The cliché phrase is — “You are what you eat!”  This is absolutely true, however to refine the phrase a little more it should perhaps be revised to “You are what you digest.”   

This is true for both you and your kids. Vitamins don’t quite cut it when it comes to your kids overall health (and yours too.)

The reason you can’t replace food with pills is because very few people (especially older people) have much success digesting vitamin pills. They simply pass through the intestines undissolved.  It is a very common problem. The point is that having a good diet is not the same as dieting or popping vitamin or herbal supplements. The food choices we make throughout our lives can help prevent the many diseases that cause premature death or disability, including heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.  S

ome natural doctors even go so far to insist that diet is the cure for certain kinds of ailments and can go so far as to reverse certain types of ailments and conditions.  To prevent your kids from having dispositions to getting these ailments you need to start them off early. However, the relationship between a good diet and anti-aging is not just speculative in the scientific community.

Nutritionists and doctors are much less skeptical about food as a cure for aging then they used to be.  This is because three long-term studies being conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health have examined the lives of 300,000 people and the findings suggested that a a diet rich in vegetables may help prevent breast and prostate cancer. Another finding was that colon cancer is more common in those who eat red meat and that high fat diets increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. Furthermore a diet with too many refined carbohydrates increases the risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes Another thing about this study is that an effective healthy diet was not specific to any age.

In other words, what is considered a healthy diet at six years old will still be a healthy diet at age sixty or seventy.  The fact that this type of diet is anti-aging is a given so it is never too late to start rehabilitating the diet through changing your eating habits. This is because it is all about eating in a manner that will prevent the oxidization of cells by free radicals in the first place. 

Yet another important finding of this Harvard Study is that those that those who sat down at a meal and enjoyed it by sharing it with others were more likely to be healthier than those who ate their dinners alone, in front of the television or in a less formal fashion (such as eating on the run.)  This principle focuses the eater to pay attention to what is going into his or her mouth as the center of attention is the meal and not the television set!

Hope Mason of Spiritual Books gave me the following ideas for garnishing food so that it is more interesting to children.  They make food more fun to look at and them more fun your food is the more likely your kid is to eat it. Use your cookie cutters for something other than making cookies.

Small cookie cutters can be used to press shapes (heart shaped for instance) out of carrots, cucumber coins, apple slices and any other vegetable that can be sliced thinly or flatly. 

Having trouble getting your kid to eat green or red peppers? To add a special touch to a pasta dish take a star shaped cookie cutter and press it into the flesh of slices of red or green pepper. Then place the stars on the plate of pasta to add visual interest. 

To make a vanilla or tapioca pudding more interesting consider drooling a spiral shape on the top of the pudding made out of some kind of fruit puree. Mango puree goes particularly well with tapioca pudding. Mango is also good for kids because it has lots of vitamin A in it. 

To give a glass rim an usual “frosting” try dipping the wetting the rim of a glass and dipping it in Jell-O powder. This looks especially nice on cocktails. It can also tempt a kid to drink a glass of juice if the rim is sugared with a bright color of powdered Jell-O. 

To add charm to a drink, alcoholic or not, that has pineapple in it try rimming the glass with finely flaked coconut for a unique effect. This look also suits a bowl of chocolate pudding. 

Cucumber balls are a nice surprise in a salad and make a delicious departure from the ordinary. In order to make cucumber balls simply slice a cucumber in half and then use a melon baler to scoop out the contents into ball shapes (exactly the same way you would a melon. 

To make a strawberry fan, use a paring knife to slice thee strawberry from a point slightly below the top stem to the bottom. Continue making thin slits from one end of the strawberry to the other. Gently spread the segments of strawberry apart to create the strawberry fan. 

To make a tomato rose simply pick a tomato of any size. Make sure it is a gel variety like a Roma tomato. Take a very sharp knife and start peeling it like you would an apple. Keep peeling until you have the longest length possible and then coil the peel into a rose shape. Using pink, red and orange tomatoes can create a lovely bouquet for a centerpiece. 

To make carrot curls simply use a vegetable peeler to cut a long strip off of the carrot. Spear each curl with a toothpick and then chill them in hot water until they are ready to use Can’t get a kid to drink his milk?  Try garnishing it with a red licorice stick and see what happens. Red licorice goes well with milk.

I have been very interested in exploring the topic of Feng Shui as it helps organize our lives as well invite good energy and positive vibes in general.  Even better it can help you make more money.  Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of object placement.

It is not a Japanese practice as some people think but it was adopted by Shinto monks thousands of years ago as it was based on the very sensible notion that that living with rather than against nature benefits both humans and the environment. It is all about how to create good energy (also called Chi in China and Ki in Japan) in your life so that you can manifest positive things into your immediate sphere.

 The art and science of Feng Shui also recognizes that our lives are deeply affected by our physical and emotional environments. If we surround ourselves with symbols of negation, contempt and indifference toward life and nature and choose to live in places that are actually repugnant to the human soul than we will attract misfortune.   Hard edges, uncomfortable furniture and clutter create what is called “sha” or “shar” which are the Chinese and Japanese words for “bad energy.”  

However if we trade in noise, concrete, mess and other agitating elements for organization, cleanliness and objects that are an expression of the sweeter things in life such as art, beauty and order, then we will ennoble our souls as well as our environment. 

Objects that symbolize good Feng Shui in Japan include wind chimes, fountains, Koi fish, statues of the Buddha, statues of lucky animals such as cranes and frogs, boulders, bamboo and teapots. The theory is that the kind of energy that we surround ourselves with creates more of the same energy. If we have negative qualities in our homes can become a breeding ground for such woes as cash flow problems and relationship troubles. The theory behind Feng Shui is that some of these problems can be remedied simply by organizing your space so that Chi (good energy) is allowed to freely flow through your life.  T

he literal translation of the Chinese word Feng Shui (pronounced fung-shway) means wind and water.  The combination of these two elements creates good “chi.” In Chinese culture, gentle wind and smooth water have always been associated with a good harvest and good health, while harsh winds and stagnant water have been linked to famine and disease. Therefore, “good” feng-shui has come to mean good livelihood and fortune, and “bad” feng-shui has come to mean hardship and bad luck.  The less clutter and mess you have in your house the healthier it will be because the energy will be much less stagnant. You might be interested to know that the main sector in your home that affects your kids is called the Eastern sector. This includes the Eastern walls and areas in all the rooms of your home. I plan to research this and write more about it in a future blog.