if that body nutrient is ignored... trust me on this!!!

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is that the mother referenced in the above article, will probably win the custody case.

She doesn't need a reason to win, she's female, and in family courts, women win by default.

Prejudice is alive, well, and encouraged, at least in the family courts.

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While it might sound extreme, we only know what happened by the way the writer described it in an effort to attract readers. When there is a divorce situation, other people have no clue what the issues are. Many divorced parents use children to get back at the other parent.

It is entirely possible that what is behind this is one parent (the father) ignorantly trying to sabotage the other parent's efforts to control (or prevent) her child's ADHD problem by keeping food additives, pesticides, etc. out of their diets.

If the child were on medication to control the ADHD and the father withheld it, would the mother be ridiculed for being upset about that?

If this happened repeatedly, as it may well have, would the mother be justified in ranting about it? Would she be justified in pondering out loud to take custody from him, not realizing someone was going to take her literally and write an article about it?

You people who criticize the mother have no idea how her children react to the wrong foods. Some children have horrible behavior after ingesting certain food dyes. Unless you have lived in that mother's shoes, worrying about how to get her child to focus better, behave better, stay healthier, do better in school, you really have no idea how she came to be a food nazi.

A parent could do a lot worse by their children than trying to keep them healthy, physically and mentally.

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Why would someone you just met feel the need to tell you that much info about their personal life?
If it was a a close friend I could understand but telling a stranger about your divorce, dispute with ex, etc. is a little too much info on a first meeting. I would want to steer clear of someone like that.

And yes, moderation is the key.

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are the parents who decide that they will dictate how everyone else's child eats. I'm not talking about "peanut free" zones in cafeterias--I'm talking about the parents who insist that snacks brought in for birthdays or whatever be wheat-free dairy-free sugar-free or some combination thereof because it isn't "fair" to their child if s/he can't participate. (Some of these folks know how to suck the joy out of everything.)

I'm all for healthy eating, and I despair almost daily of my Aspie son's extremely limited palate, but like anything, focusing on everything you put in your mouth all the time can lead to other food issues. whether everything you eat provides perfect nutrition is, well, unhealthy.

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We have two boys, 13 & 15, both competitive skateboarders and one a football player. They have a happy diversity of food, salads to McD. I'm the house where you can see South Park, eat Dorito's and sleep late. We all had Champagne on New Years.

The other day a 16 y.o boy had bacon for the first time at my house, I think his parents are the sick ones. I don't know how many times kids have told me that they weren't allowed something and not to tell their Ps. All legal stuff like Coca-Cola and orange soda.

I grew up around open access to booze, had my first Gin & OJ at 8 with my Dad. Wine several times a year with family and a little glass of beer every now and then. By the time I got to UVa, I had 10 years exposure to booze and knew its effect. I also enjoy watching First year men, these Baptists who have never seen a bottle of bourbon learning their lessons. Back then about 40% didn't make second year and booze took many of those.

These kids will not have self control when they are free to make decisions on their own one day.

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That's what most junk food is made of. Before the age of oil, this junk food did not exist because there is no other way to produce HFCS, aspartame, and MSG except through burning more petroleum.

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grass fed meat and/or diary, hemp based foods, lentils especially for all those vegetarians out there who need protein, and replaced high fructose corn syrup and/or aspartame with stevia, there would be far less mood swings and divorce rates would plummet big time in the long run. Yes, we need to shut off the petroleum manufactured junk foods as too much edible oil is poisoning us all. And I'm offering this as a suggestion.

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My nephew's mother (being the hippie that she was) fed him a healthy and vegetarian diet at home. He'd visit my Mom during his summer vacations and frequently spend his days tagging along with me. I never saw a kid consume such a large quantity of junk and fast foods as he did. Today he's a forest ranger in Montana and appears to be very healthy.

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Loved the insight on the gogurt bombs...any experience with juice box fighting?

Seriously, I don't think he left cuz the other one was 24.

