Eating With Benefits: Habits (Part 1)

It's been a crazy past week, which of course puts me a little behind on my series.  I guess that's part of having five kids.  One is bound to get sick and it's January, so we are bound to have a snow day (as in today) despite there is no snow.  These are my kids' favorite days! 

This actually makes a perfect day to write because the older kids can keep the younger ones occupied while I'm at the computer.  Normally, it's the two year old constantly wanting to sit in my lap and type for me (which results in A LOT of deletes before anything ever gets posted).

I wanted to step back just for a moment and say a little more about watching our portions.  It really is the most beneficial thing we can do!  I had two friends on my Facebook who recently posted some weight loss *pictures.  I think it is amazing what they accomplished.  They are both beautiful.

  The two things they did was exercise and eat "smaller portions" or "in moderation." 

 

It's such a simple thing. 

Oh, but so hard.  

 

It actually makes me think of the scriptures when Moses told the people to just look at the serpent on his staff and they would live, but so many thought it too simple, it just couldn't work.  The simplest things are often the hardest.  We can do this!  And yes, I just totally made a scripture analogy! 

Now to the topic today:  HABITS

Why am I eating this?

A nasty habit is hard to break and forming a good habit isn't always easy either.  My husband is one of the most disciplined people I know.  If he's going to lose weight, or run every day, or not watch TV for a month, he can do it.  I'm quite the opposite.  I practically have to scream to Facebook what I'm trying to do just to hold some type of accountability over my head.  If I say I'm giving up ice cream I need people to know to support me.  The nice thing is, forming or breaking habits is always better with some support.  If it's using your family members or a best friend, it doesn't matter.  Know yourself and do what you need to make better habits.

When it comes to eating habits, if you are the main cook of the family you are the greatest influence.  You do the cooking, the purchasing of food and stocking the cabinets.  You decided how everyone else eats in the home. 

Most eating habits are learned as a child.  We often cook something a certain way because that's how our mother cooked it, or we eat certain things because that's how we did it growing up.  For example, I prefer cold slices of cheddar cheese served with my grits and toast.  I don't want cheese grits or cheese toast, but the cold cheese to eat on the side along with the meal.  I know it's good the other ways, but this is how I learned to eat it, and it's how I've taught my kids.  My husband thinks it's weird.  ;)  I could go on and people could probably think of all the funny eating habits we have carried into our own families.  Good story: Not Your Momma's Lasagna. The question is whether it's beneficial for us.

This is already getting too long and boring...

I'm going to start with

Habits We Need to Avoid

1. Adding Bread
• Bread is one of those food items that you see in every restaurant and tradition to serve meals for that one extra item.  I grew up with cornbread, biscuits, rolls, or a loaf of bread served with dinner.  No matter what, there was bread on table.  I love bread who doesn't, it has it's place but most of the time it's an extra portion and colorless.  It's simply a habit.  For example, most people that serve pasta normally serve it with bread...spaghetti with French bread.  Why?  If you have noodles why do you need another white-ish food?  Do one or the other.
2. Making beneficial food sweet
• This is probably one of my biggest pet-peeves.  The idea sounds almost ingenious, yet it's the most deceiving thing in the food world.  Funny how that works.  Think about it.  We want our kids to have vegetables but not actually know what they look like or really taste.  Then we want them to like veggies when they get older.  How's that working out? It doesn't.  The only thing it's done is make your kids want sweets and you feel justified because you have secretly given them vegetables.  An you wonder why they don't eat their veggies at dinner!? 
• Eating is so much more than just how it taste.  It's textures and how we use our mouths such as sucking, chewing, and sipping.  Especially for kids, these are essential motor skills to develop and they all happen with eating.  When we hide everything in sugar the only thing you have taught your body is you need sweets and your sweet taste buds are overdeveloped.
• So what would fall into this category?  Smoothies.  I can see shocked faces and rolling eyes at this moment, but I'm sticking to my theory.  I love smoothies, as do my kids.  It has LOTS of benefits but that sugar desire is a HUGE downside to me.  I put this in my long-term concept under portions.  I make them about every other week but not every day.  As you can assume, I'm not a "juicer" fan.  Other items would be shakes, baked goods (remember all those "healthy" cookie recipes on Pinterest or Jerry Seinfield's wife who came out with a recipe book on how to hide veggies in brownies?), Protein bars and fiber bars have you ever seen a non-sweet version at the store? 
• Even be careful with the actual veggies.  I served sweet potato soufflé often as a vegetable side dish.  I first made it from canned sweet potatoes, then I moved on to actually peeling and boiling my own sweet potatoes, obviously because that was better for us so I kept telling myself.  Yet, after all the sugar and butter mixed in and crumbled on top I had fully diminished the value of this very beneficial vegetable.  It was the only way my kids would eat sweet potatoes.  What had I done!?  Then I started just baking sweet potatoes.  My kids don't love them, but amazingly after serving them only that way for a few months, everyone eats one with little to no complaints.  Lesson here:  give them the truth.  No sugar-coating (pun intended).  If it's a sweet then make it a sweet, if it's not then cook it to it's true potential.
3. Letting your habits control you
• This goes back to the very first thing I taught and I can't say it enough:

CONTROL YOUR DIET DON'T LET YOUR DIET CONTROL YOU

• "I'm Bored."  My kids easily go to food when there is "nothing to do."  When we are busy it's not uncommon to forget to eat.  Ever happened?  Being idle can get the best of us in lots of ways, eating is no exception.
• Emotional eating.  This is one of the greatest struggles I have seen and heard from friends who struggle with finding balance in their eating habits.  I think we all have the problem at times.  When I am around lots of people I want to eat my heart out.  I literally can eat triple of what I would normally! I get so excited I feel like my hurts pumping 100 mph, so I eat. This area is where that buddy comes in hand for support.
• Addictions.  Yes, people can be addicted to food (you know, gotta have that coffee, tea or diet coke).  I see this all the time at my kids school and with their teachers.  Your food is controlling you.  Or that you shouldn't eat anything because it will make you fat.  I've witnessed both extremes and they are both serious issues.  I'm going to tie this in to another scripture analogy.  The TEN Commandments.  One of the great commandments is "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."  We aren't talking about just statues here.  This could be ANYTHING that controls your thoughts and every thing you do.  Food or drinks fall into this trap.

 

This is getting way to long to the point that I'm bored (and I'm still in my pajamas, haven't brushed my teeth yet, and need to get off my booty, my kids need me.) 

 

To be continued....

 

*Thank you Jennifer and Lauren for letting me post your pictures and your accomplishment.  It's inspiring.