I've gone through a "eat more protein" phase and an "eat more fiber" phase recently, and I think I'm now approaching a "ugh, let's chill out" phase in my own food choices. I'm trying to get there for my kids too. This seems radically countercultural and not supported by their pediatrician, who is, on the whole, absolutely right: they *should* be eating more vegetables and sleeping more! But I can't force feed them or compel them to sleep. We try to create an environment that encourages good choices, but they still have choices. Sure, choices are limited more than they would be if they weren't 6 and 9 years old, but "you-can't-make-me-so-I-won't" is one of their options and as far as I can tell, chilling out about that is the only sensible path forward.
The 6 year old ate solely string beans for dinner on Wednesday (followed by a bedtime snack of potato chips, but I'm taking the W anyway!). Chilling out might be working for us?
Looking forward to reading this book. I think I have commented this before but as someone who came from a "you have to try a bite of it" family where the table was a battleground, the best advice I got for feeding my kids was just six words: "you don't have to eat it". Some of the time kids still want to try it, and then it's their choice, their interests and their palate.
LOL...Never store bananas in the refrigerator. Hang bunch on a hook somewhere (a chair back or arm will do) with the tops wrapped in plastic wrap covered by foil. They'll NEVER ripen in a refrigerator. For the record, I love oysters with pickled onions and a little cocktail sauce, but it took a while. It began with lox & cream cheese on a bagel (belly lox preferred, if you can still find any); then graduated to herring in sweet vinegar with pickled onions and lastly oysters until the cost of raw bars became prohibitive.
But once they're at your desired level of ripeness, the fridge can give them a few days to stay there without continuing to ripen. They'll get ugly on the outside, but the inside will be where it was when you put it in.
I resonate with so much in this conversation, not only as a parent to a three and a half year old, but also as a major food lover/cooking nerd AND as an eating disorder therapist very concerned with helping my kid cultivate a peaceful relationship with food and his body. I especially felt seen in the conversation about how it feels like parenting circles are split into two camps around how we’re feeding our kids, since I’ve been contemplating for a while how to float toward some middle ground there. It does feel so personal and fraught, especially given how much work so many parents have gone through to heal our own relationships with eating.
My family moved from the US to Greece for 3 years when my brother and I were kids. The food was different enough that it was a bit of an adjustment, but we grew to find our favorites. We were encouraged to try everything once and if we didn't like it we could say no thank you. I think that early experience (I was 5 when we moved there) has helped me to be willing to try pretty much anything. And I'm most grateful for saying goodbye to diets so that I still can try anything without worrying about whether it fits with whatever diet I'm on! I'm fortunate not to have any food allergies, so that also makes it easier to be an adventurous eater.
Despite the openness to trying new things, of course I also got lots of other conflicting messages about food and hunger growing up with a mom who was fully steeped in diet culture and using food to control the size of her body. I've managed to undo all that familial and societal conditioning for myself but I still see my now-88 year old mom reading all the labels and obsessing about calories and fat and sugar, even though at this point she's at more risk of being at too low a weight. I'm just sad for her that she's never been able to escape the need to control her body.
I've gone through a "eat more protein" phase and an "eat more fiber" phase recently, and I think I'm now approaching a "ugh, let's chill out" phase in my own food choices. I'm trying to get there for my kids too. This seems radically countercultural and not supported by their pediatrician, who is, on the whole, absolutely right: they *should* be eating more vegetables and sleeping more! But I can't force feed them or compel them to sleep. We try to create an environment that encourages good choices, but they still have choices. Sure, choices are limited more than they would be if they weren't 6 and 9 years old, but "you-can't-make-me-so-I-won't" is one of their options and as far as I can tell, chilling out about that is the only sensible path forward.
The 6 year old ate solely string beans for dinner on Wednesday (followed by a bedtime snack of potato chips, but I'm taking the W anyway!). Chilling out might be working for us?
This all resonates very much 😎
Looking forward to reading this book. I think I have commented this before but as someone who came from a "you have to try a bite of it" family where the table was a battleground, the best advice I got for feeding my kids was just six words: "you don't have to eat it". Some of the time kids still want to try it, and then it's their choice, their interests and their palate.
Yes yes yes
LOL...Never store bananas in the refrigerator. Hang bunch on a hook somewhere (a chair back or arm will do) with the tops wrapped in plastic wrap covered by foil. They'll NEVER ripen in a refrigerator. For the record, I love oysters with pickled onions and a little cocktail sauce, but it took a while. It began with lox & cream cheese on a bagel (belly lox preferred, if you can still find any); then graduated to herring in sweet vinegar with pickled onions and lastly oysters until the cost of raw bars became prohibitive.
Hahaha! I think that was my editing error. There are bananas... COMMA ... Yogurt in the refrigerator
But once they're at your desired level of ripeness, the fridge can give them a few days to stay there without continuing to ripen. They'll get ugly on the outside, but the inside will be where it was when you put it in.
I resonate with so much in this conversation, not only as a parent to a three and a half year old, but also as a major food lover/cooking nerd AND as an eating disorder therapist very concerned with helping my kid cultivate a peaceful relationship with food and his body. I especially felt seen in the conversation about how it feels like parenting circles are split into two camps around how we’re feeding our kids, since I’ve been contemplating for a while how to float toward some middle ground there. It does feel so personal and fraught, especially given how much work so many parents have gone through to heal our own relationships with eating.
Yes yes yes to all of this! Helen calls it a “third way.” I found her book surprisingly empowering, not something I often expect from a history book!
My family moved from the US to Greece for 3 years when my brother and I were kids. The food was different enough that it was a bit of an adjustment, but we grew to find our favorites. We were encouraged to try everything once and if we didn't like it we could say no thank you. I think that early experience (I was 5 when we moved there) has helped me to be willing to try pretty much anything. And I'm most grateful for saying goodbye to diets so that I still can try anything without worrying about whether it fits with whatever diet I'm on! I'm fortunate not to have any food allergies, so that also makes it easier to be an adventurous eater.
Despite the openness to trying new things, of course I also got lots of other conflicting messages about food and hunger growing up with a mom who was fully steeped in diet culture and using food to control the size of her body. I've managed to undo all that familial and societal conditioning for myself but I still see my now-88 year old mom reading all the labels and obsessing about calories and fat and sugar, even though at this point she's at more risk of being at too low a weight. I'm just sad for her that she's never been able to escape the need to control her body.
Congratulations on turning in that first draft!
Thank you Cassi ❤️