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my happiness by being single and a non-breeder.

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"Food Nazi Moms"---EXCELLENT lol!

Another one I would like to add: the Climate Change Inquisition--out to punish the "heretics" who don't believe as they do.

This article captures beautifully the smug certitude of the "right eating" crowd. And also apparent in other Progressive movements.

I am a Progressive, but there has to be admitted that there is a bottom-line goal of Control in all of these things, whether it is food, climate change, or illegal aliens.

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There are good reasons for organics being higher than non-organics. For the same reasons you think they should be cheaper, they're more expensive. All those preservatives that have been going into non-organics for the past 70 years and that have caused the health of people in our countries and countries other than our own to deteriorate won't be allowed in organics. So the shelf life being less means they have to make up for the loss.
There's also the type of vegetable chosen to grow. Certain types of fruits and vegetables are chosen (usually by large corps) for how they ship and not for their taste or nutritional value. If you've ever had the luxury of a fresh papaya off the tree instead of a GM papaya shipped from Hawaii to the east coast this becomes apparent fast. It's been said that most of our food travels about 2,000 miles before it lands in your supermarket or many times even in your local co-op.
Oh and the pesticides. These are what make the 2,00 acre mono-crops possible (and the subsidies for them) that kill the land and all those other species dependent on it. They do make it possible to get larger yields for a little while but eventually the land soil becomes sick from lack of care and nutrition and then you can't grow anything that we can survive on. Now divide that 2,000 acre plot into 200 20 acre farms and you can grow almost as much as those pesticides did at peak.

Anyways, I'm getting away from my point. My point being that it's a wonder that organics are more expensive than non-organics. It also shouldn't be so much about your wallet but instead about the earth's health, other's health, and your health.

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Our American society is filled with land mines for kids, drugs illegal or not, food, sexual predation, pollution, education....attacking people for having a serious attitude for a serious problem is wrong and misguided.

The corelation between intense healthy living and a contentous divorce custody reletionship smacks of a desperation to have subject material for an article, and the word "NAZI" in the title is sensationalism....designed to get readers.

I am shocked this article is allowed on this site...the article is nothing more than a gossip piece that would be regugitated in PTA or church gossip circles.

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Why didn't you tell her that what you feed your kids is none of her d--n business?

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I like the article but wow...

Bennett lives amid complete chaos in New York City with her husband and six children, Cleo, 20, Peik, 13, Truman, 10, Pierson, 6, Larson, 5, and Finn, 2.

Do Balducci's and Zabar's sell moose meat?

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Come on. Perhaps she is contentious, sanctimonious, a bit letigious. But a NAZI because she is very insistent about what HER OWN CHILD eats?

Does that word even have a meaning any more?

Seriously, this posting belongs on some reactionary conservative blog where people (like the oodles of previous commentors) delight in how little they know and complain about the hypothetical scolding they get from the proto-typical liberal (who honestly could give less of a shit if they choke on the toxic crap they eat).

Guess what. It does matter what you eat. Its ok to insist that your children eat their vegetables. Maybe some people take it too far, but that doesn't make them NAZIs.

On the other hand, the vast majority of comments so far submitted demonstrate what a bunch of know-nothing dittohead assholes lurk around Alternet. Some of them even get to post on PEEK.

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"It also shouldn't be so much about your wallet but instead about the earth's health, other's health, and your health."

This presupposes that the household has the extra money to buy the good, healthy, foods. Although it is a foregone conclusion that eating healthy is the proper approach, the ability to do so may not be present.

This could, easily, be seen as a class warfare issue, those that have the means look down on those that do not.

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that, but it really is dumb to have cheetos and hohos around the house week in and week out which is a much larger problem.

My mother was like this and yes she raised three overweight kids.

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Most of them break up, but nobody tells the truth about the reasons, because nobody tells the truth about the reasons for marriage in the first place.

