I remember a time in my youth when I complained to my mom that I was hungry and needed a snack. Did she pull out a satisfying sleeve of graham crackers? How about a salty/sweet peanutty Snickers bar? Or heck even a cheese stick or two?
No. No. And no.
She told me to go get some bean spouts and pour vinegar on them.
Wha? Excuse me, you want me to do what?? I think I was 10 at the time.
Welcome to my ‘Roots and Twigs’ phase. During this period, I was allowed to have raisins, carob chips, banana chips, dates, and carrots or apples if I wanted something sweet.
I thought my mom was nuts and I don’t mean the healthy raw variety, I mean the probably bad-for-you dry roasted and salted kind.
Needless to say, this is one period when I looked forward to the daily school lunch. At least there I could get noodles slathered in butter-like substance, a cheeseburger and a brownie.
Fast forward many years and here I am much older and supposedly wiser. I’ve read every single thing out there on the Internet that scares the crap out of me regarding my family’s health and so for the past couple of years I have attempted to make some serious changes. I’ve made everyone go vegan, I’ve asked them to cut out milk. One daughter now throws a 3/4 teaspoon of matcha tea and flaxseeds into her smoothie. I frequently cut up a ton of fruit and serve it sans sugar at dinner time as a side dish.
What is the point of this post? Am I mom of the year? Am I looking for an atta girl or a pat on the head? No, I’m looking for others out there who go through all this effort only to have their husbands sabotage their good intentions.
The other day, my husband stopped at the Golden Arches for breakfast. I have no problem with this because he is a grown man and can decide for himself how soon he wants to die. I don’t ever stop for fast food–not that I’m an angel because I’m not. My fast food includes Rubio’s, Noodles ‘n Company, and other places like it but it’s fairly infrequently and I silently cringe as I add up how many grams of salt the girls are choking down.
Anyway, I digress. I don’t care what the man eats because he’s incorrigible. He’s frequently found on the couch watching TV with his corn chips, Chips Ahoy, white bread, Oreos, chocolate milk made with Nestle Quik, and anything else containing sugar/salt/fat.
One day last week, he brought home hash browns from McDonald’s for any one of the girls who wanted to eat them. He hadn’t bought them specifically for anyone–it was a first-come, first served kind of gift. I mentioned how bad fried hash browns are and his quick retort was, “They’re just like french fries, but in a different shape.”
Yes, he’s right and then I stumbled upon this video about how bad french fries are for people (and probably pets). We should not consume them ever, according to Dr. Michael Greger. I have not touched one since viewing this video and will have a hard time doing so ever again. And this video is six years old. Where have I been!
My question is this, how do you handle situations where one parent is concerned and proactive about their children’s health and the other is more child-like in his nutrition quest? I’m really curious. Do you do your best and hope the roots and twigs phase overrides the sugar and shit phase? And I mean after college because I already know what one of my girls ate at college during her freshman year. I think the spirulina cakes in her preschool lunchbox turned her against me.
I am seriously perplexed as to how to get my husband onboard with health. Any tips/tricks? I’ve tried talking about nutrition (oh, there’s your mom going off again about processed food), sending videos from the experts, sneaking extra veggies into sauces and casseroles, modeling the desired behavior, and just giving up/shutting up and drinking wine (organic, of course).
What would you do?
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