The weight of a child, a teen, a woman and a mother...
My original blog was going to focus on MY diet and then I saw a picture of a young girl, (who I would determine to be a teen) next to another teen who is a dear friend of mines child (teen)... Then I looked down to my over 98% percentile kid (height) 60% percent (weight) then to pictures of my niece (who towers over kids her age) And then I thought about my weight history (thin, chubby, skinny, muscular, chubby).
I want to go back to my childhood... I was thin. I played outside (a lot) I chased my sisters. I played volleyball. We ate family meals and my Mom (let me step back for a moment and mention she is my step mother only because it plays a role with genetics, otherwise we refer to her as Mom) often restricted my intake because of whatever reason (restricted means no extra helpings of Pepsi or really any food until the plate was clean). I never noticed the difference and I was always full. We went out (what I remember was weekly) weekly and ate junk. Sounds like a good plan right? Honestly, forward to my adult life (skinny and muscular) I ate the same way. She taught me HOW to eat (but not what obviously, it was 20 years ago). I was never harassed. I never dieted. I loved to play ball and work on being better at it... Forward to chubby stage one. I began to eat as a family during my first marriage and got pretty chubby and unhappy. I made money and worked around the house but no actual FUN. I was miserable. I only realized this after my divorce. Would lifting of helped us? I tend not to think so. My ex, although a wonderful tender hearted man drank a lot. A... Lot.... I am gonna leave it there being as we are still occasional friends and my intentions are not to hurt him. Eventually I got thin, began lifting and met the man of my dreams. I was the most happy during those summer nights on cheat night. On to now, I am chubby. I have been carb back loading and although a wonderful diet, just not for me. I am going back to clean eating post vacation. At some point eating became boring, back loads no fun. Cheaty foods are suppose to be magical and along the way they lost their vigor.
Now I want to step into another childhood of a friends. He is one of two brothers. Both compete. Both know how to diet. Their mother even works out. The one thing that resonates HUGE with me is in getting to know them both, they both mentioned their parents took them to the gym with them. How amazing is that? Their father has since passed and both boys still lift and diet (to my knowledge). What a great life choice to pass on to your children!!
I think that is today's issue. There are no family activities. No park trips. No night walks. Cheat foods are easy to come by and they are no longer cheats. They are "meals." We do not eat with family, we may sit by them, but we are constantly posting pics of our food or critiquing Paula Deen via fb. We think dieting means eating a meal a day, or worse, throwing it up. It has to stop.
My friends little girl is Smart. Kind. Beautiful. She has parents that lift and set the tone for her. My niece is Beautiful. Kind. Compassionate. She has a uncle who has lifted her whole life. My daughter is Kind. Goofy. Sassy. The thing they have in common? They tower over their peers. They are not a size zero. Nor should they be. They all are adorable in gowns, they all look like they care what goes in their mouth. I know my niece does not wear Abercrombie even though all the kids do, but the girl honestly jazzes it up. So does my friends daughter. Kids are so mean. My niece will soon find that the simple town she lives in was full of it. College will be so much better, she can relish her height. Her body. Her looks. She can quit thinking being skinny is so fucking important. She can start learning working out is fun!! The teen has five more years of brain warping thinking a zero is ok... And my kid has 12. I feel so bad for them.
This world is so warped, even our presidents wife has no concept of carbs, look at the food pyramid!! We need to change. Society needs to really change before we have that kid in Mars needs Moms. As adults we need to do it also. Instead of exempting out of P.E. we need two P.E.s!!! We need to get rid of video game controllers. Stop gmo and processed foods. We need to show our kids what a gym is. We need to empower our kids to know how to look past the shit coated cheeseburgers. It is not just one person, it is all people that need to change and honestly, I do not even know where to start except with our family.
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