Monday, December 27, 2010

The One Where I Talk About Wanting to Eat Healthy

Does every other parent out there always feel the need to justify why they do the things they do?

Four years ago I made a choice to be healthy. I was 23 years old and decided it was now or never. I have always been active, but I wanted to make it a point to ACTUALLY be healthy. I had stopped eating fast food six years ago when I found out that eating a Big Mac was equivalent to eating four pieces of pizza (or something along those lines. But it should be said I do still eat Subway and Tim Hortons and the occasional Opa Souvlaki!). I made crazy huge lifestyle changes to the way I ate and how much alcohol I drank. I started running five days a week with my running friend Stacey. She had also made a decision to be healthy. Turned out I loved running so it was perfect. Lo and behold, I lost FORTY FREAKING POUNDS!!!!! No one was more surprised or proud than me. Those changes are here to stay.
When I found out I was pregnant I was most excited about not measuring one tablespoon of salad dressing... I figured I could let that one go while pregnant. I did not immediately go on this crazy pregnant eating binge, eating ice cream and pizza for two all day. I gained a normal amount of weight while pregnant and besides a few snide remarks about being "so huge" I was happy with the way I looked. Maizey was two months old when I started working out regularly again and along with eating a well balanced diet (on purpose) and the help of nursing a baby, the weight slowly and surely came off. I may not be the slimmest or the most toned or fit, but I am healthy. I have a healthy BMI and I plan to keep it that way.
We have days when we eat crap. Of course. But I can let those go because I know it won't lead to me ever being that un-healthy again. Brian, luckily, just likes to eat, so if I cook healthy food, he eats it. He doesn't eat baked goods for the most part anyways, so the fact that we don't keep them in the house doesn't bother him. He eats this way because I do and that's fine with him.
When we started Maizey on solids we talked a lot about what and how and when she would get certain things. We agreed that she didn't need much in the way of refined foods, including sugar. So, to the best of my knowledge, in her whole first year she didn't have a lick of sugar. After she turned one, we started broadening her scope of foods to include more than just whole foods. We didn't broadcast that we fed her healthy foods intentionally, we just did it. But rest assured it was intentional. Amazingly, the second she turned one and got to eat a huge piece of birthday cake, it was assumed that it was now a free for all on the junk food. Baked goods, cakes, chips, ice cream, fried food, juice, fruit loops, to my HORROR - POP. Brian and I honestly turned to each other helplessly. How do you say to some one No, she can't have that GIANT piece of banana chocolate chip bread for a pre-lunch snack, with out coming off as a totally righteous bitch who clearly thinks the way they raised and fed their kids is wrong??? If you know, please fill me in. Its not that she can't have some banana bread, its the timing, the portion size and regularity that we concern ourselves with.We just want Maizey to know when something is a treat and to have a general idea about how to eat a well balanced diet. And we think that as parents, its never to early to teach those kind of lessons.
I don't judge people when they feed their kids refined foods or junk. For all I know, it could be a special occasion that only happens once in a blue moon. Or it could be a regular thing, I don't care. You feed your kid whatever you like. But please don't judge me and call me out because I don't let my one year old have four cookies or a big slice of apple pie with two scoops of ice cream.

1 comment:

  1. I totally agree with you! It's never to early to teach those kinds of lessons but it can eventually become too late for them to actually stick.

    If you ever do find out how to say no to someone without coming off as a totally righteous bitch who clearly thinks the way they raised and fed their kids is wrong please please please let me know because I've been searching for the answer to this for the last 6 years now.

    GoodLuck!

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