Good or Bad Nutritional/Eating Habits Developed Growing Up

Things I think were good:

- Meals were eaten seated at a table, as a family, and very rarely in front of the TV. Maybe a half dozen times as a teen I took my plate into my bedroom to eat alone.
- Snacking wasn't a big thing.
- Sugary beverages were strongly discouraged. Kool-Aid was made with about 1/3 the suggested sugar and was a rare option in our house, unsweetened tea (even though we're close to the South!), full sugar soda was only for holidays or very special occasions, and juice was moderated (tiny glasses, not served often).
- Breakfast was considered important, eaten every morning and could be anything, even nontraditional stuff like a slice of cold pizza.
- Food wasn't talked about as being good/bad, no one felt "guilty" for eating certain things even though in my teens, my stepmom was often dieting, it really wasn't a huge topic of discussion.

Not so good:

- Second helpings weren't frowned upon at all.
- Vegetables were an afterthought and generally came from a can or were coated in butter.
- We went out to eat a LOT. Many times each week. After church, on Friday nights, etc. It was somewhat celebratory but also such a habit that it didn't seem special, just more of the same, to have fast food or steakhouse meals regularly.
- Dessert followed every lunch AND dinner. Sometimes small/light things like a bit of Jell-O, a small cookie, or pudding. Plenty of times full size slices of pie or cake, often a la mode. Dessert was considered as important as the main course in my house when I was growing up.

newmeadow wrote: »

Tang, Ovaltine, Hi C, Saltines, Skippy, Beefaroni, Cambell's Chicken Noodle, Caro Corn Syrup drunk directly from the bottle for a sugar hit, Hydrox, Underwood Devilled Ham, bologna, Cream of Wheat, Del Monte Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup .

What's wrong with cream of wheat? I always thought of that as an excellent, healthy, iron rich food.

Good: almost no processed food. My mom cooked lots of new recipes all the time from scratch and with whole ingredients.

Bad: I was a picky eater and refused to eat it and would sneak to the convenience store and buy candy.

Not my parents' fault! Totally mine. And this was from an early age. Anyone else do this as a child?

Good: We ate as a family most nights.

Bad: Vegetables were corn and potatoes and occasionally canned string beans. Never even tried broccoli until I was 24, at my then boyfriend's (now husband's) house.

Bagged school lunch was usually a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a three pack of Yankee Doodles.

Breakfast was usually Captain Crunch, Alphabet cereal or Fruity Pebbles.

My mother worked and my father, who was retired, was in charge of dinner. So, we had lots of sandwiches, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, frozen dinners and pizza. When I didn't care for the meal, I would eat broken up graham crackers in milk.

There was never a shortage of candy, cookies, cake, ice cream and chips. Chips were actually our side dish many nights with our sandwiches.

It's amazing that me or my other siblings never had a weight problem.

artbyrachelh wrote: »

newmeadow wrote: »

Tang, Ovaltine, Hi C, Saltines, Skippy, Beefaroni, Cambell's Chicken Noodle, Caro Corn Syrup drunk directly from the bottle for a sugar hit, Hydrox, Underwood Devilled Ham, bologna, Cream of Wheat, Del Monte Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup .

What's wrong with cream of wheat? I always thought of that as an excellent, healthy, iron rich food.

Good: almost no processed food. My mom cooked lots of new recipes all the time from scratch and with whole ingredients.

Bad: I was a picky eater and refused to eat it and would sneak to the convenience store and buy candy.

Not my parents' fault! Totally mine. And this was from an early age. Anyone else do this as a child?

In my teen years I did that quite a bit with the candy. Treats were definitely not forbidden in my house but I still wanted more of chocolate & stuff. When I started driving, my friends and I made a pit stop every day before school at the convenience store and usually bought Lindt truffles or Reese's cups.

I do remember one summer I spent in the country with friends. They had a big family and not a lot of money. Their only meal options were plain oatmeal, ham or bologna sandwiches, and then whatever dinner their mom cooked and shared between 7 people the portions were pretty small. I was an only child from the city with extra pocket money and once a week we would go to a nearby town and I would eat like 4 Twix bars in a row and buy them for my friends and their brothers/sisters. I couldn't imagine a life without constant desserts and treats and it seemed crazy to me that they never had fast food. Such different lifestyles. I do think part of that was being WAY more active in the country, swimming, riding horses, helping in the garden...I was even hungrier than usual. Oddly enough my two friends (preteens) were just as overweight as I was despite their simpler lifestyle.

Good:
We ate as a family, had discussions during the meal, no distractions like TV.

Bad:
Meat was always well done and vegetables boiled into submission. I was in college before I learned you could eat broccoli, cauliflower etc. raw.

Nothing in the house that could be described as a treat. No pop, chips, cookies, sugar cereals, McDonalds or junk food of any sort. You want a snack? Eat a piece of fruit. I've read in other places that kids who grow up in no-treat houses go bonkers as soon as they get out on their own and that was certainly the case with me. Fortunately I was young enough that I burned it off, but my first year of college I basically lived on McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and barbecue potato chips.

Clean Plate Club, all the way, and my parents fixed plates in the kitchen and brought them to the table with frequently no consideration for the fact that I didn't have an adult-size appetite. No leaving the table until your plate is empty and absolutely no throwing food away because of my mom's post-WWII upbringing in Germany. I had to overcome a lot of programming to take a bite of something, think "yuck, I don't like this" and throw the rest in the garbage. For years I would reflexively look over my shoulder before I threw something in the trash, as if my mom is going to suddenly appear from 1500 miles away and yell at me.