Sunday, June 8, 2008

It isn't easy...

www.thelighterweigh.com

It isn't easy to limit your children's junk food. I am so often sabotaged. Today we took the kids to the pool club. I had spoken to the owner of the cafe during the week and asked him to add some healthy options to the menu. He agreed to add a "grilled cheese light" item which is two slices of whole wheat bread with three slices of Alpine Lace reduced fat cheese made without any butter, oil, or mayo. So I ordered that for my daughter- and purposely didn't order any fries for her. I also ordered some fruit salad to start so we could all fill up on the healthy stuff. Well, our food came and I realized that all my friends had ordered chicken fingers and fries for their children. So of course Danielle immediately started crying that she wanted french fries. How could I deny her what all of her friends were eating. I usually do that but I really didn't have the energy. So I let her have a few fries. We finished eating- but our friends had left over some chicken fingers. Next thing I know, I turn around and Danielle is chomping on a fried, greasy, left-over chicken nugget. So much for all my efforts to make this a healthy meal.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

its so hard to control what your child is eating when others around are giving their children everything and anything i want. When I try to limit what my daughter eats the same exact thing happens, she even tries to steal food from other peoples plates if we tell her no. I don't want to limit what she eats, but unfortunately she is an overweight 4 year old and I don't want her struggling once she starts school...Im so frustrated!

Joanna Dolgoff, M.D. said...

As you can tell, I really understand. You need to do the best that you can- especially at home. You can also teach your child why we should eat healthy foods. She is old enough to understand that healthy foods keep our hearts strong and help us to grow big and tall and that junky foods are not healthy for our hearts. I also tell my children that "different mommies have different rules". There are times to be strong and not allow the junk food- and then there are times to give in. You just have to pick your battles. Good luck and thanks for writing!

Anonymous said...

My little brother, Max, is an overweight 8 year old. Whenever we go to the pool, he insists on eating an ice cream bar as well as the greasiest thing on the menu. I know that if my mom or I put in a little more effort he wouldn't eat as poorly as he does, but its super hard telling a cute 8 year old he can't eat what he wants, while all the other kids are eating anything they please.