It's for controlling the women and children, of course. Plenty of marriages, divorces and remarriage is also great for the economy! So many households to be supported, refurbished, lost and resold is wonderfully useful for employing businessmen in our society.

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IF SHE CAN WRITE, THEN AUTHOR CAN READ.

HAS SHE NEVER COME ACROSS ARTICLES ON HOW POPULATION INCREASES POWER GLOBAL WARMING?

IT ISN'T HOW MANY KIDS A FAMILY CAN AFFORD- IT IS HOW MANY THE EARTH CAN SUSTAIN.

THE POOREST OF THE POOR SUFFER FROM THE CLIMATE CHANGES WE INVOKE FROM OVER CONSUMPTION.

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It will give you more perspective regarding where U.S. food comes from and how it is grown and prepared. Moderation is a good thing, of course. But you must agree that much of the food production in this country is quite warped.

Our household was put up on organic milk at my insistence, and I was very pleased to note that puberty did not come any earlier for the next generation. But when our kid hung out with friends or went trick or treating, I stayed silent. I spent my energy making good homemade meals and inviting my kid to invite friends to come over for dinner.

Today, my kid (who has read Pollan on her own) makes suggestions to friends how they can eat more nutritiously and has avoided the freshman 15. Our kid loves heading home for the food and considers the home menu detoxifying and good.

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So, you jump from shock at condemning someone who is freaked out by non-healthy food (and I agree that she was over the edge, but what about the exacerbation of the ADHD symptoms? You don't have to poach an Amish free chicken in organic broth --- but it's pretty easy to change white bread into wheat bread - which IS more healthy, and to substitute cut up apples for chips, or even a whole apple).
Do you really have three different kids of chips at your parties? Have you ever thought of having cut up veggies and fruit? At the parties for MY kids, the junk food kids all salivate and can't get enough of the fruit!

And, wait just a minute, you show your children PORN? Are you kidding? This is a joke, right?

I'm one for tolerating all of our different parenting styles. I'm sure you'd consider us over the edge because we can commercial television and videogames. Gosh, we play Board and card games, and word quiz games and talk to our kids every night! Very rigid, huh?

But, for the record, the kids get plenty of commercial tv and video games at their friends' houses, and aren't totally deprived...

Besides, it's a myth that kids brought up to eat healthy then go hog wild and eat un-healthy.

I know lots of 19 year olds who are used to eating healthy foods at home, and when they get to college, continue to do the same.

Susan

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First, how about we stop calling each other names -- one of Alternet's 'rules'-- and start talking about why we each make the choices we make. Wow, you might learn something that's important to your child's health. What a gift that Nazi mom might have to offer you. And while I think breaking up a family over food fights is ridiculous, I applaud this mother's attempts to give her children better nutrition than the typical "kid" fare.

I'm a nutritional counselor with 20 yrs experience treating everything from recurrent ear infections to Parkinson's disease. I can tell you many stories of how dietary changes have stopped ear infections - no more tubes or antibiotics -- and greatly improved a child's ADHD/ADD, autism, etc. Read New York Times article on how very small changes in blood sugar affect brain function. Most junk food is high carbohydrate, causing major blood sugar rise, then fall.

As to how kids fare in a Nazi household, I have 2 kids, a 16 year old and a 12 year old. We eat organic, grass fed, local food, raising much of it ourselves. We eat no wheat or sugar, since both my son and I have celiac. My 16 yr old has self-regulated since she was about 3 1/2 and made herself sick eating candy someone had given her and we let her have. She recognizes that acne becomes a problem when she eats certain foods. My 12 yr. old, on the other hand, could care less about how certain foods affect his health. For him, this is dangerous -- eating wheat can cause a stomach/intestinal bleed that can land him in the hospital. Many of the junk foods out there contain wheat. Both my kids do recognize 'real' food, know how to prepare and enjoy it.

We've taught them the joys of sharing this food with friends and family without judging what they eat. I refuse to judge other people's eating/shopping unless they ask for my professional advice. Often they're ignorant of the ingredients they're buying or the health consequences. When they begin to understand these issues, they often change how they view what our society euphemistically calls 'food'.

