Do you know exactly what went into the last meal you ate? If it wasn’t you making the meal, chances are, you may not.
This way of thinking has had me making my own meals for several years now. There are times when I go out to eat, not by my choice, and I have to pick apart the menu and annoy the crap out of our wait staff. But, I have no shame when it comes to wanting to know exactly what I’m being served and how it was prepared.
I wasn’t always like this, I used to go out all the time and the words macronutrients, calories, trans-fat, high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, etc. were never a consideration. If it looked and sounded good, I ate it. Back then, I was being “healthy” when I requested no cheese on my double-meat hamburger from McD’s.
Yeah, things have changed and now I’m a health food advocate who questions any and all ingredients. If it’s packaged, I have to scrutinize the label several times and maybe even perform a Google search. For the several years I’ve been like this, I get extremely irritated at how food companies advertise their “healthy” products and at the ignorance of the average consumer.
And now, as a parent, I’m disgusted at what some parents feed their children. I might get a lot of negative responses here, but I see no reason any kid should have to eat fast food. There is a wealth of information out there on what is healthy vs. unhealthy and enough buzz on the topic to claim you “didn’t know.”
I know Going Mom and I will instill our healthy values in Avery, but I fear how powerful the influence of her peers will be. I remember what it’s like being in grade school, and how no one wants to be the odd one of the group! All I can do is hope Avery values health and knows what is good and what is not when she’s faced with choices on her own.
Hopefully, these ten food related Pinterest Pins help open your eyes and inform you in a way to be able to make changes for the better. I know right after I changed my eating habits, I felt, looked, performed, and recovered better than ever before. I could easily go way beyond ten, but for these are a great to start with to make changes today!
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3. 10 reasons not to eat at most restaurants.
4. Convenience, not price, limits veggie consumption.
5. A 20-ounce soda contains 65 grams of sugar, that is approximately 22 packets of sugar in just one bottle.
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Hopefully you found some or all of these thought-provoking and useful to help you start making changes for yourself and loved ones. Or maybe you’re already in the know and these are nothing new to you.
If you already are a health living advocate and you have older children, how have you worked to keep your little ones from eating fast food or other processed junk when at school or a friend’s house?
I would love to hear anyone’s tips/advice as I feel like we are a minority when it comes to caring about what we eat.
I know you’re right on all accounts and I’ve been thinking a lot about what we’ve been consuming at home lately (especially after getting lost in very interesting food posts via thehomeschoolingdoctor). I don’t want to make excuses (I know that starting a sentence like this is generally sign that an excuse is coming 😉 ), but it is hard to make lifestyle changes. One step at a time right? 🙂
I’m curious as to how you personally went about changing your diet. How long did it take you to go from thinking of a double Big Mac without cheese as being healthy to where you are now? Do you already have a post on this? Would you be willing to write one?
Take care!
Ha ha, very true on the whole starting a sentence/excuses thing! But yes, one step at a time is usually better than diving head first!
I always credit Going Mom for telling me something about how Oprah listed a few bad ingredients to avoid like trans-fat and high fructose corn syrup for when I started my healthy journey. Then, as I was trying to improve my marathon time, I read a book called “Performance Nutrition for Runners” which really opened my eyes. I made the suggested changes on better eating from the book and noticed how much better I could run and how fast I recovered. Eventually my entire body composition changed as well.
Over the years I just keep reading more on the food industry and have become so skeptical of anything I can’t pluck out of the ground or hunt myself that it’s hard to find things I am happy with. Anyway, I could go on and on and on, so yes, I will definitely work on a post one day. I’m not sure how to condense everything I want to say, so just bear with me! 🙂
As an aside, feel free to e-mail me with specific questions you have and I’ll happily try to answer to the best of my ability. e-mail is rcrown2@aol.com.
Hope you’re able to make lifestyle changes for the better, and yes, it is difficult, but so rewarding!