upbringing influence the way you eat?
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mswoodsy
Posts: 91 Member
I was brought up in the mountains in Oregon under an "alternative lifestyle" (we were hippies lol) and ever since have lived out in very rural areas. I know thats where i got my eating habits from, having a fresh source of meat and produce just down the road. Always reading all the differing opinions about diets; organic, "junk" in moderation, vegan, etc... has made me wonder if this may apply to everyone more than we realize
.
so what im asking is, where are you from (where were you raised) and what type of diet do you follow? what do you think pushes you towards that diet?
upbringing, long work days, 5 kids, animal cruelty, not knowing how to cook. whatever your reason, i wanna hear it!
i'm just trying to compare and see if there's a correlation anywhere...
or is it really all just opinion...
** I'm totally up for debate but PLEASE try not to take anyones responses personally. we're all adults here.
.
so what im asking is, where are you from (where were you raised) and what type of diet do you follow? what do you think pushes you towards that diet?
upbringing, long work days, 5 kids, animal cruelty, not knowing how to cook. whatever your reason, i wanna hear it!
i'm just trying to compare and see if there's a correlation anywhere...
or is it really all just opinion...
** I'm totally up for debate but PLEASE try not to take anyones responses personally. we're all adults here.
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Replies
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I think going without at a young age definitely defines one wanting to hoard, or eat more later. So YEP, my upbringing absolutely affected my eating habits.
As far as the food choices themselves, there are something's I still wont eat today and probably never will. I think this can go either way, depending on the individual. It either strongly influences you to continue on with, or get away from.0 -
I was brought up in the mountains in Oregon under an "alternative lifestyle" (we were hippies lol) and ever since have lived out in very rural areas. I know thats where i got my eating habits from, having a fresh source of meat and produce just down the road. Always reading all the differing opinions about diets; organic, "junk" in moderation, vegan, etc... has made me wonder if this may apply to everyone more than we realize
.
so what im asking is, where are you from (where were you raised) and what type of diet do you follow? what do you think pushes you towards that diet?
upbringing, long work days, 5 kids, animal cruelty, not knowing how to cook. whatever your reason, i wanna hear it!
i'm just trying to compare and see if there's a correlation anywhere...
or is it really all just opinion...
** I'm totally up for debate but PLEASE try not to take anyones responses personally. we're all adults here.
In my experience, the way I was raised has everything to do with me being obese and my eating habits. It has taken me years to see it and to actively work on changing it.
I grew up in Ottawa (Canada) in the suburbs with two working parents. My mom would often cook deep fried foods for dinner. She always encouraged me to go for a second helping, even if I wasn't hungry she insisted I grabbed more food. My lunches at school involved a lot of processed snacks, such as granola bars, gummy snacks, dunkaroos, etc... Every night after work my dad would give me a chocolate bar to eat before dinner. I was never encouraged to go outside and exercise but rather to sit in front of a TV and eat dinner. After dinner I would just sit there and watch TV with my parents. Sadly to me, this was all normal.
Luckily over the years my parents have changed their eating habits a bit and with me being on my "health kick" as they put it, it's encouraged them to eat wholesome healthy foods with normal portions.
My "diet" (note that I'm not on a diet, I've changed my lifestyle) is influenced by primal eating but I really don't follow it perfectly. I'll pick out elements from it and go from there. I eat for the way I feel. If I feel good after I eat then excellent. If not, I'll try to avoid the food in the future. I decided to change my lifestyle when I realized that my knees hurt whenever I went up a flight of stairs. I'm only 28 years old, I shouldn't have joint pain with stairs. I don't want health problems related to weight when I'm older so I decided to turn my life around by eating healthy and getting exercise. (which when I told my parents I signed up with a personal trainer they said it was a waste of money and even had a pool with each other that I'd give up, my mom gave me a week and my dad gave me four weeks before I quit - it's now been 5 months)0 -
Hey, where in Oregon did you grow up? I have lived in Oregon my whole life. Live near Salem, Oregon now, good to meet someone close to home
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I live in Ontario, Canada, In an urban city--I have three brothers, and we are a middle class. We never ate out! My parents couldn't afford it---and we ALWAYS ate as a family at the dinner table at 5:30-6. I've never had a problem with fast food or junk food. But I am Italian, so food is the center of our gatherings--also my dad is a butcher. So my biggest thing has always been 'over eating'. Eating too much of a good thing--not knowing what a 4 'oz steak looked like--because it was rib eyes and T-bones. And pasta by the bucket load. Which made me about 50 lbs over weight. But I am thankful, because now that I am an adult, and live on my own with my partner---we still ALWAYS eat together at the dinner table, and we never eat out! I am just more conscious about portion sizes.