I do urge parents to honor our family's food ways when our kids go to their house, since the health consequences are so dire for my son. I also send food to share - most friends want to eat at our house because the food is so yummy. We easily make desserts/ snacks that are to die for.

I also urge those of you who commented on this post to look into the political/environmental impacts of our food choices, including on the cost of health care. This is a much bigger issue than one family's trauma. Yep, we're being ripped off in this arena, too. Dorito makes big bucks selling you that bag of chemicals. Then the pharmaceuticals make big bucks treating you for the problems a few years of eating those chips cause.

Again, let's stop calling each other names and start enjoying the bounty of the land, sharing and celebrating all of our differences in this New Year.

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... BOTH parents are in the wrong here - the dad for trying to buy his kid's affection with junk food and the mom for not realizing that her kid will still love BOTH parents even if the mom's a food nazi (whatever that is) and the dad's a selfish slob.

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I am 56 years old and approximately 125 lbs. overweight. The reasons why are partly medical and partly psychological, but they are private and not really excuses in the true meaning of the word. But here are a few realities for all those NAZI food Moms:

1. You CANNOT now or ever use your children as weapons in your relationships with your ex or current partner. Fighting over food issues when you have other issues to deal with is destructive for children to witness or be subjected to at anytime in their lives. Take it from someone who lived with this kind of war her whole life!

2. Food is required for life. That fact is inescapable and therefore, needs to be addressed in a reasonable and healthy manner. These means making wise food choices from all the food that is out there, organic or otherwise. Depriving your children of the kinds of decision making skills necessary to deal with this is cruel and destructive to them. Until I was 18 I ate a healthy diet, unless my mother was dieting and then I was the one chosen to diet with her because she would never do it alone, even though at 5'7" I only weighed 120 lbs. This kind of obsession with food leads to starvation response and binge eating when constraints are removed.

3. I wholeheartedly support an organic diet for a variety of reasons, both physical and psychological, but I also realize that not everyone does. The mother in the article would need to extend her reasoning to all those in her world that would feed her children in the manner her ex-husband does, in which case she would have to isolate herself and her children from all friends, family, and most social contacts, like school or church. This woman's actions are punitive to her ex-husband and abusive to her children.

5. Women like the mother described in this article probably drove her husband away with this kind of vindictive, obsessive behavior. I am constantly amazed at women who use their children as weapons against a partner, or as an excuse for abusive behavior in general, and then scream foul when the husband or partner finds someone new and fresh who has not become vindictive or angry all the time, mostly at them. I suspect the woman in the article is very good at playing the victim in her own life, and the ex and children are just the objects she uses to explain her martyrdom. She needs help, and so do her children. I hope the husband sues and wins custody for the sake of these children. They need someone a little more balanced to raise them for now.

And finally, as long as we allow ourselves to be obsessed with what we eat, we fail to see how we can create lives of meaning outside of food. These mothers (and fathers) who obsess about how much and what kind of food their children eat are not going to stop obesity or poor health (in fact, they may actually create it by failing to teach how to make wiase choices), but if they want to have an impact, start petitions to stop Monsanto, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, etc., etc., etc. from poisoning our food supply with poor agricultural practices and chemicals that destroy food quality and in turn our children's health.

Flood the offices of USDA, FDA, the President, your Representatives and Senators, demanding that these companies be shutdown and that they pay for the damage done to the earth and our citizens' health. Take your rage, if you must call it that, out not on an ex or current spouse, but rather on those who would flood our markets with this kind of food, forcing us and our children into obsessive behaviors in the hopes of staying healthy. Save the anger for those who deserve it, and not make your children (or your partners) the victims.

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Good lord, people: lighten up.

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You don't compare everything you don't agree with with Hitler and/or Nazis.

