On the Right Path

You know when you make big changes in your life and sometimes you are not sure what the end result will be? Well I have embarked on a dietary revolution of sorts, and I have dragged my family along, kicking and screaming occasionally, but we are making progress.

This all began last year, as I stood looking in my pantry... what did I see? Lots of pretty packages. Brightly colored, fun, exciting packages of what I thought was food. Granola bars, cookies, puff cheese doodles, neon orange tortilla chips, fruit gummies, frosted cereal, juice pouches etc. Fun stuff that my kids loved and scarfed down. Some of the pretty packages had great phrases on them like, Low Fat, , Whole Grain,, Low Sodium, Reduced Sugar, and Made with Real Fruit Juice...I am not sure what spurred a sudden new thought,perhaps a movie or a book, doesn't really matter because the thought was shocking and a little frightening. None of this food, in my pantry, was actually food. It was food substitute. Fake food. I was raising my children on fake food. How could that be?

I have done a lot of reading and soul searching since that moment, the moment I realized I was poisoning my kids. We have made tremendous stride towards a better way of eating. I have lost enough weight to be with-in 2 pounds of what I weighed on my wedding day 20 yrs ago, and that feels great. I think it is easy for me as an adult to embrace this kind of change especially when I can see the oncoming train wreck if I do not make a change. Kids are a bit harder to convince.

This week we went and had dinner with my husband's Grandmother in her retirement home. Our menu choices were as follows: Lasagna or Fried Chicken. I was not really pleased with either option but one has to be flexible in life so I ordered a salad to start and the chicken with braised vegetables. I was pleased to see my 16 yr old also order a salad. When our salads arrived my 16 yr old was intrigued by the slice of yellow bell pepper on hers and mentioned that she had never tried it. I was proud to see her try something new and enjoy it. As we were chatting over dinner my husband said to our her 'I notice that you have been eating a lot of salads lately, what is up?' She replied, 'Well, mom doesn't buy any more junk food and I have to eat something....besides, I like them now'
Wow! Now that is progress! That is the little boost that I needed to keep plugging along in my battle against junk food.

When our entrees were set before us, my 7 yr old daughter looks at my plate with surprise and said 'Mom, I thought you ordered vegetables?' as I look down at the pile of corn on my plate masquerading as a vegetable and said 'I did, but it's ok' she shakes her little blonde head 'Corn is not a vegetable, corn is a grain' she says in disgust.

It is sinking in, no matter what they want me to think! I am winning the battle, one baby step at a time. As we work our way down this path to healthier eating, I am truly getting through to them that there is a better way! I think I will end up with the result that I was hoping for....kids who are more thoughtful about what they put into their mouths and who are actually aware of the differences between real food and fake food.