Most kids these days love junk & hate all things Veggie or healthy. I was no exception, in fact, I believe I was worse than the average kid. On Chili dinner day my Mom had to make 3 kinds of chili -- Regular for my sister Debi, herself and my Dad, no beans for my sister Verloyn, and just plain browned ground meat for me. The day my dad made me sit till I ate my brocolli I will never forget -- we sat their for an hour till finally I decided to pile it high with butter and eat it with my nose plugged then quickly swallow and gulp down a whole glass of water trying not to throw it back up, yes... it was that bad to me.
However, I would eat a whole bag of chips if allowed to, I would do chores for my sisters if they would give me one of their designated pieces of pizza (pizza night was Sunday after church, it was my favorite night of the week). I asked for a pizza for Christmas in my stocking one year & ate the whole thing myself that night (and that's after a whole Christmas dinner for lunch!).
My Mom didn't buy us tons of junk food, so we didn't get a lot of it when I was really young, but I have memories of it... I use to trade my cheese Pringles (I believe I got 20 of them for lunch every day) for a big bag of cheese pop corn at school. The little girl that traded with em a few times only did it because I made the chips look so good the way I savored each bite of them, after a while she decided my little bag of chips and her big bag of pop corn was a bad trade, and I was back to my 20 pringels. I remember my mom buying me a little package of Jolly Ranchers after school on shopping day, those were treasured. I remember eating chips & dip on family game night, my dad said I used too much dip and it was bad for me, I didn't care... it was SO good.
As I got older my older sisters started trying to loose weight because they were starting to be conscious of those types of things... boys and such. I, surprisingly had never been even remotely fat, but being the little "copy cat" that I was, I dieted with them, ran around circles in their rooms with them and did sit ups with my feet under the bed with them. This of course annoyed them because I was a rather skinny 12 year old girl and they were 16 and 18.
I don't really remember trying to watch what I ate, but I do remember just eating yogurt for lunch with my sister as we watched "Judge Judy" but actually we were watching something else that my parents wouldn't let us watch, so we kept a big toe on the Chanel button to change it when ever one of them came by (We must not have had a remote?).
I remember baking cookies with my sister, we would eat tons of dough of course, some how we did still bake some, and of the ones we baked we usually ate quite a lot of those too -- but not a single whole coolie at a time, we would pick, cut them in pieces and grab one here and their.... Usually we ended up eating a lot of cookies -- I think it was then that I learned food guilt. We would run around and around my sisters room after those cookie baking sessions -- I'll bet my sisters room floor is permanently creekie because of all those circles we ran.
After my sisters moved out my mom and I started helping with a Food Pantry -- we brought home all sorts of wonderful junk after that. I had all the junk food I could possibly want, it was GREAT. I was extremely active and still did not gain any extra weight, but I enjoyed the junk quite a lot more than I probably should have.
It wasn't until I was going to college that I started to actually want to eat healthy, I opened my mind to the idea of eating healthy, and suddenly I started liking most all of the things I had previously gagged at the thought of. Before I knew it I was bring a mix of whole wheat pasta salad with raw broccoli, carrots, peppers & more in it with me for lunch -- previously my lunch meals consisted of a can of Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos.
Why the change? I honestly couldn't tell you, most likely it was a weight thing -- I figured I couldn't keep my junk food life style up forever so I might as well start liking healthy food. When I moved away to Chicago for 2 years I really learned how to fend for my self a little better. I was now shopping for myself, so my diet was truly in my own control. I decided to eat healthy 5 days a week, then on the weekends eat what I wanted (almost always included pizza, Chips, french fries & chicken tenders). It worked pretty well -- My mom brought me junk food that I tried not to eat too much of, but of course I failed, especially on the weekends. My weakness was, and still is Pizza and chips. I could eat them all day every day and be very happy.
Nothing has really changed since then except I run a lot more so that means I have to eat a lot more to be able run more. I still eat pizza about once a week, sometimes more, but I usually feel guilty about that. My new love is baked chips -- I like them better than fried ones now. I haven't have chicken tenders for a while though, I"m not sure who....
A good diet is a struggle -- so many better tasting things to eat than whole wheat pasta and fish, but I continue to make an effort to eat right, knowing that it will make me healthy & happier in the long run.
So, in conclusion, for all of you who fight with your kids to eat right -- their is still hope. If I can change my eating habits from childhood to adult hood, anyone can.
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