~Bill Maher

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Clearly the real problem is that the irresponsible dad is using the promise of delicious junk foods to leverage some influence with the offspring, and that is what is really getting the food-nazi mom all worked up. No one who isn't going through a bitter and difficult divorce cares that much if her kids eat some damn Doritos.

I find it all rather lame that the author didn't pick up on that and, instead, decided to write an article about how being really strict about what your kids eat is somehow irresponsible.

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over for leaving her sounds like to me. Considering the fact that so many horible things happen to children, I would have to say that this is an overreaction for vengance purposes. I am not saying I think Cheetos are good food, but to take away his custody is freaking ridiculous.

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This is such a good article, I keep re-reading it. I am a health nut, but sometimes it's important to take a step back and relax a little.

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If we removed the stress that comes with all of today's bewildering array of dietary choices and started simply to enjoy food as food again we'd be much happier. If we learn early how to eat in moderation, derive greater pleasure from sharing food with each other (and not using it as an idelogical/political bludgeon or self-segregating status symbol), jettison nutritionist faddism, and apply a healthy skepticism to dubious, self-serving health claims and tenuous causal relationships (which, as Pollin notes, "takes nutrients out of the context of food, food out of the context of diet, and diet out of the context of lifestyle) we might enjoy life a whole lot more!

When was the last time you actually sat down and enjoyed food for the taste and aroma? When was the last time you took simple, guiltless pleasure in the basic human act of eating with friends?

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I think it was labeled, redneck wedding cake, I couldnt stop laughing. Looks like this food Nazi thing, really brought out the extreme from both sides of the topic. We live somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. The bulk of our food is organic from the gardens, and wild deer meat. We also buy organic beef from a neighbor with a small herd. We also have some boxed cereal, chips, beer, and a few other junk food items hanging around the kitchen. My wife and I are both in good health, so I cant see going into any extreme diet anytime soon. Oh!, if any of you want to see the wedding cake, let me know, I'll email it to you.

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Once when my 12 yr old was a toddler, we sent him to daycare without a sandwich, but instead just with yogurt, fruit and carrots. One of the teachers threatened to call Child Protective Services on the grounds that we hadn't given our son "carbohydrates." Well, first of all this person obviously had no idea what carbohydrates are and was no authority on nutrition - and secondly...it wasn't as though the kid didn't eat at home, or was being starved to death, or didn't have plenty of other food, or would even have eaten the sandwich if he'd been given one. The whole episode was surreal and upsetting. It's no fun to be accused of neglect over the lack of a sandwich at one lunch hour, so how much more upsetting to be threatened with loss of custody over the type of bread used in a sandwich that actually is provided? My conclusion: the world is full of crazy people with nothing better to do with their time than try to drive the rest of us equally bonkers.

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The best thing to do is do your honest best to make the live part of the equation solid and strong. If you really feel that wonder bread, fructose laden snack foods and breakfast foods, deep fried foods will make your child healthy and strong, go ahead and feed it to him/her... However, if your child develops diabetes, becomes obese or a little dull witted and susceptible to all sorts of alergies, you shouldn't then act like you didn't know and feel like you have a right to sue the companies that made what you fed them. You made the choice, based on whatever your priorities are and you should live with it. Responsibility. It's grown up behavior.

I think a lot of those "health whacko" people are extreme... occasionally partaking of fast food or sugary food won't damage anyone, but, like it or not, the chronic use of these foods as the main part of a child's diet has been scientifically proven to be the cause of many of the maladies so many children and adults suffer today. So ask yourself is convenience or the fact that you have a fear or dislike of cooking justification for potentially causing injury, addiction and ill health for your children?

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since I was a young parent. The teachers and administrative staff at our son's preschool actually considered reporting us for child abuse because we were vegetarian, and sent lunches that did not contain the requisite luncheon meats, or spam. We sent whole grain bread sandwiches, or tofu, or other non-meat (not even all organic) meals. I certainly think it negligent to feed your child only white bread and cheeto-type foods, but a balance must be struck. Your child will be eating whatever he/she can get their hands on as they grow up, so you might as well take the food dogma with a huge heaping of perspective.

