I do my best to educate my kids about eating healthy. I teach them how to read labels, what to look for on packaging, and how certain foods affect their growing bodies. They love fish oil, seaweed and chia seeds, and eat veggies with every meal. But don’t get me wrong, my kids are also like most other children -- they love junk food -- and not always the healthier options.
My ten-year old son Zack is very aware of his body and how food affects him. Often if he eats too much conventional junk food, from candy to fast food, he barfs it up. It started happening a few years ago -- he would go to bed feeling fine, only to be woken up a few hours later throwing up in his bed. Sounds gross, I know...but the truth is, it was his body telling him that it didn’t like what he ate that day.
This past summer Zack was invited to a boys camping trip with his best friend and his dad. They left Friday and came home Sunday morning. On Saturday night, Zack and his buddy ate a lot of food...and junk...and who knows what else. They went to bed at 11:00 and at around 1:30 AM Zack threw up in the tent. It slipped my mind to warn his friend’s dad about Zack’s sensitive stomach. My bad. However, that experience showed Zack that what he eats really does affect how his body feels after. He understood.
Recently, Zack and I were asked to speak to an audience of more than 200 people. I spoke about unjunking our food and Zack spoke about his appreciation for our book and how it has impacted his life as a ten-year old child.
I asked Zack to write his own speech because I wanted what he said to come straight from his heart.
Boy did it ever.
