What were some "food rules" you had growing up? How does it affect you, today?

It's weird, but I had no food rules when I was a kid. I ate my vegetables and finished my plate without problems, it never even occurred to me that not eating vegetables or drinking anything but water when thirsty was even an option or something other people did. Everyone I knew did that, so I did it too without giving it any thought. I've always liked vegetables so there is also that. Portions were big overall so that was a bad thing.

Dessert was only available on occasion anyway, and we did not have it right after meals so it did not take precedence and in my mind was something entirely different from a real meal. We usually had it in the evening when we would sit together as a family, or on birthdays.

For sugary or salty snacks I had a very limited allowance, so that was automatically controlled by the limited budget and I could only afford to buy a single serving of one thing a day. Almost all the kids I knew had the same small allowance, so it felt normal and I did not feel like I had to compensate when I grew up. That one was really helpful because right now I have no problems eating a single serving of sweet or salty snacks.

I think that because I had no real restrictions but nutritious food was always more abundant than fast food I just developed good eating habits food-wise, but not portion-wise. I eat nutrient rich food out of preference and every single thing in my diary that may look like I'm deliberately trying to "eat clean" is actually just me eating the foods I've always liked and I'm used to eating. If in addition to normalizing food (no strict rules, no stress around food) I also had normalized portions I probably wouldn't have gained weight.

Edit: now that I think of it, there was one rule. I was not allowed to take more than a very small handful of nuts when we visited people and had nuts served. They were very expensive so it was not polite to eat many. Probably why I started buying them in pounds when I got a job.

I grew up in a family of seven, where eating 3 meals a day was the norm. However, the only times we had all three at home was during the weekends or holidays.

Dinner was homecooked at 6pm, finished with plain yogurt or fruit salad

At weekends when everyone was at home we had a late breakfast/lunch which was a huge english breakfast.

On a saturday/sunday we had high tea with a home baked victoria sponge and a cup of tea, one cake share by 7. The other treat was a box of twiglets and 2 packets of iced gems, again shared by the 7 of us. It was always the same and we never got bored of it either. Sunday evening meal was always a roast chicken dinner.

There was always a ton of fruit in the house that we could eat whenever we wanted. If ever we were hungry outside meal times we would usually have something like a round of sandwiches with ham or cheddar cheese and lots of salad, or fish and chips (one portion), but this was always shared by all those that were around at the time. The only thing we ate alone was fruit, even that was shared if anyone else was around though. We always did it like this and never questioned it. plus we really enjoyed eating together.

We grew up with a inbuilt sense that you never take more than you can eat and never threw food away.

I loved eating like this and still do.

We never had rules growing up. Which is maybe the reason why I have whatever I want when I want. Or i did. Now its just better controlled.

Being forced to eat when not hungry was miserable. I would get sick eating breakfast so early, so making me eat it was pointless because half of the time I threw it up anyway. Making me sit there until I ate all of my dinner. Sometimes I would sit until bedtime, then they would relent and allow me to sleep. I just didn't require as much food when I was younger. I also had a lot of Happy Meals when my mom was in charge of me. It wasn't a treat, it was a normal thing.

never had food rules like that, and i dont for my kids either.

now, id get mad if they dish up a HUGE portion and dont eat it all because its wasting food (because theyll throw it in the trash), but they have learned to dish up a smaller portion, and if they want more, to go back and get it. even if they dish up more than they can eat, i only *kitten* about them wasting the possible leftovers to eat later, and not the fact they didnt finish their plate.

Clean your plate. My family has no idea what a portion should be, so we had giant plates, piled high with food. And you were told off if you left anything. I was once forced to eat the fat off of a gammon steak. I vomited right there on the table, and ever since I will spend full minutes picking the fat off of food. But apart from that, I will eat everything on my plate, even if I don't like it or I'm full.
My parents are also very frugal, so I will eat things I pretty much hate, just because I paid for it and won't waste it. This I am slowly working on, last night I threw away the rest of a pasta salad I made because I didn't like it, and I would be the only one eating it. I am slowly making my calorie goal as important as moneysaving.

Hoarding food. I grew up very poor and for quite a few years of adulthood as well. I lived on ramen and pasta and dollar store food for a long time. Now life is better and I can afford to eat fairly well. For me the hard thing is to realise that I can go and buy more food in a week so I don't have to have the kitchen stuffed to the rim on pay day. (I get paid once a month) If I don't stock up so much on cheap filler foods that have a long shelf life, I can afford and have room for more fresh fruits and veg.

