When one is raised in a long line of addicts, one comes to recognize the symptoms.
All you think about is The Thing. You daydream about The Thing. You talk about The Thing. You get all stabby when denied The Thing. Your life revolves around The Thing. You push out other (potentially healthier) things in your life to focus on The Thing.
My name is Maggie and food is my thing.
This comes as a surprise to no one, I know. The grocery store is my favorite kind of store. I get super excited for Sunday afternoons when I plan my menus for the week. I get even more excited when picking out what dessert I’ll have that night. I spend more time looking at the online menus for upcoming dinner dates than I do in my closet trying to find the appropriate outfit. In short, my blood is 25% chocolate and this is what it looks like in my head most of the time:
I tell myself this doesn’t really matter because for the most part, I can exercise and keep my health relatively close to balanced. Now that Eggroll is here though, I am about to embark in my first Don’t Screw Her Up project as I teach her about food.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to talk about some books, events, and campaigns as they relate to kids eating healthy. They all share the same basic principles – keep it fun, make it a mix of healthy, new items, don’t let food be a reward or punishment, and keep the (chocolate) snacking to a minimum. Um, OK. What happens if I’m not practicing these concepts myself?!
At the minimum, I have three weeks until we start introducing solid foods into Malorie’s diet. I’m assuming for the first little while she still won’t comprehend my interactions with food. This gives me about three months to rectify 34 years of an unhealthy relationship (i.e. addiction) to food. No biggie, right?
Gulp. (Or No Gulps as the case may be…)
Parents –
I would love to hear any tricks you used to ensure your kids were willing to try different foods and/or wouldn’t turn away from the orange slices like I do.
People with Parents (I.E. Everyone Else) –
Did you parents do anything that screwed up your relationship with food?
I honestly don’t know where my chocolate addiction came from. Sure, there was candy and sweets in our house, but neither of my parents made a point to have dessert every night. If anything, I think 1. my dad could eat anything and it would metabolize fast, so he never questioned what he was giving me and 2. like every good child of the 80s, our kitchen pantry would have made it through a nuclear attack – all boxed spaghetti and canned sloppy joe mix; nary a fresh fruit or vegetable in site.
In an effort to save the inaugural Screwing Up Malorie for something more interesting like musical tastes, here are the practices I want to make habits before Malorie is truly watching:
1. Keep snacking to a minimum (no more than twice a day).
2. Stop eating emotionally. Or if I’m going to eat chocolate to celebrate (commiserate, relax, energize, sooth, entertain… I think you get the idea), take the time to stop everything else I’m doing and savor the treat and the moment.
3. Try one new ingredient or recipe per week.
Wish me luck!
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