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Super Contributor
Posts: 578
Registered: ‎07-30-2011

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

Any regrets? Nope, not a one! I cooked like my mother cooked--meat or chicken, a starch, a vegetable, a salad. My mother was ahead of her time. When one of the first McDonald's in the country opened near us, she turned up her nose, and muttered, "Don't eat that--it's poison." She felt much the same way about white bread. When my kids were small, on those nights when my husband worked late, I took them to Friendly's, where for 99cents they could have a hamburger, fries, and an ice cream dessert. For three bucks I could be a sport! Fridays they looked forward to 'pizza night.' Kids go through phases in their eating development, and the trick is to not make food an issue, to avoid problems later. Remind your kids of that.

I'm not a big fan of this current trend of eliminating entire food groups. (Yes, I know sugar isn't a food group!) My daughter has worked in the health field for nearly 20 years. In her job, she consults with other health professionals there. A nutritionist told her, "there are no bad foods, just bad amounts." This is not some schlepper; this person is a lead dietician for one of the major cancer centers in the country. I believe her.

I bottle fed my kids, and in an era when bottle feeder is synonymous with 'bottom feeder', my daughters did, too! So far so good....

These days I do try to eat organic produce, after reading 'Tomatoland'. (You'll never look at a tomato the same way again.) I stopped eating meat, except for chicken (and fish) in 1977. It had less to do with health and more to do with my not liking it, and having enough pot roast coursing through my body to last me the rest of my natural life! But making a big deal over it seems pompous and arrogant. I'm probably a little too sassy, but if I heard such a remark, my response would likely have been, "Oh, get over yourself!"

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,180
Registered: ‎04-10-2012

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

On 1/14/2014 florey said: By today's standards I'm not at all confident in how I fed my family, but I did the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time. No one ever taught me how or what to cook, so I kinda just learned by trial and error - mostly error! My first turkey had blue and green stripes on it because instead of covering it with cheesecloth and basting it according to the recipe, I covered it with a dish towel. It was quite beautiful in a weird science way. Anyway we all lived and are still going strong so I guess good intentions count for something.
Cute story (blue and green turkey) ........I Agee that we did the best we could with what we had..shouldn't feel bad just because we didn't all have fabulous organic farms .
Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,788
Registered: ‎06-10-2010

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

No regrets. I was raised in the 50's and 60's. We usually ate the 4 food groups and everything was made from scratch. I did pretty much the same thing for my family...Mom always had a fruit and vegetable on the table for our big meal and we were taught everything was ok in moderation. I still believe that! It's the food additives we didn't have and I am more concerned about that. I remember lots of fresh fruits. We always seemed to have apples, oranges, and bananas on hand when we wanted one.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,347
Registered: ‎07-25-2010

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

The way they acted at times I thought of them as ""its"".

I have no regrets. I did the best I could.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,336
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

As a stay at home mom, I did not resort to a lot of fast food/junk food. I always had fresh fruits and veggies and limited the fried foods. None of my children had a weight problem. Guess I was doing something right.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,575
Registered: ‎06-13-2011

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

Annabellethecat, you won't get any grief from me. I agree with what you said. Trying to eat a healthy diet is great . My husband and I really strive to eat properly but we don't beat ourselves up if we eat the occasional hot dog or slice of pizza while shopping at Costco. I heard a nutritionist talk about eating 80/20. 80% healthy food and 20% comfort food. Just use common sense and keep the junk food to a minimum.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,758
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

Remind your son that if you didn't feed him all that c*rap he would have starved to death!

Here you go again with BAD food. First PB&J and now anti-vegan foods. I'm glad they live where they can eat that way and are informed of how to do it properly. It is a very healthy lifestyle, but like all things, can go to an extreme, just like me and chocolate! They are also where they can get those foods at a reasonable price.

As for having kids, she will probably breastfeed first if she is into organic and vegan. So no biggie there. Plenty of women have very healthy pregnancies and babies that are both vegan. You just have to know what and how much to eat to keep your nutrients balanced, just like all other foods. MMmmm The more I write, the more being vegan sounds just like eating everything. I collect vintage cookbooks and find many of the 30s,40s, and 50s tell the homemaker how to be successful at entertaining and being a mom, including how much of each nutrient adults, teenagers, kids, and toddlers need. They were very specific including how many servings of liver to serve every week without fail! I think that was a plot by the beef farmers to sell more!

I'm sure they will be just fine doing things their way, and they too will have their kids question them why they let them eat all that cr*ap when they were kids!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

On 1/14/2014 Snowpuppy said:

I was a single parent for a very long time.

I put on the table the best that I could afford.

We eat far better than in years past simply because we can.

This is a very important point for so many, of any generation. We could probably all do "better" than we did, but there is such a thing in life as balance.

We had some friends who were raising kids at the same time we did, and I learned something wonderful from them. In their home, there was only very healthy choices, counters full of produce boxes, fresh natural food, no junk. Their kids packed lunches (everyone in the small school did, as there was no school provided lunch) they may have a whole apple, a whole carrot, peanut butter on whole grain bread (no jelly). But, if there was a class party, an all school pizza party etc. the kids were allowed to eat what everyone else did. They were not made to be "different" and they had experienced healthy foods from the beginning, had no other choices at home, and loved their healthy foods. The other stuff was a treat, for special times.

Short of very specific health issues, most of us will not die earlier if we eat a couple of cookies at Christmas, or a piece of cake on our birthday. The idea is to surround ourselves with healthy foods for everyday, and eat the others as an occasional treat.

The statement from the OP"s son was out of line as far as I'm concerned. I would bet, as I have a kid and know, that when he was offered healthy food at that time of his life, he probably choose the junk over it anyway. Just wait till he has kids and they grow up and remind him of what a cr$$py job he did raising them, and he might offer up an apology for his rude attitude toward his mother.

Contributor
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎03-19-2010

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

Annabellethecat ~ "So, stop apologizing and just say that you did what you felt was the right thing to feed them." You nailed it! We love our kids and did the best we could at the time. Sometimes it was good and sometimes maybe not so good. If we did it again 10 times over we would probably do it 10 different ways. You live and you learn. My kids grew to be happy and healthy and my grandsons are growing up to be AWESOME!
Super Contributor
Posts: 465
Registered: ‎04-19-2010

Re: Any regrets about how you fed your family when ""it"" was young?

Our food is much more dangerous now than ever before. The FDA is unable to do the job of protecting our food. I am not a zealot about food, but with the incoming foods coming from China, GMO's and overuse of pesticides, I would rather be safe than sorry. Chicken coming from China will not be labeled to say so. I am only going to buy meat from local butcher stores now.

I wish I could be as dedicated to eating clean as your son and DIL are.