Beautiful Babies E-Course Notes, Lesson One

I am taking an e-course online and the website suggested we take "beautiful notes" somewhere.  I didn't want to start a notebook because I have a terrible time keeping track of a notebook and I always end up using them for lists or scribble paper for Josiah or drawing paper for Maryn.  So I'm just keeping my notes here on my blog.  Sorry; I know it's boring stuff and I'm not really going to make it too interesting.  I also bought the book, Beautiful Babies (Nutrition for Fertility, Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Baby's First Foods) by Kristen Michaelis.

Beautiful Babies E-Course
by Kristen Michaelis (of FoodRenegade.com)

Video 1:  Nutrition Matters
If a child with fetal alcohol syndrome can be born with facial abnormalities, can a pregnant woman with a very healthy diet give birth to a baby who will have few facial abnormalities and therefore be less likely to need braces, eye glasses, or be less likely to have allergies, ear infections, cavities, etc?

Video 2:  What is Nutritionism?
-Nutritionism is the focus on nutrients rather than food.  Labels and banners on food these days focus on "anti-oxidants, fiber, protein, Omega 3s..."  Food is seen as a delivery system for nutrients.
-Nutrients are only visible to food scientists with their microscopes, so we think we need an expert to tell us what to eat (rather than going with our natural desires).  We follow a food "priesthood."
-Nutritionism divides the world into good and evil.  There's always a satanic nutrient or additive we've demonized.  Now it's trans-fats.  It used to be saturated fats.
-Nutritionism assumes the whole point of eating is health.  No other traditional culture thinks of food this way.  They eat for pleasure, community, family, ritual purposes, religious practices, to express their identity (abstaining from pork, for example).

Nutritionism doesn't make us any healthier.
Nutritionism thinks the fake version of a food can be healthier than the real version of a food (margarine is "healthier" than butter).

Video 3:  What Traditional Food Cultures Can Teach Us
Weston A. Price, a dentist, noticed more and more children coming to his office with horrible tooth decay and terrible face/teeth abnormalities.  The only cause he could think of was diet.

So Dr. Price traveled the world finding cultures that ate traditional diets.  He noticed their children did not have facial abnormalities, cavities, allergies, etc.

These traditional cultures all ate meat, and they ate the whole animal, with a great focus on organ meats.  Fermented foods like saurkraut, sourdough bread, properly prepared grains and nuts and seeds (soaked)
It makes more sense to follow what these successful, fertile, healthy cultures ate than follow the dietary guidelines our government agencies come up with that are constantly changing.