Idiotic Statement of the Week

I originally wanted to limit this category to one idiotic statement a week. But there are SO MANY to choose from!!! So, I may post more than one. Some may have my comments added, some really don't need much of anything- some idiocy speaks for itself.
Anyway, number ONE for this week:
(this statement is part of a "discussion" on Amy's blog about health and nutrition. Mind you, she calls herself a doctor. Scary.)

Another Mummy:"Are you seriously saying that it's fine to stuff your children full of crap and this will have no effect on them whatsoever?


Dr Amy Tuteur: "Yes. That's what I am saying."


(Now, in case it isn't blaringly obvious, the idiotic statement is the one by "Dr" Amy.)

Oh! I HAVE to add this one (from the same discussion):

"So breastfeeding is best NOT because it is natural, but because it is a superior food that we cannot duplicate. "

heeheeheeheeheehee
Um, yeah.
It's a superior food that we cannot duplicate- WHY?? Because it's NATURAL.
Yes, it is superior. Because it is made by human bodies for human babies. You cannot duplicate breastmilk with something synthetic, or man-made, and produce something equally beneficial. And it's not for lack of trying. (in fact food companies are still trying earnestly). With all of our knowledge and technology, our own bodies still do it better. It's really very simple.

Now back to that first statement. What is there to say?? I'm so glad this doctor enlightened me. And to think, for all these years, I've been torturing my children by trying to make them eat healthy foods. And I could have been stuffing them with all the crap that they wanted! From now on, Ezra will get sprite in his sippy cup, and tootsie rolls with his chicken. He'll love it. Calev, you don't want to eat your veggies? Okay, sure, just have some ice cream instead. Actually, just go ahead and eat ALL the ice cream.
Better yet, instead of reading labels on the food I buy to AVOID all the sugar and artificial crap, I'll read them to make sure I only get stuff with Artificial flavors, red #40, and 23 grams of sugar per serving, etc etc. Because really, these things are put in "food" to make them look and taste more appealing, and what you put in your body has no effect on it according to this doctor. Why not give yopur kids, and yourself only what you want? According to her warped logic, what is the point of eating real food?

This kind of leads me to something I've been thinking about lately. So little of what the average american eats is really FOOD. We put things into our bodies every day that we have no idea about. You don't eat a single thing that has NO effect on your body. That's physiology 101.
Dr. Amy, nor anyone else can say with any credibility that anything you buy, that's marketed as food, is safe, and/or healthy regardless of what's in it. In fact, most of the time, you don't know what's in something even if you do read labels. Why? Because the food industry is not required to let you know. How many things say "artificial flavor(s)" on the list of ingredients? Those artificial flavors are made up of numerous chemicals- sometimes 20 or more, to make something taste or smell a certain way. There is no law that requires that list of chemicals to be on the label. So, if you eat something that says "artificial flavor", you have NO IDEA what you are eating. If you don't really know what you are eating, you cannot claim that it is safe, healthy, or lacks any effect on your body. You can ASSUME all you want, but you do not know anything.

I personally feel that as a parent, I am responsible for what I put into my children's bodies. If I don't know what's in it, they're not getting it. I'm sorry, but I don't have that much trust in the multi-million dollar food industry to assume that they have my family's health or best interest at the forefront of their agenda. If they did, why not list ALL the ingredients in our food? Don't we have a right to know what we are ingesting?

Dr. Amy loves to say that there's no evidence to show this or that to be unsafe. But, you can't really say that if you don't know what you're even ingesting. Furthermore, when it comes to food, drugs, anything that we are putting into our bodies, the burden should be on proving it is SAFE , not saying all is good until it is proven UNsafe. Duh.