Some days, I feel like dinner around my house has become a bit of a holy war. On one side, the mom who wants to feed her family nutritious, vitamin-rich, locally grown organic food, on the other side, the family who would love to spend the entire meal eating processed, barely identifiable crap.
My children have accused me of taking away their childhood, because I won't buy them sugary cereal with cartoon characters parading across brightly colored boxes. I have been told I am mean and terrible, because I don't buy Doritos, Lays, Cheetos, Twinkies, and Fruit by the Foot (which, upon reading the box, one would notice that the only mention of "fruit" is in the title). I am the mean, non-fun mom, because I opt for the organic, healthy juice boxes instead of the watery, artificially flavored, corn syrup concoctions that pass as "fruit" drinks (there's that word again, in title only).
I'm not a complete stickler, we do make our way through a drive thru every now and again for burgers or donuts, but for the most part, I opt for healthy food. About 3 years ago, I switched to organic meat, because I was tired of the headlines about the amount of hormones and additives that were being pumped into our meat supply. My husband wasn't too happy at first, because organic meat is three times the price, but with the uptick in expense, I was forced to get real about portion size. The average household throws away 30% of the food they bring into the house to consume, so buying something more expensive forced me to become more efficient.
Shortly after the meat, I switched to organic fruits and veggies, again, becoming very conscious of how much we actually consumed versus what my perception of what was consumed. I became a fierce reader of labels using the 5 ingredient rule; if there are more than 5 ingredients and most are unidentifiable and hard to pronounce, then you don't want it. I made an initiative to cook at home more, and be the healthy example I never had growing up.
My mother did many things right, but the one thing she really nurtured in me and my siblings was an incredibly unhealthy relationship with food. Mom taught us that food was a great activity when you were bored, food was a fantastic way to celebrate, food was good for when you had the blues, and that "you don't have to be hungry to eat" was more than a catchy phrase. Tens of thousands of dollars wasted on weight loss and dieting and 32 years later, it's still a daily struggle. A struggle that I do not want to pass on to my kids.
Yes, I'm the healthy mom, but I also let them have unhealthy food about 10% of the time. I try to educate them about moderation, and teach them about reading food labels. However, health is an uphill battle in a country that celebrates the "never ending pasta bowl". The other night I asked my 7 year old what she wanted for dinner, and she enthusiastically told me about a magical place called KFC where they give you a whole bucket of chicken. Her friends had told her how great it was, because the chicken comes in a real bucket. A whole bucket of chicken!
Food, health, not consuming a whole bucket of chicken, all uphill battles that I hope I'm winning. For my part I'm going to continue to be the healthy mom, the mom who opts for the organic over the chemical, the mom who reads the labels and says a lot of "no" at the grocery store. I'm sure I'll get a fair amount of pushback, but to all of this I say; too freakin' bad!
Yes, I'm the mom who doesn't let you suck on GMO corn stick puffs flavored with cheese-like dust. I'm the mom who cuts up watermelon after school instead of shoving a corn syrup popsicle colored with Red 40 dye in your face. I'm the mom who gives your friends carrot sticks instead of candy, and I refuse to apologize for it. And maybe, someday, when you and your friends don't have cancer, you will thank me.
No comments:
Post a Comment