I don't remember any food rules while I was growing up. I was a very picky eater though and I just didn't eat a lot. I was also a lot more active when I was younger (dance class at least twice a week, riding my bike or walking around town, etc.) My mom was almost constantly on a diet but I don't remember that really affecting the food that I ate. We never really had sweets in the house and didn't even keep soda in the house until I was in high school. My biggest problem has always been eating even if I'm not hungry just because it's "time" to eat. My mom wouldn't let me leave for school unless I ate something and I've just never been a breakfast person.

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mootsie981 wrote: »

When we would go to a restaurant, we were not allowed to order any soda or juice. Mom only let us order water, because it was free! Luckily that set me up for a great lifelong habit of preferring water over any other liquid. I rarely drink soda or juice.

We didn't order soda either, and luckily that also set me up to prefer water over juice or soda. So when I did decide that I didn't want to drink calories it was not problem at all for me to cut out the few times that I did drink soda.

My mom never had the "finish everything on your plate" rule, but I think the mentality I got from my family was worse than that. I grew up with 5 siblings, and when my mom made a meal it'd be demolished. So I got the mentality of, "Eat as much as you can because other wise it'll be gone." It was a very difficult transition when I lived on my own and cooked for myself. I really struggled with portion sizes, because suddenly I had enough for seconds! And thirds! And hey it's almost gone so I may as well finish it! I've gotten better, but I still have problems occasionally. Like the other day when I took down almost an entire bag of Fritos in one sitting...

Just a few rules for me. My dad is a pretty picker eater who mom MADE him eat things he didn't like, so he said he would never do that to his children. I remember that in restaurants if you ordered it, you ate it (sometimes we got to eat on mom's company's dime so I would order things like Shark Steak, tuna tar tar or a whole lobster.....at 7 or 8 years old). And at home you had to at least try a couple bites and if you didn't like it you made yourself a sandwich. And we all ate dinner together- no sitting in front of the TV.

We always had to finish our meals too, even if it had gone cold. My brother used to pig out on friends' sweets before dinner/tea so wasn't hungry, but I learnt not to do that.
We weren't allowed fizzy pop, but as I never liked it anyway it didn't matter to me.
If we wanted sweets we bought them with our own pocket money, so I learnt I'd rather spend my money on other things and ate at home whatever my Dad had in.
We had a healthy balanced diet with occasional treats, chips with some meals and veggies with some meals.
So the way I ate as a child I don't think has anything to do with why I put on weight as an adult.

This is a fun thread. Interesting to read how people ate.

Mother only cooked what we commonly call "soul food," and I never liked it. Collard greens, cornbread, okra, limas and other beans, chit'lin's, pork fat, fatback, etc. I never liked any of it, except for grits. Furthermore, she served the food, and we were expected to eat it. Period.

If I didn't eat it, I had to stay at the table. The dishes were washed, the lights were turned off, the others went into the living room and sat around the big blond radio listening to The Shadow Knows, and I still sat. I learned to throw my food behind the washer. Mother would ask if I ate my food, I would lie, and my food would be found the next morning. I would be spanked. Now, I eat what I want, of course. But to avoid feeling guilty if I don't finish, I put it in the 'fridge and finish it later.

I still don't like soul food, but I keep thinking that there has to be some cornbread I would like. Yesterday, I found a recipe for Johnny Cakes, which I am going to try. I think I'll like them. My brother wants me to try his cornbread recipe that has lots of sweet potato in it.

The only real rule we had was to not touch any food that didn't belong to us, which mainly consisted of "luxury items" [chips, candy, sodas, etc]. I grew up in Southeastern US and having a healthy appetite was always a good thing. It didn't help that we would always have the traditional southern Sunday brunch/dinner [really big breakfast, really big dinner].

What a fascinating question!

I don't think my family food habits affected me in a negative way - but my moms food and body insecurities were absolutely passed down to me. She constantly asked me if she was fat, talked about how fat she was, and would sometimes (in separate conversations) talk about our similar body types, leading me to think I was fat, too. Don't get me wrong - none of this was intentional or malicious, and she told me I was beautiful just like all moms, but her insecurities trickled down to me, and now I find myself being the obnoxious one to my boyfriend, asking him constantly if I am fat!