Friday, 12 March 2010

• Potential Healthy Eating Obstacle: Family

  
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  This post was inspired by Healthkicker reader, Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga, who commented on the post "I Love You, but You're Making Me Fat." The post was about how being in a relationship, especially when living with your significant other, can sometimes cause your eating habits to get a little out of whack depending on how the other person eats.  This reader brought up a good point about how this can be the case not only with a significant other (or friends, I'd like to add), but with perhaps another very important aspect of your personal life: family.

  When my Mom was little, she was always given an apple as her snack with lunch as opposed to the Twinkies and Devil Dogs that the other kids were getting.  While obviously an apple was healthier for her, she felt left out not being able to have treats like everyone else.  So she promised herself that when she had her own house one day that she would have whatever foods she wanted in it--and boy did she hold up to that promise.

  Having gone through binge eating disorder within the last few years, I can tell you that this has certainly been an issue for me at times.  My loving Italian mother has always enjoyed nurturing herself, myself, and the whole family with food (oh, hi eating disorder--lol.  I certainly don't blame her entirely, but the whole food=comfort thing obviously couldn't have helped).  Even though she got rid of a lot of the junk food around the house when she and my dad decided they wanted to lose a few pounds, the meals she cooked for dinner were sometimes heavy or cooked in a way that made them unhealthy (ie: brown rice and noodles made with butter or white pasta instead of whole wheat).  She wanted to help me get better, but she would get frustrated when I would make myself something different for dinner than what she would be serving.  This hasn't been as much of a problem since I began college four years ago and have had my own apartment, but I completely remember how much of a struggle this was for us in high school, especially because at that time I had not yet realized that I had an actual eating disorder.

  As my disorder begins to slip away, it's gotten easier to enjoy small portions of the yummy foods my Mom makes without going crazy, and keeping the rest of my meal healthy.  She buys all the good-for-you stuff I ask for, which I sincerely appreciate.  I still make her hide some of her junk food from me though so I don't go searching for it in the middle of the night! Lol.

  How about you all?  Do your family's eating habits affect your own? 

  For those who no longer live with their family and/or don't see them frequently, how do you eat during family get togethers?  Do you feel obligated to eat your relatives' food, even if it's dreadfully unhealthy?  Or do you not worry about it, like me, and let yourself splurge a little since it's an occasion?
  

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