kids regulating their own eating
[email protected]
In a message dated 8/11/02 5:54:55 PM, sheran@... writes:
<< In theory it seems to make sense, but now that I'm doing it I have my
doubts. My three year old has been eating nothing but junk food all
day. Today he ate...a few breadsticks in the morning. Nothing but
soda to drink all day. A few bites of pizza for lunch, a pack of
cupcakes. Supper, a few bites of noodles and one bite of carrot.
He'll probably want cookies tonight. I don't know, it just doesn't
seem healthy enough. >>
It doesn't work in a day or a week or a month. It works when it's longterm
and people around are modelling good choices.
School used to say every meal should be balanced, and that itself was news
and political correctness to try to get people into mainstream eating and
away from the beans and tortillas or cornbread and beans (to speak for my own
neighborhood's traditional non-meat dinners when I was a kid), to stress the
importance of protein and to encourage people to eat fruit and vegetables
more.
When my mom was a kid they got oranges at Christmas only. When my
grandmother was a kid they only ate what they could grow or trade with the
neighbors. Our worldwide variety of out-of-season-here (or Never will grow
here, wherever "here" might be) is recent and unnatural. So for us to expect
that "a balanced diet" fifth-grade-health-book style is crucial to daily
survival is wrong.
If we balance out over a few days it's fine. Some people need more protein
than others for their own personal blood-sugar/biochemical/metabolic
purposes. I get a headache if I go too long without protein. Kirby does
too. Marty and Keith never do.
Some people crave juice (Keith) or carbohydrates (Holly, the skinniest person
in our family). By pre-deciding what people will eat, moms don't allow for
individual needs.
Same with TV or decisions about what to wear or other freedoms, a sudden
change from control to choice will result in a kind of shadow-show of what
choices really weren't allowed before. If the choice-giving is new, kids
WILL watch "too much" TV, or play video games an extremely long time, but
it's either celebration or a frantic grab because of fear that the privilege
will be withdrawn.
<<a few breadsticks in the morning. Nothing but
soda to drink all day. A few bites of pizza for lunch, a pack of
cupcakes. Supper, a few bites of noodles and one bite of carrot.
He'll probably want cookies tonight. >>
Sounds like a lot of food. Does he have the option to get more between meals
if he's hungry? If he's NOT hungry, compare his haul of yesterday to what
some of the other kids in the world had access to or were privileged to eat
yesterday. I bet if you counted the calories he was well within a healthy
range of intake.
There was news about water consumption lately. I'll put that in a different
post.
Sandra
<< In theory it seems to make sense, but now that I'm doing it I have my
doubts. My three year old has been eating nothing but junk food all
day. Today he ate...a few breadsticks in the morning. Nothing but
soda to drink all day. A few bites of pizza for lunch, a pack of
cupcakes. Supper, a few bites of noodles and one bite of carrot.
He'll probably want cookies tonight. I don't know, it just doesn't
seem healthy enough. >>
It doesn't work in a day or a week or a month. It works when it's longterm
and people around are modelling good choices.
School used to say every meal should be balanced, and that itself was news
and political correctness to try to get people into mainstream eating and
away from the beans and tortillas or cornbread and beans (to speak for my own
neighborhood's traditional non-meat dinners when I was a kid), to stress the
importance of protein and to encourage people to eat fruit and vegetables
more.
When my mom was a kid they got oranges at Christmas only. When my
grandmother was a kid they only ate what they could grow or trade with the
neighbors. Our worldwide variety of out-of-season-here (or Never will grow
here, wherever "here" might be) is recent and unnatural. So for us to expect
that "a balanced diet" fifth-grade-health-book style is crucial to daily
survival is wrong.
If we balance out over a few days it's fine. Some people need more protein
than others for their own personal blood-sugar/biochemical/metabolic
purposes. I get a headache if I go too long without protein. Kirby does
too. Marty and Keith never do.
Some people crave juice (Keith) or carbohydrates (Holly, the skinniest person
in our family). By pre-deciding what people will eat, moms don't allow for
individual needs.
Same with TV or decisions about what to wear or other freedoms, a sudden
change from control to choice will result in a kind of shadow-show of what
choices really weren't allowed before. If the choice-giving is new, kids
WILL watch "too much" TV, or play video games an extremely long time, but
it's either celebration or a frantic grab because of fear that the privilege
will be withdrawn.
<<a few breadsticks in the morning. Nothing but
soda to drink all day. A few bites of pizza for lunch, a pack of
cupcakes. Supper, a few bites of noodles and one bite of carrot.
He'll probably want cookies tonight. >>
Sounds like a lot of food. Does he have the option to get more between meals
if he's hungry? If he's NOT hungry, compare his haul of yesterday to what
some of the other kids in the world had access to or were privileged to eat
yesterday. I bet if you counted the calories he was well within a healthy
range of intake.
There was news about water consumption lately. I'll put that in a different
post.
Sandra