Not a one of my children has ever met a grape that didn’t immediately become his or her best friend. They adore fruit. They are passionate for vegetables. With unlimited access they could down pounds of pears, crates of carrots, bushels of broccoli, oodles of oranges, barrels of bananas and cubits of cucumbers.
I’m thrilled to see them eat like this, especially considering my own shaky relationship with food. Weekly I loaded down the grocery cart with as many colors and textures as I thought they could eat but invariably the fruit ran out before the week was up. Guilt and faulty logic twisted this to mean one clear thing: that I should deny myself those healthy foods so that my children could have more.
It happened at nearly every meal I now realize. I’d prepare the plates, including one for their father on the days he planned to join us. Rarely did I fix one for myself. “I’ll eat later,” I’d tell anyone who questioned my actions, with the plan that I’d grab a quick bite while working or during errands. Invariably what I’d end up with would be a flabby sad burger or some of the main dish I’d fixed hours before. No fruits. No veggies. No good stuff.
This makes utterly no sense, but when are these decisions ever based on logic? As much as I’d like every action of myself and others to flow in a gentle stream from the Fount of Rationality, this rarely happens.
Daily I’m reminding myself to place as many colorful crunchy items on my plate as I load onto theirs. I’m refusing to work or run errands over mealtimes. And by God if we run out of fruit before the end of the week, it’s back to the grocery store we go. These things are so simple. Why didn’t I do them before? Did I really have so little respect for my needs?
Eventually the belief that my body is worthy of the same care that I automatically give to my children may become ingrained in my poor thick head. I hope it happens soon.
Here’s some motivation to throw into the mix:
Healthy food begets greater energy levels begets better sex.
How about them apples?
We lurves apples!
I do that. Refrain from eating to make sure the kids have the stuff they like.
Until your post, it never occurred that this may stem from my own lack of self worth.
One of the many times you have made me think.
Thanks
Making yourself more healthy and realizing YOU’RE as important as everyone you care for is something that most women seem to forget.
It’s good that you’re starting to make you a priority.
While I’m sure part of it is what you’re saying, the other part is a woman thing. We seem to have this deep-seated need to deny ourselves and even take a certain pride in it. We seem to socialized to put others before ourselves all the time.
It’s complete bullshit, it doesn’t work in the long run and it’s outdated thinking. Glad you’re moving away from it.
Remember that you are teaching your kids “grown up” eating habits that they may emulate when they are cooking meals for their family.
Yay fruits and veggies, you are lucky to be blessed with veggie-liking offspring. Since I’ve started shopping in the veggie section more often I’ve discovered new things I did not know existed: I had broccoliflower (cauliflower/broccoli hybrid) and orange and purple cauliflower this week!
As Professor Fate said above, it’s also so much better if you eat with your kids as well, as they’ll learn that you enjoy eating what you cooked for them and not pick up on your eating habits, and so will take the habit of ‘proper’ family meals (with veg) into their adult lives rather than assuming that grown-ups (ie. mummy) eat on the go. It seems so weird that so much of our adult behaviour is – even subconciously – picked up from our parents when we’re children, but I guess the human brain is strange. And at least yours like veg – my cousin (5 this summer) is into a toast and marmite phase.