The other goal of Estonian national institute of health development is to get Estonians to eat more healthy. And they're convinced it's healthy to eat 55-60% of energy in carbohydrates, 25-30% in fats and 10-15% in protein. That's the numbers I get when I eat horribly by my standards. Like when I eat a plateful of pasta with a bit of meat sauce, and then some dessert that has some milk in it. I don't mind fats in food - they don't make my blood sugar spike and they usually come with proteins, which I consider the healthiest part of food. On most days I eat 40-50% carbs, 30-40% of fats and nearly 20 % of protein. The program keeps complaining that I don't eat enough carbs and I eat too much protein and I am really happy about that because I'm convinced that the national recommendations are flawed and I'm sure that it's not healthy to eat 60% of energy in carbohydrates. I'll tell you why. Yesterday I let loose a little. I ate half a cheesecake that I had made. I also ate pasta wok, fish pie and oatmeal porridge and I even had a two sugars in my coffee. That's a lot of sugar and carbohydrates, right? Actually that amounts to 41 % carbohydrates, 41 % fats and 18% protein. I still let Siiri eat pretty much whatever. As long as she has appetite for decent warm food, I don't restrict her sugar consumption. I've gotten used to seeing her eat sweet foods without feeling the need to have some too. She spends the day running around in the apartment and she has gotten slimmer and taller in the last few months so I can definitely offer her candy for dessert if I feel like it. I'm very strict about some food additives, especially taste enhancers and artificial food coloring, but sugar is just energy that she'll use up quite fast.
Besides, Siiri needs sugar for brain activity, especially for memorizing fairy tales. Erkki learned to read at a really young age and Siiri has learned all the letters but she doesn't get the whole reading thing yet. She sees us opening the book and telling the same story over and over again. Siiri does the same: she opens the fairy tale book at the right page and starts "reading" from memory. She skips a few words and abbreviates some of the story, but some entire paragraphs are quoted word by word. She even adds the intonation and gestures that we use while reading. She makes cute low voice for wolf's monologue and, being a little girl, she really has to make an effort for that. You can just see the effort in her face and lips. Also, when she quotes, "we will not let you in" she shakes her head and when she says, "we know you are the big bad wolf and you just want to eat us", she quickly nods. She has many fairy tales that she can "read", for example "Wolf and seven little goats", "Three pigs", "Little red riding hood", "Goldilocks and three bears". Apparently she likes animals, and especially the big bad wolf who tries to eat goats, pigs and little girls.
Liisa stills eats only milk. And Siiri knows all about that. When Liisa becomes restless (she rarely really cries), Siiri states in a matter-of-fact tone, "Lisa wants to eat AGAIN! Liisa drinks only milk.". Siiri doesn't seem to mind, though. She has never requested that I let her suckle as well and she has never made a problem of Liisa being attached to me during feedings. Siiri does sometimes get annoyed that she's not being carried around as much as Liisa but we have two solutions for that: when Erkki is at home, he'll pick up Siiri. When he's not here, I hold Siiri at the first chance I get. If I'm feeding Liisa, I usually stretch out my legs so that Siiri has room to sit on my legs as well. So she sometimes requests/demands the same benefits that Liisa gets, but never gets angry at Liisa for the attention or care that Liisa gets.
We did what we could to make Siiri treat Liisa as her "pack member". People are like pack animals with several layers of packs. People divide others to be either ally or foe. The closest pack for most people is family or household and for a small child that's her entire life. It's not like Siiri has a bunch of work buddies and lots of friends in the gym. Her family is all she has and if some stranger comes and endangers it, she can become very protective. For that reason me and Erkki did our best to make sure that Siiri sees Liisa as her own little sister and a natural addition to our family. We avoid calling Liisa our daughter, instead we call her Siiri's sister. And we call Siiri Liisa's sister. I also avoid mentioning Liisa when I tell Siiri not to do something. Like when I'm feeding Liisa and suddenly Siiri wants to throw a ball at us, I tell her not to throw the ball because I might get hit because I don't have free hands to catch the ball. And I really do my best to do anything that I normally would do even if Liisa is awake. I read fairy takes while breastfeeding, I help put puzzles together while holding Liisa, I dance with Siiri while holding Liisa, and sometimes I make Siiri a priority. Like when I'm almost finished with Siiri's food and Liisa wakes up, I bring Liisa to the same room so she can see me, but I ignore her attention-requesting sounds (except hysterical crying) until I've given Siiri her food. Last time Siiri used that moment to go and stroke Liisa's hair and told me, "Liisa smiled. Liisa smiled a little to Siiri.".
I eat a lot, and Siiri eats lots of sweets, and all Liisa does is eat breast milk, and I often listen to fairy takes where the big bad wolf tries to eat someone, and wolves are pack animals, and people are also kind of like pack animals and wolves eat a lot of meat and I also eat a lot of meat... I like the pattern.
PS! I haven't found a good solution to the emoticon problem. Hot.ee server doesn't have FTP-upload option, zone.ee closes accounts after 12 months by default and requires an Estonian email address for registration and reminders that I should renew my account. None of the good-quality free hosts give simple predictable file locations and I don't trust any of the other ones. I'll deal with it when I get the chance.
... testing...
<--success
Allthough I too rather diet by eating more proteins and less carbs and find it highly effective, I think it is important to differentiate "fast and slow" carbs for less food-obsessed people who might be reading this. When the health institute promotes carbs, I am quite sure they are aiming for full grain pasta and bread, vegetables, buckwheat and porriges, not sugar, white bread and pastries. I have found checking the glycemic index of foods really helpful when planning my food consumption - the lower the GI, the longer the feeling of full stomach persists. Also checking nutrients per calories relation is a good habit: how much useful stuff the food contains in addition to energy - vitamins, fibres, iron, calcium, fatty acids etc.
ReplyDeleteI must say, I really like the pack-concept. Calling Liisa and Siiri sisters to each other - I can only imagine how cute Siiri stroking Liisa's hair and Liisa smiling back can be.
:) I have somewhat forgot to differentiate between fast and slow carbs. They both end up giving me 4 kcal per gram and both raise my blood sugar, but I think you're right and I should pay more attention to it. I do try to pick the more nutritious foods, but as time goes on my choices get worse. Like pasta: there are not too many brands of whole-grain pasta that don't taste like wood or don't get all soggy and gross after boiling. There's a brand of full grain spaghetti that I like but there are also way too many "healthy" full grain and sometimes even more expensive pasta that completely ruins dinner. The same with bread - a little bit of extra fiber won't make up for the woody texture and compromise in taste. For a while we bought healthy white bread but it spoils faster and we eat less of it, so we threw most of it out and eventually we went back to regular white bread. But now is a good time to double-check those choices. I could at least snack on fruits with the lowest GI, or add some low-GI foods to major meals of the day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder. :)