Am I the Crazy One?

I have never had one of these in my entire life! Imagine the shock of finding a huge box of it in our house!

My sisters and I grew up eating pretty healthy, whole foods, minimally processed, home-cooked meals. I am grateful to my parents for being health-conscious and having taught us those habits. My father, being the scientist that he is, has drawn us endless graphs and figures and shown us the derivation of practically every food additive and preservative! When I was a kid, I loved Cheetos, but it was contraband that my dear uncle would sneak to us. One day, our dad decided to show us what Cheetos were made of, and I probably never touched one again until I had moved out of my parents’ home!

Do you find that you tend to repeat some of the same “crazy” things your parents did? Even though you swore you would never be like them? However crazy we may think our parents were, there was wisdom and good-will behind what they did. So, I am a little strict with my kids’ diet. For the longest time, I would not allow them to eat Halloween candy. One of my dear friends, would give them little baggies of raisins…although she did think I was crazy. They didn’t eat any processed sugary snacks, until they started pre-school and got introduced to all kinds of junk!

But what was happening right under my nose, I completely missed, until my kids started being able to communicate! My dear husband was “treating” them to garbage when I wasn’t around! I started getting suspicious when my kids would say they ate “something” that looked like this or that, but were not able to tell me the name of it, because my husband didn’t tell them what it was called! One day they pointed to “Taco Bell” and acted so excited…I have NEVER taken them there! Or my son started to say that he drank “a spicy orange drink”…He was talking about Sunkist! And when he started to ask for cereal and I would try to give him Kashi Autumn Wheat, he would say “no, no, I want the one with the colorful balls”!

Holy Crap! What have I found?!

Well, needless to say, the game was up when I discovered the “stash” in the garage and my son started complaining that his poop was “concentrated”, meaning that he was constipated!

Am I the Crazy one? I just wanted my kids to become accustomed to healthy eating and clean habits as kids, so they could carry it on into their lives later as adults. It hurt that I was working so hard to plan their meals and make sure they got enough protein, fruits and veggies, dairy, and complex carbohydrates everyday, and it wasn’t being appreciated. I mean, I literally had a food pyramid stuck in my head everyday! Not only was it not appreciated, but my husband was their hero.

Yeah I know…The chocolate milk is reduced fat AND organic

“But look here on the bag…they have zero grams of trans fats”! Well I guess I AM the crazy one, because its right there on the bag!

zero grams of trans fat in the donut, and look! The Strawberry milk is reduced fat!

“And look! The Strawberry milk has no high fructose corn syrup”! Ok, I must be the crazy one then, because I think it says there are 42 grams of sugar in one bottle!

What have your experiences been with trying to have your children eat healthier? Do you have people trying to sabotage your efforts too?

For my part, I will continue feeding my kids healthy, nutritious meals, because that’s my job…but I guess I won’t be so crazy about treats every now and then. Heck, I love to indulge in a giant piece of chocolate cake too!

Keep it up moms and don’t get discouraged. Your kids will remember all of your efforts when they grow up and think back on how they were raised.

Stay fit and fabulous, and keep your kids fit and fabulous too!

Shadow