At Long Last! The Child Eats!

Finally, after months of disinterest, the Child has begun to eat solid foods.  Sort of.  It's slow going, but I'm ok with it.  The slow pace of it all has really given me time to think about the message I want to send to my daughter about food.

 I want her to treat her body well, to nourish it with good and healthy food, to eat the occasional cookie and to be an effective reader of food labels. * I have a lot to say to her about food, this is just the start.*

My mom is a type 1 diabetic and since I was a kid we would read labels together to try and find healthy and tasty foods that she could eat without causing major spikes and dips in her blood sugar.  My family has always been health conscious, so label reading is second nature to me. My interest in healthy living and good eating has expanded as I have moved from consumer ("mom, will you make me a sandwich?"), to novice gardener, to chief cooker and head of the family shopping committee (har-har). Over  the years my interests have expanded to include organic and pronounceable ingredients, sustainable farming practices, ethical food companies and minimalist packaging. 

So far the Child has begun to eat a mixture of table foods (she loves to squish and then eat blueberries) and purchased baby foods.  I know some people are firmly in the "make-your-own-baby-food-all-the-time" camp, but the fact is that just does not work for us. 

In the last month I've purchased some baby foods and done A LOT of label reading and researching.  Some of what I've found is reassuring, there are some good and responsible baby food companies, but there have been some real surprises as well.

In the next few weeks, I'm going to be writing about some companies that I've come to trust and really feel comfortable feeding their foods to the Child and some others that I think come with some serious caveats .