Feed me!

I have always had trouble with food. My first diet was at 6 months when some doctor told my mom I was too fat because I was drinking too much formula. So my mom did as the doctor suggested and made the nipples smaller so that I had to “work harder” for my food. My second diet was at 5 when my stepmother thought I was getting too fat so she made me start counting calories. I was only allowed 1200 per day. What she didn’t realize is that the ice cream in the freezer was so tempting, that I would take a spoon full of it every time I went by the fridge (and nobody was watching). So the easy fix would have been to take the ice cream out of the house! But I digress...I went through the Body Type diet, Atkins Diet, South Beach diet, and finally started doing Weight Watchers. This is when I finally realized that I had a very messed up relationship to food. My husband also has some issues with food, but that is his story to tell.

When I was pregnant with my first kid, we realized that we didn’t want to pass on all our food issues to our kid(s). So I did what I normally do when I have an issue, I read about it!

A friend recommended CHILD OF MINE by ERIN SLATTER. 

So I read it. And thought it was pretty good information. TL;DR: My job is to provide the food, my kids job is to eat it. There is no forcing to eat. It is their body, so it is their choice. 

So that’s what we did. And oh boy did we get some funny looks from our parents. We even got push back that what we were doing was WRONG! They wanted our kids to finish their dinners, not snack so close to meals, not eat that kind of food... and all the other rules that we were subjected to as kids regarding food. 

But you know what. I have two very healthy kids, that know their own bodies. Here’s a good example:

When Poley was about 3 his grandparents brought over some train cookies, because he was obsessed with trains. They asked me if they could give him the whole box or just take some out, because apparently they were concerned that he would eat the WHOLE BOX! The HORROR! Anyways, I told them it was fine to give hm the whole box. The looks on their facestold me how skeptical they were about this, but they handed the box over. My son was super excited and took a cookie and ate it. Then took another, put the box down on the counter and took the cookie into another room to eat it. And totally forgot about the rest of the cookies, because he didn’t want anymore! To say there were shocked was and understatement. 

But that’s how my kids roll. 

They have a shelf in the pantry for snacks. I put in healthy-ish things like Seaweed Snacks (California Baby eats seaweed!), Veggie Straws, crackers, breakfast bars, and some dried fruit. I also have fresh fruit, vegetables and cheese in the fridge. I try to portion the food out in reasonable servings if they are in big bags but leave them there for them to take when they are hungry. And that’s what they do.  And we offer them three meals a day which they can eat or not. 

We aren’t perfect. I occasionally slide back into old habits like not letting them snack right before a meal or be upset when they don’t eat the dinners I worked so hard on. But they have a much healthier relationship with food than I ever had. 

And what about me? Well I am still not a small person but I exercise regularly (which I didn’t do before joining WW). I still have issues with food and I’m perhaps heavier than I want to be, but I don’t beat myself up because of it anymore. And that’s a positive change so I will take it.