megatype's Journal, 08 Feb 16

Logging food is a real eye-opener. Good luck on your journey. 

Hmmm, this is really thought provoking. My first inclination is to say the best "teaching" aid is by SHOWING her the way to be healthy as you live it. Hate to see someone so young start to obsess over weight, especially since she's not overweight... 

Logging helps it all make sense and gives us control again : ) All you can do I set a good example for her if she isn't ready.  

My daughters and I have actual paper journals that we are keeping to log goals, nutrition and exercise. The three of us share these with each other so I don't have to worry about them being on a public forum and can keep the message on healthy habits in general. I duplicate my FS entries into my paper journal, and use the site to help them calculate their calories then delete those entries. 

First step is cleaning out your kitchen/pantry/fridge of all the crap: crackers, bread, pasta, rice, cookies, sweets, etc. If it's not around, you can't eat it and neither can your daughter. She's definitely going to start feeling the pressure of staying attractive to boys now, and you're great to change what you're feeding her now as high school can be cruel. 

I like the idea of teenagers keeping a food journal but they shouldn't have to worry about counting calories unless the doctor thinks for health reasons it needs to be done. Unless my child was overweight I wouldn't let them on here to see how many calories each food item has because we don't want them stressing over what they are eating if it's healthy and they are healthy. There is no need. If she is overweight and her doctor thinks she needs to lose weight or eat a certain diet then I wouldn't have her counting calories. There is way too much pressure on girls and women these days to be 100 pounds and look like every magazine cover they see. Maybe she just needs to use a paper journal and pencil and write her food items and drinks out to see what she eats during the day so she knows if she needs to make smarter choices.  

Thank YOU alc31! Emphasis on HEALTHY! 

Wow, I've never had so much feedback on a journal entry before. I saw part of a comment that really described the content of my original post well... "thought provoking". It's a good description. It's the reason I posted in the first place. I'd put a lot of thought into it myself and that was what lead me to post here among the support of others who know what it's like to strive for good health through good eating habits. Teenagers or even grown women should not be pressured to be unrealistically thin. I reject that damaging social conditioning completely. However, that really doesn't apply to anyone in my family, we're all plenty plump... but thanks for the feedback. As for clearing out the crap foods.... we have slowly but surely made progress on that over the last 12 months. Crap foods are easier because they are cheap and I know they won't go to waste. The same is not true of fresh fruits and veggies in my household. Except for my middle daughter who has become a vegetarian for the last 3 months. Making sure she gets enough varied sources of vegetable proteins have taught us new ways to enjoy vegetables in our meals. Learning new ways to prepare them in ways my family will actually eat has been a challenge, especially with my youngest. Her favorite foods are pizza, chicken nuggets, fries, bean burritos, tacos, burgers and sugary soda. Any healthy variation is immediately rejected by my daughter and she binges on these crap foods when I provide them sparingly, varied with healthier options. She sneaks junk food from the kitchen when I try to get her to moderate her intake and works quickly to devour and hide when she eats unhealthy crap. Every attempt I've made to help her have a healthier and happier future has been rejected. @Rckc- No, she is not fat. If I manage to get her to join us here, I don't want her to read these journals and think that I feel she is fat! However, if she continues on this path, she will not be as happy in High School next year. I was miserable in high school and I don't want her to feel like that. Those things are short term though. In full, I really just want her to know how important it is to her health and really, it's her long term health that I want her to protect by establishing better eating habits now. I want her to live a long and healthy life because I realize that my own life and health will be cut short by my past choices. We've come a long way. My grandmother was a great cook. Originally from a farm in Alabama, she was a southern fried, cheese-covered, potato and ground beef casserole queen. I loved everything she made but it wasn't very healthy. My mother was a plump teen and became an overweight woman until she got diabetes and now struggles with her health. Mom wasn't big on cooking so everything came out of a box or a can. Between my grandmother's deep-fried-everything and my mom's sodium-filled-nutritionless-throw-togethers.... I was fat before I was even an adult. I've worked really hard to continue to provide healthier meals and snacking options to my kids but a lot of times it feels like wasted energy and resources. My oldest daughter just turned 17 and can't be bothered to eat veggies, my middle daughter will be 16 in a few weeks and loves healthy foods and sports, and my youngest is almost 13 and a half and obsessively picky. Finding options that everyone will eat is a huge challenge. Regardless, I continue to try. Thank you to those who were supportive on this feed. For those who offered general advice about teens not needing to pay attention to what they eat because of social pressures.... you missed the mark but thanks for trying. Its good to know that there are others to fight the stigma of being "fat" because of it's social impact.  

hello! It's hard with teens, I feel for you. You can no longer control what they eat. I would say that it might only be a few years and then they will get back to healthier choices, but also try to find time to make some things from Scratch. Pizza needn't be unhealthy it can be full of veg for a start. In fact I might blog about this, you've given me an idea 💡