Ahh if only...

truckerchic

I was feeding my 10 month old granddaughter the other day who is discovering new fun finger foods when my daughter asked about giving her chocolate milk . I asked why she wanted to give her that and she said as a treat. It than hit me that my granddaughter, Jacember is a clean slate she doesnt know what chocolate, donuts, cookies, greasy burgers are and right now it is up to her mother to decided her fate in life to travel the path that her and I have taken of struggling with our weight. As a preteen my mother didnt cook much and if she did it was never healthy, also because money was an issue my rewards for doing good in school, chores ect were always a food treat. In turn I found myself doing the same things with my kids. I dont want Jacember to have to deal with the things that go along with being heavy, so she, my daughter decided, will be healthy'
This leads me to say ahh how nice would it be if as adults we could have 1 do over and forget what food taste like, to start over with the knowledge we have now.

sculley

I feel that way about my baby I am about to have in March, I will do so much different with this one.

rundgrenfan

You're so right. How about all the times parents make kids feel better with food? ("You fell down? Oh no, here have a cookie.")

I have a very thin daughter who is totally in tune with her hunger. She can eat half a dish of ice cream and leave the rest (before MFP, I would have finished the other half, as the family garbage can -- the rule in my childhood was always, "don't waste food".), and I hope that she is able to keep that ability because it will serve her very well.

NutritionDivaRD

That is excellent! I have been fairly strict with my youngest (he'll be two on the 18th) as far as snack foods go. We do have homemade cookies or brownies on occasion but an average day around here consists of lots of fruits and veggies and he LOVES them. Anytime he sees me eating something he wants a bite. So that's how I've taught him to eat better foods....by eating them myself! When he was an infant he would NOT eat veggies although I never gave up trying. I'm so glad my persistence has paid off. I'm also very dramatic when I eat healthy foods in front of him. For example, I will sit back and say, "Oh yummy....that is sooooooo good!" It looks like my theatrics have done him some good! Now if only I had come up with this when my OLDEST was little....because he won't have anything to do with fruits and veggies. *sigh* I also don't allow flavored milk, or sweetened beverages. Nor do I add salt to his food. I want him to experience the wonder variety of flavors from fresh herbs, garlic, peppers, onions, lemon, lime or whatever way I decide to season our meals.

Way to go for teaching Jacember a better way!

NutritionDivaRD

You're so right. How about all the times parents make kids feel better with food? ("You fell down? Oh no, here have a cookie.")

I have a very thin daughter who is totally in tune with her hunger. She can eat half a dish of ice cream and leave the rest (before MFP, I would have finished the other half, as the family garbage can -- the rule in my childhood was always, "don't waste food".), and I hope that she is able to keep that ability because it will serve her very well.

I was raised that way too! Throwing food away always made me feel so BAD. But not anymore. And when my kids are finished we just toss any that they didn't eat in the garbage. No guilt trips for that in MY house!

ahkunkel

This post made me think of a conference that I went to where the speaker was Bob from "The Biggest Loser". He was talking about how vegetables are so good, but yet we don't even know what a real vegetable tastes like because we smother it in all these different ingredients. And when I thought of my own life, he was right! I swore to myself that broccoli, sweet potatoes, and carrots (cooked) only tasted good because of the junk i put onto them after cookies, i.e. butter, cheese, salt, brown sugar. Once I started cutting back and using less and less of those processed fillers, I realized that I still liked the food!

I wish I could go back and start my life by never putting butter or salt on anything and actually tasting food for what it is. I think then I would be a lot more appreciative of the things I'm putting into my body.

msemejuru

My mother was a southern cook that comforted us with food. It's what her mother did. I married a vegetarian who was not familiar with sweets growing up. We have raised my kids the way my husband was taught and they don't know what they don't know. My son was the only kid who piled his plate full of fruits at a recent Halloween party. Don't despair, we can still change our taste buds. Since I changed my habits this summer I can't stand the taste of my old sugary drinks and everything tastes too salty to me.

crissi66

My parents did the best they could. But we still use food as reward. My boyfriend, who grew up in a different counrty, eats to live and not lives to eat. He cant understand how americans are so obsessed with food and use it for everything. I love to eat but i now know the dangers that go along with it all. Food cant be a reward and it cant be a pacifier either. Unfortunetly it took me this long to realize this but i wont follow the same pattern when i start my family.

bree1609

This is a great post, and something I've considered nearly all my life.

Both my husband and I have struggled with weight problems growing up. He lost his "baby fat" by the time he was a sophomore in high school. During the first year of our marraige, he did gain a good amount of weight but has since been able to lose it.

I was always heavy my whole life. My grandmother raised me, and she always let me eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted: macoroni and cheese, HUGE bowls of sugary cereal, cookies and cakes she baked...I had no idea what healthy eating was until I got older. Even in high school, though, I had to fend for myself and bought foods that were easy and on the go (damn you McDonalds!)

Anyway, both my husbdand and I are very health conscious now. We buy whole grains, limit sweets that enter our home, and try to have at least one square meal together a day. We know how children can easily become unhealthy because of the choices parents/guardians make for them. We're promising each other to teach our children that healthy eating is just a normal part of life, not something they will have to adapt to after a lifetime of bad eating.

We don't have children yet, but are going to try for our first at the start of the new year. Planning for a healthy pregnancy is part of the reason I joined this site. Now I can take what I've learned about myself and pay it forward. Thanks for the post!

lfondots

This post is GREAT! I was talking the other day how I grew up being told to 'clean your plate'. Wasting food was wrong. Even though my mom was diabetic since she was little, we had tons of snacks in the house. We never had many veggies or fruits around. I have tried to change my kids eating habits since I started this diet. Taking smaller portions means I don't have anything left to throw out I can't finish. No real 'goodies' in the house only healthy ones. This is more then a diet. It is a lifestyle change.

Dafrog

Can totally relate. I watch my step grand-son who is 2 a lot. It is so hard to get him to eat when someone else has kept him. His ignorant father things all he needs is a sippy cup constantly filled with milk. Last night I had just fixed him a sandwich when his father's gf came to get him with a handful of suckers. He forgot all about his sandwich. Oh well.