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I think it has a lot to do with it! I grew up in a suburb of Buffalo NY so it was city-living but my mom always cooked dinner and we always ate together as a family. We didn't eat organic or fancy, just health-fully, with occasional treats. Unfortunately when we moved to the country when I was about 15, my parents kind of gave up, and it changed a lot to "fend for yourself" or eating/ordering out. I can see how that mentality rubbed off on my younger siblings (2 of the 3 who have weight/overeating/junk food problems) and I count myself lucky that I was old enough to know how to fend for myself.
As I've grown up, my attitude and opinions have evolved further and I have gravitated toward a more "whole food" diet for myself and my family. I work hard to impress healthy eating habits on my kids so that they can grow up to make their own healthy choices.0 -
I was brought up in the mountains in Oregon under an "alternative lifestyle" (we were hippies lol) and ever since have lived out in very rural areas. I know thats where i got my eating habits from, having a fresh source of meat and produce just down the road. Always reading all the differing opinions about diets; organic, "junk" in moderation, vegan, etc... has made me wonder if this may apply to everyone more than we realize
.
so what im asking is, where are you from (where were you raised) and what type of diet do you follow? what do you think pushes you towards that diet?
upbringing, long work days, 5 kids, animal cruelty, not knowing how to cook. whatever your reason, i wanna hear it!
i'm just trying to compare and see if there's a correlation anywhere...
or is it really all just opinion...
** I'm totally up for debate but PLEASE try not to take anyones responses personally. we're all adults here.
In my experience, the way I was raised has everything to do with me being obese and my eating habits. It has taken me years to see it and to actively work on changing it.
I grew up in Ottawa (Canada) in the suburbs with two working parents. My mom would often cook deep fried foods for dinner. She always encouraged me to go for a second helping, even if I wasn't hungry she insisted I grabbed more food. My lunches at school involved a lot of processed snacks, such as granola bars, gummy snacks, dunkaroos, etc... Every night after work my dad would give me a chocolate bar to eat before dinner. I was never encouraged to go outside and exercise but rather to sit in front of a TV and eat dinner. After dinner I would just sit there and watch TV with my parents. Sadly to me, this was all normal.
Luckily over the years my parents have changed their eating habits a bit and with me being on my "health kick" as they put it, it's encouraged them to eat wholesome healthy foods with normal portions.
My "diet" (note that I'm not on a diet, I've changed my lifestyle) is influenced by primal eating but I really don't follow it perfectly. I'll pick out elements from it and go from there. I eat for the way I feel. If I feel good after I eat then excellent. If not, I'll try to avoid the food in the future. I decided to change my lifestyle when I realized that my knees hurt whenever I went up a flight of stairs. I'm only 28 years old, I shouldn't have joint pain with stairs. I don't want health problems related to weight when I'm older so I decided to turn my life around by eating healthy and getting exercise. (which when I told my parents I signed up with a personal trainer they said it was a waste of money and even had a pool with each other that I'd give up, my mom gave me a week and my dad gave me four weeks before I quit - it's now been 5 months)
I love dunk-a-roos.0 -
My upbringing was DEFINITLY a big part of my old eating habits...
I grew up Mennonite. In Texas. Mexican food.
Need I say more? haha
Potatoes, meat, bread, rice, beans, pasta, desserts, carbs, carbs, carbs, CARBS!!!!!
