What would YOU do?
Mar. 25th, 2011 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captain_slinkyFood is a HUGE debate in our home all the time, mainly because Crystal and I have struggled with our weight all our lives. Our current debate is in regards to Molly.
Molly doesn't like to eat on a normal schedule. She hates to eat breakfast till she's been awake for a few hours. She doesn't like the "Three Big Meals" system. She would rather eat just a little bit when she's *actually* hungry instead of "stocking up" three times a day.
For example: If Molly wakes up at 8am, she would like to have breakfast at around 10am. A glass of milk, half a peanut butter sandwich and some berries put on the table that she'll go back to for snacking over the course of an hour or two, then at Noonish I'll put out some lunch. Celery Sticks, raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, raw carrots, raisins, an apple... all sorts of super-healthy stuff that she will again just kind of snack on, never actually eating it all. And then for dinner, if I'm lucky, she'll eat a few bites of what I made before just wanting to go and play. Later in the night if she says she's hunger she's either directed back to her dinner plate or she's offered more of the healthy stuff; Broccoli, carrots, dried fruit, etc.
I WISH I HAD THIS TYPE OF MENTALITY TOWARDS FOOD!!!
I, like most other people, grew up as a member of "The Clean Plate Club". You got three meals a day plus *maybe* an after school snack and a desert if you "cleaned your plate" at dinner time, and that was it. If you weren't hungry at breakfast, you BETTER eat anyway because you might get hungry between then and lunch (which would be your only oppbortunity to eat before dinner). Each meal was HUGE to get you through the 5-or-so-hours till the next meal; Eggs, Bacon, Pancakes, Sausage, Toast and a bowl of Frosted Corn Flakes (part of this balanced breakfast). A sandwich, chips, apple, cookies and milk for lunch. And then the BIG MEAL, dinner; Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Corn... eat all that and you can have a nice big slice of cake or pie afterwards!
It's no surprise that with all the food I was eating, I started to pick and choose the foods I liked. Instead of listening to my body and eating the foods that made me FEEL GOOD, I chose to eat the foods that tasted the best and went down the easiest.
To this day I still have a bit of a "Well I better eat something now so I won't be hungry later" mentality. "Stock up! It may be DAYS before we get to eat again!"
I really think Molly has the right idea. Every effortlessly skinny person I've ever known ate just like Molly eats. I remember this one lady who i worked with at Birthday Express, skinny as all git-out, bought a little bag of Cheetos from the vending machine and ate just three of them before offering me the rest of the bag. I was astonished to say the least... why would you waste 50-cents on a bag of snacks and not eat the whole thing?
"I ate what I wanted to eat. It was only 50 cents, and I knew none of it would go to waste because SOMEBODY would eat them if I left them out. They'd just go stale in my desk, and when I want a Cheeto I don't want a STALE Cheeto, I want a FRESH one!"
It all seems so alien to me... only eating the food you want to eat when you want to eat it?
So here I am, The Daddy, trying to decide if I really want to force my own terribly habits on my kid.
It's not as if she's a picky eater; she'll eat ANYTHING with the exception of Peppers and Onions. She's not being raised on a diet of cookies and processed foods. She's eating REAL, healthy foods on her own terms.
SHould I force her to conform to the Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner "Clean Plate Club"?
Molly doesn't like to eat on a normal schedule. She hates to eat breakfast till she's been awake for a few hours. She doesn't like the "Three Big Meals" system. She would rather eat just a little bit when she's *actually* hungry instead of "stocking up" three times a day.
For example: If Molly wakes up at 8am, she would like to have breakfast at around 10am. A glass of milk, half a peanut butter sandwich and some berries put on the table that she'll go back to for snacking over the course of an hour or two, then at Noonish I'll put out some lunch. Celery Sticks, raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, raw carrots, raisins, an apple... all sorts of super-healthy stuff that she will again just kind of snack on, never actually eating it all. And then for dinner, if I'm lucky, she'll eat a few bites of what I made before just wanting to go and play. Later in the night if she says she's hunger she's either directed back to her dinner plate or she's offered more of the healthy stuff; Broccoli, carrots, dried fruit, etc.
I WISH I HAD THIS TYPE OF MENTALITY TOWARDS FOOD!!!
I, like most other people, grew up as a member of "The Clean Plate Club". You got three meals a day plus *maybe* an after school snack and a desert if you "cleaned your plate" at dinner time, and that was it. If you weren't hungry at breakfast, you BETTER eat anyway because you might get hungry between then and lunch (which would be your only oppbortunity to eat before dinner). Each meal was HUGE to get you through the 5-or-so-hours till the next meal; Eggs, Bacon, Pancakes, Sausage, Toast and a bowl of Frosted Corn Flakes (part of this balanced breakfast). A sandwich, chips, apple, cookies and milk for lunch. And then the BIG MEAL, dinner; Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Corn... eat all that and you can have a nice big slice of cake or pie afterwards!
It's no surprise that with all the food I was eating, I started to pick and choose the foods I liked. Instead of listening to my body and eating the foods that made me FEEL GOOD, I chose to eat the foods that tasted the best and went down the easiest.
To this day I still have a bit of a "Well I better eat something now so I won't be hungry later" mentality. "Stock up! It may be DAYS before we get to eat again!"
I really think Molly has the right idea. Every effortlessly skinny person I've ever known ate just like Molly eats. I remember this one lady who i worked with at Birthday Express, skinny as all git-out, bought a little bag of Cheetos from the vending machine and ate just three of them before offering me the rest of the bag. I was astonished to say the least... why would you waste 50-cents on a bag of snacks and not eat the whole thing?
"I ate what I wanted to eat. It was only 50 cents, and I knew none of it would go to waste because SOMEBODY would eat them if I left them out. They'd just go stale in my desk, and when I want a Cheeto I don't want a STALE Cheeto, I want a FRESH one!"
It all seems so alien to me... only eating the food you want to eat when you want to eat it?
So here I am, The Daddy, trying to decide if I really want to force my own terribly habits on my kid.
It's not as if she's a picky eater; she'll eat ANYTHING with the exception of Peppers and Onions. She's not being raised on a diet of cookies and processed foods. She's eating REAL, healthy foods on her own terms.
SHould I force her to conform to the Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner "Clean Plate Club"?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 04:43 am (UTC)ALLOW THE NON-CONFORMITY!!!!
I wish I ate like her, too..:(
no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 07:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-26 07:23 pm (UTC)nope. there've been studies done that eating a little bit every few hours is better for the metabolism than big meals.
little kids pick at food. that's a fact.
as far as the clean plate club- i advise you to get away from the mentality. start a compost pile... then you won't feel bad about feeding the earth what you don't eat:)
no subject
Date: 2011-03-30 06:07 am (UTC)