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I even spent extra time in graduate education in nutrition.
My not so short human was the picture of crunchy granola eating until he made it to preschool. Life altering event-- he craved those sugary goodies, the white bread, the juice in those flexible bags. Even had a mom tell him to tell ME if I put the peanut butter and jelly on WHITE bread instead of wheat maybe he would eat it:)
I have learned that moderation is important, also loosening that parental anal sphincter.
We live in such an abundance of food that many of us are clueless about TRUE malnutrition and hunger.
I'd rather say FOOD FREAKS than FOOD Nazis. Last I checked the real Nazis starved and gassed their subjects to death...

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The word NAZI is just wrong when discussing food... One might want to compare the current state of Israel and Gaza to past NAZI genocide but comparing NAZIs to folks who don't want their kids eating a bag of fried chemicals is a bit over the top. Oh, and look at any classroom full of kids with ADHD and learning disabilities and kids without these issues and check out their lunches. There likely is a correlation.

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I understand the need for good food and not junk food, but the lady in the article had gone over the deep end.

I myself eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables and no red meat, but I am not a fanatic and occassionally eat junk food. I believe one must be 'balanced' and not get carried away.

Iris89

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that that mother has an eating disorder. it's all about control.

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I am constantly amazed at how people who are passionately
committed to particular issues are commonly
thoroughly insensitive about other people's
"fanatical" commitment to other topics.

Everybody cares about something pretty deeply.
Nobody's crazier than you because of it. You probably
aren't as educated as they are on their particular
issue. Live with it.

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I am astounded and amused at the range of responses to this article. It would weem that for many, there is no room for variety. What if all the energy represented in the comments (and the article, for that matter) were turned toward finding ways of feeding the truly starving?

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perhaps FRANKENFOOD & obscene corporate proft-making at the root of these disgusting products are the problem...

sure, NaziMom might be over-the-top... (possibly consoling herself with a story that is more acceptable to her hurt feelings)
but stocking your shelves with crap...
...IS STILL CRAP

moderation is a key for both of you.


I don't see any revelations about the serious health problems of a society where most mothers have either no time or skill to actually cook... or the severe health challenges of children with sensitivities that are masked by dozens if not thousands of FrankenFood non-nutritional choices.

laugh if you will... but demonstrating that ONE mother came off to you as an extremist does nothing but demarcate the abyss between moderate, apathetic & extremist viewpoints that characterize the lack of compassion or conversation between Western 'conversationalists'

When children in a Jamie Oliver special series on child nutrition can't EVEN IDENTIFY vegetables on sight ... there is a problem. Luckily, Britain *listened* to a man who put his concerns front & centre with responsible reporting & charity work.

deny it?
mock it?
cast aspersions if you will...

but nobody fixes the problem that way.


Spread Love, not corporate dependence...

BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
~~~
"... tolerance of intolerance is cowardice..." ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
"Violence can only be concealed by a Lie, & the Lie can only be maintained by Violence." ... "Any man, who has once proclaimed Violence as his Method, is inevitably forced to take the Lie as his Principle" – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire
~~~
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"

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The assault on food is just another assault on liberty from the pseudo-compassionate you'll-be-healthy-whether-you-like-it-or-not crowd. They've banned smoking pretty much everywhere are reduced the smoker to a pitiable pariah in the feeble minds of the knee-jerk liberal and conservative circles. Now they're trying to do the same thing to guys like me (overweight guys who like cookies and cake a hell of a lot more than fruits and veggies).

The agenda of these self-appointed arbiters of everyone's health is to kill us all with kindness--not a literal death, but a spiritual death. They want to siphon every last drop of fun and indulgence out of existence as part of a vast anti-hedonistic philosophy that holds collective health as being more valuable that individual choice.

