Lessons from A Child at a Vegan Restaurant

I am a dragon, and I celebrate the arrival of the Lunar Year

'I am a meat lover! I LOVE MEAT!' my tubby son says with pride. He has been spending a lot of time with Dad, obviously...so today since he was home, sick, I decided to take him to my favorite Vegan/Raw restaurant for some homemade Vietnamese noodle soup called Pho. It would open his sinuses. 

It would also challenge his world view.

I extracted a promise from him in the car to be on his best behavior. 'I know the owner and I want you to make good choices, even if you don't like anything you won't have to eat it, but you have to be nice.' He agreed.

He panicked over the menu. I took it away and gave him his iPad so he could finish his movie, 'The Fabulous Mr. Fox'. He refused everything I suggested. So I ordered for him. Chocolate 'shake' with healthy, non-dairy ingredients, and Chik'n pho. When the food arrived I could tell he was dying a thousand deaths. Slowly he drank the chocolate, and after the mandatory two spoon fulls of broth, he decided not to eat.

I shared my disappointment in his choices, because 'You know how the food everywhere else you go to eat, you have to make the choices what is least bad for you? It is not like this here. Everything here is good fuel to make you strong and healthy.'

He didn't flinch. At least I had taken the iPad away so it would not get water damage. And he was listening, but trying not to let it show.

'See those people at the bar?'

'What bar?'

'That bar over there'

'Why is there a bar in a healthy restaurant?'

'It is not a BAR--bar, they serve healthy drinks. Some of those people there, and in this restaurant, may have been fighting bad diseases like Grandma is with her cancer. They come here to get healthy. And see these necklaces with the fragrance? They came from here. Chef made them.'

He was looking and listening now. I could see the wheels starting to turn in his little head.

'And even the ENERGY here is good for you, if you don't choose to eat. This is something that as a Reiki Master is would be good for you to be exposed to.'

And he relaxed. We laughed easily and often at that table!

I let him order whatever dessert he wanted. He started playing with the chopsticks and making airplane noises. He didn't have to fight the 'vegetarian-vegan-raw' label any more. He did ask what raw was. I said, 'A salad is raw. There are many things like that here.' 

He excused himself to go to the restroom. 'Mom, it was a lot cleaner than I would have thought. There was not a spot or ANYTHING!'

And at the end of the meal, he asked me the most important question of them all! 

'Mom? Do you think there is gum under the table?'

'I don't know! How would I know?'

'Guess!'

'Okay--yes!'

'That's right! there is yellow gum under this table. I peeked when you went to the ladies' room.'

We have a long way to go against the conditioning of this child to the Kid's Meal. Two weeks ago I discovered the bean burrito in the lunch box. Today I tried this. It is a never-ending work as a mother to   bring out the best in her kids...

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

A traditional, non-vegetarian Vietnamese meal to celebrate Lunar New Year.

The Healthy Kid's Meal Oxymoron

Recently I witnessed something happening. As a 'open' person, I was able to 'get' more out of that situation because I 'saw' it energetically, not with just my eyes, but instead, with my eyes and heart.

I was seated at a local steakhouse. I had just finished a brutal shift at work. And since Dad-I coparent-had made jelly sandwiches and kettle corn and some nutrition bar that make them choke for lunch, I was taking the kids out to their favorite restaurant. Nothing in the first five ingredients on the food should be a concentrated sweet--it's the rules. So all this carbohydrate was a double crash on their delicate systems.

Across the aisle came in a mother with her two kids, both a little younger than mine. The girl was around four, the boy, approximately six. She was married but the husband was not present. The children behaved.  Then this is when my 'antennae' perked up:
The server, a young man, came out with two plates of chicken strips and fries. He had so much love and pride in his work. He teased the girl a bit, as to, 'who gets what plate I am so confused?' and she laughed and said, 'Me!'. Nobody, not the mother, not the server, not the kids had any idea how poor a choice this 'food' was nutritionally for these kids.

I saw, the mother had some grilled chicken with cheese on it. No fries.  I knew about those fries--I ate one from one of my kid's plates. They were incredibly salty! The sodium must have had off the chart values, easily exceeding two grams, for the meal. The fried foods are a set-up for colon cancer. And the meat is probably full of hormones, antibiotics and cruelty. The energy of this felt like chalk on a blackboard.