Plus in our family the kids didn't serve themselves until we were at least teenagers, and you were expected to clean your plate. I learned at a very early age that I could eat alot of food. I mean ALOT. We used to have competitions amongst us kids (there are 6 of us in my family) to see who could eat the most tamales in one sitting. Yeah. I think I ate 18 once. I cringe now to think of how many calories, fat, salt, & carbs that adds up to.
when I started on my current weight loss journey in January of this year, I had to reprogram my brain. Thank GOD I didn't go nuts and try to eliminate entire food groups because I would have just ended up hungry, cranky, and discouraged. Instead I focused first on portions. Once I got that under a little bit of control (I weigh and measure EVERYTHING), I started looking for healthier versions of the foods I eat and swapping out the junk foods for more natural wholesome foods.
I still eat junk sometimes though. I mean, realistically I know I'm going to do it so I allow myself to eat a little of the things I like. but I have to really watch my portions and frequency of it.0 -
YES!!! First my parents were raised during the great depression so we were not allowed to waste anything, especially food. Second my Mom was a horrible cook and I had trouble with her food. Third, we never ate out. I was very very skinny as a kid. When I got my first job in high school and had extra spending money, I would indulge in food, especially fast food and became addicted to junk food and other yummy high carb food. Also I would make sure nothing would go to waste. That, my friends, is a recipe for adding a lot of weight.0
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Brought up in the NYC area borough of Queens, in a HIspanic, single mom, bi-lingual yet mostly english speaking household. When mom cooked, it was mostly latino-caribbean influenced (beans, lots of white rice, thin steaks smothered with onions, liver occasionally, chicken, eggs, pancakes, potatoes, mixed frozen veggies, mostly peas and carrots and corn, wonder bread).
When I left home I didn't really keep the latino cooking up. It's heavy in starch and I liked other things too, like rye bread, pasta alfredo with veggies, spinach salad, you know, wtuff most peopel eat that is not hispanic influenced.
I will make white rice only sporadically and pasta as well. I mostly eat chicken proteins and veggies at home, along with eggs and salad veggies. And a host of other empty calorie foods.
So, my upbrionging didn't really influence the way I eat except maybe it kept me from eating all those starchy veggies from my childhood (like plantains - If I at as many plantains as I did in childhood, I'd be a lot fatter.)0 -
Oh man. It has been one of the major influences in my eating habits. I was born in the Philippines and came over to the United States at a very young age. Growing up in a Filipino household and holding on to the culture meant food was a HUGE part of our social fabric. People joke that when Filipinos greet each other, it's never a "Hi, how are you doing?", it's more of "Hi, did you eat yet?" LOL. And it's true!
Even though we did not have a lot of money, there was always enough food. At Filipino parties and gatherings, there is ALWAYS too much food - enough where each family could bring home a plate for themselves. In our culture, it is also very rude to decline food - food is like an offering, a blessing, a way to connect - It kind of stuck with me. As an adult now, I cook for an army when I have guests over. Cooking for people and feeding their bellies is a way I show I care.
Now mind you, even though we were always eating, we rarely "dieted". We were never extremely obese (my relatives were always slender and can out-eat people twice their size), but because high blood pressure ran in our family, we had to make changes in how we ate. Filipino food is notorious for its fat and sodium content.
I still eat the food from time to time but in moderation - that is the one thing I've had to change as an adult to maintain my weight and stay healthy.
Edited to add: it's also made me a very adventurous eater. I guess because what most people consider "exotic" food is stuff that I grew up eating anyway.0 -
Strangely enough, I think my upbringing has had nothing to do with the way I eat. My parents have always been healthy eaters and set a great example. My dad is the king of moderation (think just a spoonful or two of ice cream, just one piece of chocolate, one glass of wine, etc.) and regular exercise. My mom kept us away from artificial colors/flavors due to their link to ADD, wouldn't let us eat sugary cereals, there was no pop/kool-aid/sugary drinks in the house, etc. Everything was well-balanced and they cooked most evenings. We went for family walks and bike rides.