Now, in this instance the father made the decision on the behalf of his children and I agree that parents who view junk food as a suitable snack for their kids are a big problem. I personally would not allow my children to eat the kind of terrible things I do on a regular basis, but I don't think that a mandate from any court should be what stops me. My conscience and intelligence as a parent has to do that job.

Ultimately, education can solve this problem, but in our society every educational message is diluted by fear tactics and lost in a sea of false propaganda.

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It seems like the new attack is on those parents who are trying to back away from the junk food, from the chemically treated foods and the garbage often called food.

Kids are getting thousands of messages every day that encourage them to eat junk food and at the same time are getting very little support or education on healthy eating and lifestyle.

Of course the kids are going to go for the junk food, its filled with chemicals like MSG that would make you think cardboard tastes great! Its full of sugar and fat as well.

This is an uphill battle for a parent so its extremely hard when you have other adults working against you and playing good guy by feeding the kid junk food and having no respect for your parenting choices.

It just sounds like people get so defensive over their own bad eating habits they would rather sabotage parents and act like its supporting "freedom" than have a bit of respect for the parents difficult job or the childs health.

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People seem to miss the fact that a lunch is only a small part of any child's daily or weekly diet, and disregard the balance over time.

For example, if I send my child in to school with a sandwich, an apple, and cookies, his teacher throws out the cookies as 'unhealthy.'

She doesn't know that on the same day he had fish, steamed potatoes, and broccoli for dinner, and asked for green beans for a snack.

Nor does she care that, ironically, the cookies happened to have more fiber, more protein, and fewer calories than the apple!

And it doesn't matter to her if he eats enough calories to get him through the school day in a reasonable fashion.

Most people are not registered dieticians, and their ideas of 'healthy foods' are based on popular beliefs and myths.

I've looked at what some of the popular parenting magazines recommend for 'healthy lunches' for kids, and the portion sizes and contents fall far short of the caloric (and also fat intake needs) for growing, healthy kids, who have different nutritional needs than adults.

They are barely adequate as a snack for most active schoolage children, and would be a starvation diet for a growing teenager.

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Despite the woman's lack of balance, and attacking the wrong person, her husband, there is a good point in her argument.
The addictions of the SAD diet (Standard American Diet) start early and often. They curl in the corner with their fake foods, because it stimulates their brain, and that is just what Frito Lay wants. A commitment for the rest of their lives to these foods.
I do consider it a travesty in our country that we allow non-food to be disguised as food and we feed it to our children, like it is no big deal.
It is a big deal when 1 in 3 will have diabetes by the time they are an adult, osteoporosis is no longer a old woman's disease, and Autism is out of control.
I for one, side with the wife!

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Not sure if any of you realize that the food nazi's are getting their ocd behavior's and opinions signed into LAWS, all over this country of ours. Seems alot of people love playing GOD; about things/ideas etc that individual choice should determine.

What was that saying of POGO'....have seen the enemy; and it is us.

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Yeah, um I think I am one of those mums. But my kids eat crap food occasionally and we have good versions of bad food at home ie chips cooked inthe 'good' oil. My main reason for oraganic foods, home grown and healthier options, when asked to explain to my five and six years olds, is that I want their small growing bodies to be given the best start. When they are old enough to buy their own junk food they can, no worries. I will feel better knowing I gave their brains, bones and organs a good start and I gave them a chance to experience a healthy lifestyle and how good it can make you feel.
By the looks of many people through the wealthy western world a lot of people could do with a little education in this department too.

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Reading through all the above comments had me getting increasingly irritated with the question on the tip of my tongue: Since when are children just pawns and everyone else playing with their lives? How refreshing to find this intelligent comment at last!

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Some of You all REALLY need to relax and STOP telling everybody else what to do.

If You choose to eat rabbit food only, fine. That's YOUR choice.
But do NOT force that choice on everyone else.
Or someday, everyone else may force YOU to eat processed meats and cheeses.

Understand ?

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