We are unconsciously poisoning each other!

We are unconsciously poisoning each other because of lack of awareness and a need to show love.

This is how they poison us. We are poisoning ourselves together.

So how are we going to stop it, this harm that starts with the first meals children are given to eat once they wean? And how are we going to get everyone together on the same page?

We need to pray. We need to ask our Guides, our Angels, and Source every day--to bring clean food and clean water that will nourish us into our lives. And a way to nourish our hearts and need to help others in the right way. Simply put, to Know what is Truth in Everything as we go through our days.

After that we have to Listen to 'hints' from our Inner Guide, for that is how Angels 'talk' to us. We get a 'great idea right out of the blue!'...something that 'resonates' with us as Truth. For in all, our heart center is our 'truth' detector, isn't it?

I was there for the same reason--I couldn't cook, the kids love it, and we know the owner who is the most personable, positive soul we know. I was empty, and I wanted FULL. The kids were crashing, and needed to 'pull up'.

I ordered for them, lemon-lime soda (better because no dyes or caffeine), steak, sliced steamed carrots, french fries (but try to eat only ten), and a seared ahi appetizer. We also ate the bread that was provided us.

On the way home from work, I 'got' a deep sense of permission and acceptance from someone I know who is raw vegan. It was total acceptance, and permission to eat what is needed to survive. The time I woke up for this was 3:33 a.m. That is how I knew to write. My path to nutrition for 'Optimal Health' has been not straight. So you are forgiven, there is no wrong, all is good. Just take the time to 'listen' to your 'inner guide' on all of your food choices, and educate yourself.

I am sure this mom ordered the chicken because she thought it was more healthy than the beef.

All it will take is a little 'redirection'. Last week I served the kids 'Chik'n' for dinner. They are artificially-made frozen non-meat 'strips' that are breaded like the real thing. They have that meat-like consistency that 'breaks apart' in 'muscle fibers' like real meat. That is not to say that they were not expensive and my background in chemistry gave a great big 'hmmmmmmmm' to the ingredients list. The children refused to eat them--not because they were fake but because I had burned them! They didn't know that it was not meat! I enjoyed mine very much.

I am a little further along the road than most. But all of us with get 'there': to optimum fuel for both our energy bodies and our physical ones. We will know without a doubt how the food industry has tricked us, and not allow ourselves to be tricked again.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

Addendum:

Meals
breakfast--0615-two pieces cinnamon toast with butter, black coffee in a press pot that is very dark roast Kona, pineapple-orange-banana smoothie
snack-1015-raw coconut chocolate bar, two mandarin oranges
early lunch between cases-1100-frozen florentine personal quiche, water
lunch--1300--salad with radicchio, avocado, tomatoes, croutons, and 'bottled' balsam vinaigrette from Doctor's Dining Room salad bar. Water. One organic pear, small, Bartlett.
dinner--1700-leftover string beans, chard heated up. Organic strawberry yogurt. Water.
overnight I was hungry AND sleepy but I chose to nap between epidural boluses I was asked to go do

breakfast-0600--whole grapefruit, black coffee, which was 'free trade' and so awful I couldn't drink it.
lunch--1230--salad with spring mix, black beans, and a side of pasta salad that looked 'okay' with bottled 'italian' dressing in doctor's dining room. Water.
dinner--1730--bread and butter, seared ahi, caesar salad, small steak, baked potato with the 'works', red wine one glass Shiraz, and carrot cake. Water.
bedtime snack--2000--glass organic milk


I was terribly out of balance because of the lack of sleep during this 'day', from an Optimal Health point of view. I was centered, and calm, with an Open Heart, though. And I took in the meltdown of my son at the restaurant with calm, lovingkindness, and a smile. He was crashing so bad he burst into tears and threw his jacket over his head! I sat next to him, put my arm around him, spoke in soft tones, and made sure he got two sips of soda right away to perk him up. Inwardly I smiled at my own exhaustion, thought, 'when it rains it pours', and shared with the server how utterly empty I was and how much I looked forward to a baked potato. She was kind, and said, 'don't you worry, I've got this!' and made for a beautiful meal.

I tipper her 25%.