PB, Pyramids, & Teaching about Healthy Choices

I eat peanut butter. And I love it. I could share some links to some medical journals talking about how peanut butter is healthy for you but, then again, I could also share some links saying it's not. That's the funny thing about the internet and books and television. People can write what they want with or without many (or any) facts to back it up.

(Side note: I don't have any facts to back this up.)  ;)

The FCS student in me loves reading med journals. I also like reading blogs (like 100 Days of Real Food) and getting other perspectives. Even more than that, I like the idea of not eating crazy chemicals and eating more 'natural.' (I say this as I'm downing a Pepsi. Just kidding. But it does sound good right now. Ha.)

Ahem. 

So while I'm eating my brand X natural peanut butter (yum) and comparing the back of the food label to the brand X creamy peanut butter, I'm a little surprised to find out that the creamy version is actually healthier for me than the natural version.

At least according to everything we learned in school. 

I was confused. (And I have a degree in this stuff.)

I ask my health certified husband and he's not sure either.

How is it that two people certified to teach your children about making healthy food choices have no idea what the healthier (note: healthier doesn't exactly = healthy) option of peanut butter is? (For the record, we ended up choosing the natural but only because it tastes better.)

Did you know that in most classrooms kids are learning about nutrition via the food guide pyramid? And that the food guide pyramid may not be what you think it is? In fact, in the short amount of time that I've been out of the classroom, the food guide pyramid (or, uh, plate) has changed again. 

Have you ever wondered about why those guidelines change so much? Why there's always 'new and improved' ideas on what it means to eat healthy? My guess is it's because we just don't have long term studies on a lot of these 'healthy ideas.'

So how do we know what is right? How do we make informed healthy choices? How do we teach our kids to eat healthy?

(You may be thinking your kids are too young for the traditional health lesson on eating right but even registered in home daycares have to follow certain food guidelines. Just by being in an environment where certain foods are served according to certain guidelines, your children are learning about what is good to eat and how much of it they should be eating. Just by telling Beckett blueberries are 'yum' and candy is 'yuck,' we are teaching him what food choices we want him to make.) 

So how doe we make those healthy choices?

That wasn't a rhetorical question. I really want to know. ;)

At the H house, we are sticking to the 'make healthy choices when you can and practice moderation when you must' rule of thumb. Well that and common sense. 

(And okay... I use the term moderation very loosely sometimes.) ;)

How are you teaching your children about healthy eating choices? 

P.S. Please don't send me a bunch of alternatives to peanut butter (and especially not the powdered version....). Unless you want to buy me a blender to make my own real peanut butter; I'll listen to that idea. Thanks. ;) (What can I say? I love my peanut butter!)