I went to the post office today to mail some things and while I was standing at the table putting stuff in packages a lady was there telling the teller (I live in a really small town, they all know each other) about how her granddaughter had symptoms of a brain tumor, but that the doctor concluded that it was not one, but that she was so over weight that she was mimicking symptoms of one! This lady proceeded to talk about how unfair it's going to be to restrict things from her over 100lb 12 year old granddaughter's diet when her brothers and sisters are allowed to eat it. She finally said, "well, I guess we could all eat a little healthier, it wouldn't kill me to go on a diet either". This is when I felt like my face was bright red and I was so glad she left b/c I almost exploded! First of all, when did eating healthy turn into "going on a diet"!!!!! Why is a 12 year old over 100 pounds and what the heck are you feeding her???? I believe our society is now experiencing a new form of child abuse!
Okay, deep breath. My background is dietetics, I know I might know a bit more than most, but it's NOT rocket science. It's okay NOT to buy Pop Tarts, it's okay NOT to feed your kids Coke instead of water or milk, it's okay to make them eat eggs and toast and fruit for breakfast, it's okay to make them eat at meal time and it's okay NOT to put candy in their mouth EVERY DAY!
My little girl is the pickiest eater there every was, but I sneak stuff into her food. I make up a batch of muffins on Sunday, freeze them and pull out the portion the night before for her to have as breakfast. You're thinking, "muffins aren't healthy, Wendy", um, yeah, mine are! They have zucchini, whole wheat, a little sucant (google it), even chocolate chips!!! They're made "mini" and she gobbles them! I sub whole wheat for her bread and since she won't eat anything but PB on a sandwhich I only buy the stuff with zero sugar. She chooses a fruit to go with it and then either milk or water. For snack she LOVES nuts or craisins. For dinner we eat a protein, a grain, and a green veggie or two. We don't add rolls. For dessert sometimes she gets lowfat icecream or I freeze some yogurt and put it on a stick as a "popsicle". She's 5 years old and weighs 40 pounds and is wildly energetic. I'm not saying I'm perfect, oh no sir, but I'm not letting her eat Toaster Streudel's for every breakfast, Happy meals for every lunch, and pizza for every dinner. If she gets a sucker it's b/c the lady at the postoffice gave it to her. Yes, I let her have some of these things as a very once in a while treat! That's it!
I'm not a health food nut, but I am not going to let her fall victim to the abuse we are putting on our kids in America. We have so much, we should be better than this. We should know better, we're educated. We should look at food as fuel, putting in a better grade gives us better performance. And this garbage about sugar not being linked with being hyper, well that's crap. I can't feed Sam sugar without her turning into a monster an hour later. And btw, what is a GU? IT'S SUGAR, I use them TO give me energy....geez! I wash my hands over the crud that's put into our brains by society sometimes.
Okay, feel free to judge me now, I'm stepping off the soap box :)
Well put and spoken
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