I have finally stopped tossing the blame, and I am accepting responsibility.
I am what's wrong with America: The other day, I feed my children macaroni and cheese for lunch, while I ate a veggie laden filled wheat tortilla wrap for my lunch.
Why didn't we eat the same thing? Why would I go through the energy to make two different lunches? I just didn't want to hear them complain. Uh...really. I know. (hanging head in shame.) It's just that they complain about E.V.E.R.Y. dinner I make.
I can't take it anymore.
But, really, shouldn't I? Isn't that my job as a mother, to listen to their complaints and try to educate and do the right thing...anyway?
Our dinners for the most part are very healthy. It is usually grilled chicken (in olive oil), grilled talapia, chicken tacos, or a crock-pot version of tacos. These dinners are always served with a veggie, and sometimes a fruit salad or fruit. And never, well almost never, with dessert. That isn't to say that my children never eat junk food because...
...I am to blame for what I put in their lunches. Usually I try to put something healthy with a junk food snacky-ish item in there. But, you know...the healthy item, I have learned, isn't that healthy. Like really...applesauce isn't healthy...cut up peach pieces aren't healthy? Nope.
They are loaded with sugar!!
"Consumption of refined sugar has skyrocketed. Whereas our genes developed in an environment where one person consumed at most 4 pounds of honey in a year, human sugar consumption rose to 11 pounds a year in 1830 and a shocking 150 pounds a year at the end of the twentieth century." (Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition)
And, did you know: the PET scan commonly used to detect cancer simply measures the ares in the body that consume the most glucose. If a particular area stands out because it consumes too much sugar, cancer is very likely the cause. (Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition)
So, while I used to think I wanted to eat healthy to be skinny, I now know that I need to eat healthy to be well...healthy. There is no substitute. And, in our over-processed, sugar eating world, it's getting harder and harder.
But there are little things that I can do. For example:
- instead of applesauce, I can place a yummy apple in there
- for snacks, instead of cheese and crackers, we can do celery with peanut butter, greek yogurt, carrots (if I offer them they may eat them right?)
- no soda (which we drink almost never anyway)
- eat more oatmeal, all-bran, or Special K
- eating whole grain/multi grain pasta
- using natural sweeteners: agave nectar (found at our local grocery store), stevia or truvia
- drink water (boy has this made a difference in my skin)
- think fresh eat fresh - raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cucumbers, green peppers, celery, spinach (you know the list)
Mostly eating foods with a low glycemic index.
I need to teach this eating style to my children...for every meal. Their lives may depend on it. No, their lives DO depend on it.
I know it should be easy. I just don't need to buy the stuff.
Everyone get your earplugs ready. There is no reason you should have to hear my children complain.
Wish me luck.
These yummy treats are what I made for Steve on Valentine's Day.
