Mmm…Butter!

I fed my kids butter today. Straight butter, with a spoon. My friend Rhonda mentioned this idea the other night, and I decided to try it! So I made butter today and put it on spoons for my kids to eat.

Why am I feeding my kids butter?

~The brain is made up of protein and fat (it is 2/3 fat!). A growing child (and a well-functioning adult) needs protein and fat to keep the brain healthy.
~I have a child with learning disabilities, and two who are moody. Their brains are obviously not working the way they should and need some support.
~When a child is breast feeding, they’re getting lots of good healthy fat–and that fat goes to work in the brain.
~My 8, 6 and 3 year old are not currently breast feeding. 🙂 My 8 year old son, Farm Boy 1 (a 26 week preemie) only ever drank bottles because of muscle strength, and pumping didn’t produce as much milk as nursing for me…so he was 1/2 formula fed (this was before I knew about real milk!). We adopted our 6 year old, Farm Boy 3, when he was 14 months–he was a formula fed baby. We adopted Farm Princess, too, and though I tried to nurse her at first, she was formula fed until 7 months when I started making raw milk formula for her (and then she thrived!!!).  Basically, I don’t think any of these 3 kids got all of the fats they needed when they were tiny little growing infants.

Farm Boy 2 was born only 1 month early, and I nursed him until he was 15 months old and then rejected nursing (I would’ve been happy to nurse him longer!). Interestingly, he’s tall, healthy, and extremely bright. He is reading chapter books at 7 years old and has no signs of any learning disabilities or major moodiness.

My friend Rhonda said that her naturopath told her that a child will eat butter “until they don’t need it anymore.”

I asked all of my kids “do you want to eat butter?”
Farm Boy 1, Farm Boy 3 and Farm Princess all said “yes!”
Farm Boy 2 said “no thank you, that doesn’t sound very good.”

Interesting, huh???

So Farm Boy 2 doesn’t need to consume big chunks of butter, but he does still need fat.  Even as an adult, I can feel my body’s need for fat!  If I go too long without fat, I feel “foggy brained.” I feel like I can’t think clearly. My eyes don’t work as well. I feel lethargic. I get shaky. A chicken breast and salad is not enough for me. I need dark meat. I need cheese on my salad, and lots of olive oil. I need my chicken cooked in butter and topped with cheese. =) I feel SO much healthier when I eat this way. I don’t get as hungry when I eat this way. I know it sounds weird. But I know for sure that my body needs it.

Fat helps our body process vitamins. If we decrease the amount of fat we eat, fat-soluble vitamins don’t get used by our body like they should. Every cell in our body is made up of fat and needs fat to continue functioning. Fat stays in our stomach longer than carbs–keeping us satisfied longer–so we’re less likely to snack or feel hungry too soon after a meal. Eating fat has helped me *lose weight* and feel healthier than I’ve ever felt in my whole life. (I was even a weak and shaky little kid…who knew? I needed fat!). =)

I read an article by Donna Gates about butter that I really liked. But then again, I like most of what she has to say. =)

The idea that butter is “bad” for us or causes us to gain weight is really a new (and messed up) way of thinking. People were eating butter way before heart attacks and cancer were prevalent among humans. When heart attacks and cancer started happening at such a crazy rate, what people should have done was look at what was *new* in human consumption. Packaged foods. Refined sugar. Refined flour. Huge amounts of corn, all year long in various highly processed forms.

Butter is a basic food that meets basic needs in the body–in both children and adults. I’m going to keep feeding my kids spoonfuls of raw, homemade butter as long as they need it. When they say it doesn’t sound very good, I’ll know they don’t need to eat spoonfuls anymore…But for now, I’m fueling their brains!