However, my mom has mostly been overweight, and all my siblings and I have struggled with our weight (except the oldest, she has her *kitten* together all around). My problem has always been a combination of being a picky eater, not knowing how to cook (struggling to find healthy pre-made food), being resigned to being fat, thinking I'm incapable of being smaller/fitter, and depression. I think a lack of nutritional education had quite a bit to do with it as well. When we were growing up, the extent of nutritional guidance was the food pyramid, which isn't particularly helpful.0 -
I was thinking about posting a similar question just this morning. I came from a large family, ten of us. My parents both worked but my father had a bad drinking problem and therefore his paycheck never made it home. My mother and her parents struggled to take care of our family.I grew up on a river and learned to fish early on. We had a big garden, grew, canned and froze for off season. We had fruit tree's and made pies to freeze for winter months. We had chickens for eggs and meat and believe it or not, it was my grandmother that did the dirty work there. Not that she enjoyed it, but she knew it was a necessity for us. We also always had a riding horse. My uncle was an accordian teacher so each one of us kids shared one accordian and learned to play. Boy I hated that! Memere' (my grandmother) was a seamstress and made our clothes too.
Today, my home is by the river, I grow a decent garden, not too big but big enough for my family. I have apple, pear, plum mulberry and apricot trees. I have grapevines for wine and grapevines for jams and just plain eating. I have 4 blueberry bushes and a rhubarb patch. Raise hens too, but only for the eggs. I did not have an idyllic childhood but the women in my life kept us a float. The life I've given my children is similar with the exception of the alcoholic father. They have a wonderful, hard working father and I have a loving husband and companion that share a dream of living as close to nature as we can. We have a beautiful old farm house and it sits on an acre of land just out of the city. And no, we don't have a horse but we do have a pony. :happy:0 -
I wanna preface this by saying I don't put the blame on my parents for my weight issues. But yeah. Totally.
I grew up in a household of frequent restaurant meals, convenience foods, and dessert after every lunch and dinner. We DID have home cooked meals regularly, but they were heavy with canned veggies and tons of margarine. When we ate chicken or fish it was breaded and fried.
The other day my husband and I went to a backyard dinner at a friend's house and I overheard two little girls there (friends' daughters) asking their mom if they could have a second brownie. Both moms said no. My mom never would have said no, and I probably wouldn't have even asked her by their ages (8 and 11), assuming there were plenty of brownies leftover for other guests I would have eaten two or three without even thinking twice!! Stuff like that...0 -
My mom is straight-off-the-boat from Ireland and was probably the worst cook ever. What she used to do to pork chops was just sad...my brothers and I used to have to drown them in applesauce just to chew it down. Let's not even get into that thing she called "meat loaf" or that weird fried chicken that tasted oddly like plastic.
When I started high school and wanted to eat healthier and get out of eating what she called "dinner" I decided I was going to be a vegetarian because "meat is MURDER MOM!!" She thought it was a stupid high school phase and I'd grow out of it in 6 months.
I haven't eaten a land animal since December 1987...although I do eat seafood. So technically I'm a pescetarian 0 -
I was raised in a semi-rural area. We had a lot of property but my family only planted a very small garden. Nothing preserved for the cold months. Fast food wasn't a part of my life as a child, though I hit it pretty hard as a teenager. Growing up my mother prepared dinner most nights, but it included quite a bit of processed food. Most vegetables that didn't come from out garden were frozen or canned.
Now I live on a farm. Not a commercial farm, but most of food come from our land. Vegetables and fruit from the garden. I plant a Spring and Fall garden and have a root cellar full of canned, pickled and root vegetables, as well as winter squash. Our meat is eggs and meat from chickens we raise (we have laying hens and meat chickens), wild game (deer, turkey and squirrel mostly, occasionally rabbit), and fish/seafood that we catch or buy. We don't live near an ocean so all shellfish and ocean fish we buy frozen, and most beef or pork we eat comes from the grocery store.
That's the majority of our diet. But we also eat processed food, go out to restaurants now and then, and order pizza once or twice a month. We very rarely have fast food.0 -
Yes. I was brought up on junk food, and still eat too much junk food.
Honestly, it is a daily struggle for me. Most days I do really good with control, but occasionally will eat an entire pack of oreos or chewy chocolate chips. As a child, we always either ate fast food or hot deli foods from the local grocery, so as an adult I thought I had to eat fast foods for breakfast and lunch each day. I've recently changed that mind set. I do indulge in fast foods and sweets occasionally, but have really learned how much cheaper and better the food is when I bring my meals from home.0 -
I was raised in a semi-rural area. We had a lot of property but my family only planted a very small garden. Nothing preserved for the cold months. Fast food wasn't a part of my life as a child, though I hit it pretty hard as a teenager. Growing up my mother prepared dinner most nights, but it included quite a bit of processed food. Most vegetables that didn't come from out garden were frozen or canned.
