STP TONIGHT!!!!

Its date night and an exciting one at that. When DH gets home from work, we'll be heading to Milwaukee for the Stone Temple Pilots concert.

I should be more excited, but I just finished reading Fall To Pieces by Mary Forsberg Weiland and its left me with a lingering sadness. Mary is/was Scott's wife. Scott is the lead singer for STP. The book tells of their struggles with drug addiction and the breakup of their marriage.

One thing I'm taking away from reading her autobiography, I'm making sure my children have good nutrition. If we don't put into our bodies what our brains need to function the chemical imbalances can leave our brains damaged. Even before the drugs go in, prescribed or not, we should evaluate how whole, nutritious foods can help us first.

Reading about how drug addicts take prescribed drugs to keep them off of the illegal ones seems crazy to me. Take this drug because it will keep you from craving another. It doesn't make any sense! Isn't that trading one for the other? I'm sure the pharmaceutical companies are happy because they make the profit not the street dealers, but this answer doesn't really help the individual overcome their chemical imbalances.

In Mary's book she writes about how as a baby she was fed Carnation Evaporated milk, not breast milk or formula and how she had access to drink all the grape cough syrup she could get her hands on. I can't help but wonder if this damaged her brain development, leaving her prone to her mental illness.

I can understand how a person may need drugs for mental illness, perhaps for the rest of their lives if their brain is incapable of making the necessary chemicals and hormones on its own, but I have to wonder how many of these people suffering with mental illnesses could have been helped if they had healthy beginnings?

I'm going to make a larger effort to encourage my boys to eat more healthy. I did nurse them and when they were little guys, they ate fruits and veggies. Of course now that they are older they have more power to choose what's going in their mouths. Besides the usual broccoli, carrots, corn and apples, I'd like them to eat more a variety of fruits and veggies.

I'm going to ask them to become "garnish" chefs, having them be responsible for the veggie preparation for our meals. I'll bring in more different kinds of produce and tell them they have to at least try it once. I'll count this towards our "health and home economics" portion of our unschooling. :)

I better get chores done here and shower so I can be ready when DH arrives home.