Now I live on a farm. Not a commercial farm, but most of food come from our land. Vegetables and fruit from the garden. I plant a Spring and Fall garden and have a root cellar full of canned, pickled and root vegetables, as well as winter squash. Our meat is eggs and meat from chickens we raise (we have laying hens and meat chickens), wild game (deer, turkey and squirrel mostly, occasionally rabbit), and fish/seafood that we catch or buy. We don't live near an ocean so all shellfish and ocean fish we buy frozen, and most beef or pork we eat comes from the grocery store.
That's the majority of our diet. But we also eat processed food, go out to restaurants now and then, and order pizza once or twice a month. We very rarely have fast food.
That's awesome! I would love to have a good cellar to store our root veggies in, as well as more space for canned foods and a deep freeze. I am freezing our veggies, but am limited to how much I can store in my regular freezer. We raise cattle, so we do have beef and fresh pork through out the year. Thankfully, my father in law let's us share his freezer for that.0 -
I was just thinking about this. I remember that there was a girl at my elementary school who would have raw bell peppers in her lunch every day. Not as the whole meal, but as the side. I distinctly remember my parents talking about that girl's parents, and how they were being unreasonable and mean to deprive her of "kids' foods"- like the Cheetos and Little Debbie snacks that they always bought for me and let me eat whenever I wanted.
Now, I don't know what that girl is up to now- maybe she learned moderation and healthy habits, maybe she did feel deprived and went crazy once she left home, I dunno. But I know that I was not taught moderation. I was not exposed to varied, healthy foods (honest to God, I was in college when I found out the natural form of the cherry wasn't maraschino). I wasn't encouraged to do physical activities, and in fact wasn't allowed to play outside at all because of gang activity/shootings that happened regularly. And now I'm over 300lbs and have a lot of work to do.
BTW, I just ate some raw bell pepper as part of a snack.0 -
My family's origin is French Canadian, and all the women were great cooks and bakers (pies out of this world), but no one was heavy. I have only a few overweight relatives, one on my mother's side, and a couple of my paternal grandmother's siblings. Most everyone was normal weight to slender and small of stature, regardless of how much we ate. In fact, I'm on the "fatter" side compared to most of my relatives. Our attitude toward food was very European -- we were offered everything, including wine at the dinner table as teen-agers. Dessert was part of life, to be enjoyed. There was no moral quality associated with food -- good or bad -- it was just delicious. There was a modest requirement that we eat most of our dinner before dessert, but it wasn't enforced too strictly. I remember my mother throwing dessert away because it went stale, and on a "bad" week, all we had in the house were store cookies and ice cream. I remember my mother occasionally limiting her own dessert intake to once a week, but no serious dieting.
My husband is half Italian, and he lived with that side of the family (absentee father). Food as love was huge. He was overweight from infancy and was actually put on skim milk formula. He was always told he wasn't fat, "just big boned." His mother was diabetic and overweight, and eventually died of diabetes. Her own mother outlived her, and in many ways, enabled her daughter's disease by encouraging her to avoid physical activity (she did all the housework while daughter napped), discouraging her from taking her medications, and overfeeding her (Grandma was the cook in the family). No one baked in the family, although all the pastas, meat dishes, etc. were homemade and unquestionably delicious, but If there was a half gallon of ice cream or a box of cookies in the house, it was gone by the end of the day. Whenever I visited, I felt compelled to eat, even if it was a holiday and I had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner at my folks' house. People constantly obsessed over what and how much my children were eating, how thin I was or my sister in law was. I would say their attitudes about eating caused some pretty lifelong damage to my husband's health, as he has spent most of his life struggling with his weight.0 -
I was raised in South Georgia where everything is deep fried or smothered in gravy. Food here is a representation of love and caring. If someone dies, gets married, gives birth or falls ill there will be 20 meals delivered to your house before sundown!0
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