Is there anyone who just eats normally?

[Peanutss]

I can't believe the amount of threads where the OP claims to eat only a boiled spinach shake for breakfast, plain cous cous for dinner and a salmon fillet with veg for tea. With of course, only an apple as a snack in between.

Is there anyone like me who just has a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast, a meal deal for lunch and then whatever I can be arsed putting in the oven for tea? I'm beginning to wonder if I'm massively unhealthy in comparison to most or whether people are just making this up.

to those who are constantly preoccupied, anxious and fussy about their diet, do you micro-manage your children’s diets too?

of course not, from toddlerhood the children are in charge of their own food shop and cooking, no parental intrusion whatsoever.

Yesterday I had..
B:air
L: bacon and egg butty
D: loads of homemade carbonara
S: dairylee on today and bag of salt and vinegar crisps. Oh and a bottle of passion fruit cider.

I've had 3 cups of coffee with honey, a hobnob flapjack, leftover chicken kiev, some liquor chocolates blushand a banana

Just two from the first page.

As I say I’m not judging I just wonder how you balance this kind of eating with encouraging healthy eating in your children

No judgement, I promise

Then proceeds with judgey 'question'.

If you're interested, I've stated up thread already what the children in our house eat on a standard day.

Today they had cereal, a sandwich and fruit for lunch, a few jaffa cakes (shock and horror) and then pie, potatoes and veg for tea.

These who don’t ever have fruit or veg or just have the odd token apple or tangerine, and consume sharing packs of chocolate (on their own) etc etc how do your children eat?

I don't eat fruit, there is no fruit I've ever found that I like the taste of.
I do eat some.eg though, on pizza or when it's next to a slab of meat and potatoes.

My daughter is 5, she likes fruit and veg, so she had it often. I also refuse to overly worry about her diet, if she wants beans on toast for tea, she has it. If she wants to scoff a fish finger and cheese wrap for her main if the day, she gets it. It isn't every day and it's balanced by plenty of healthier and better meals. Everything is an option, nothing is forbidden, all in moderation.

She's got 60+ years of worrying bout her diet, learning everything in moderation is the best I can do for her right now.

What counts as micro-managing, Kissing? My DN can't quite reach the hob to cook for himself yet...

And tbh if I ever eat a bar of chocolate (on my own ) I wait for them to go to bed otherwise I'd never get away with it without having to share.

beans on toast for tea

Ooooh my favourite comfort easy-meal is beans on toast. A nutritionist told me it's a great protein-rich meal too. Win!

Plabom Kissing was showing a mirrored version of Kikis question. It works both ways. It's not good to pass on extreme habits either side of the scale i.e. obsessing over fat percentages in everything you eat etc..

I think everyone is so, so different, they define normal in their own way. What might be unhealthy to one is okay for another, in the same way that healthy habits for one will be seen as extreme by another.

Maybe it's a social/cultural thing too, as well as what you're bought up with as 'normal'.

I saw a mother emptying a can of coke into a tippee cup for her toddler to drink in town last week.

That made me feel sad. Is that judgy?

Of course not, but no one has even suggested or hinted that they feed their children sharing bars of chocolate on this thread or anything else of the sort. You can tell from the tone of the question that this is what was being implied. You eat x y and z so your children must also eat that way.

Most unhealthy things I eat are in the evening when they are in bed or at work when I'm on the go.

It’s weird

There’s a pride in the junk you eat

And yet it’s clearly a worry at some level by the way you see everything as an attack.

I see things that are meant to be judgemental towards people's parenting under a guise of 'genuine curiosity' as an attack yes.

People are so weirdly black and white - like if you don't have their perfect diet then you must eat absolute shit. I sometimes eat a whole sharing bar of chocolate. Today I've eaten six portions of fruit and veg and I haven't yet had dinner. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

I think i eat normally! Toast for breakie, mug shot for lunch and curry for dinner today. Ice cream later. Some people will only post the version of themselves they want online

I have, different ways of eating.

Normal, work day, where I'm attempting to be healthy.

No breakfast as I'm rarely hungry in the morning.
Salad with protein and some balsamic vinegar, a piece or two of fruit and a cereal bar for lunch. Or sometimes soup in place of the salad. No bread.
Dinner is something again based around protein and salad. I love cold salmon with salad leaves. Or sometimes it's casserole.

Porridge or a few crackers with choc spread for supper.

Weekends
No breakfast as I prefer a lie in anyway.
Then it's not the healthiest, but not lots of quantity these days (mid 40s and a few stone over weight.)
Some small treat in the evening that's less than 200 cals, so a few biscuits or a pancake.

Treat days.... few and far between.
Whatever and whenever, but not eating to excess to feel bloated.

I've lost nearly a stone in the last month by limiting carbs but not omitting them and by aiming to have veg or salad with every meal and to limit treats.

Today has been fairly rubbish as still avoiding Christmas treats (badly!)

Brunch - bacon sandwich
Mid afternoon - box (!) of maltesters. Packet spicy crisps.
Dinner will be.... sausage sandwich.

Can't eat eggs, which is a shame as I love the taste but they make me feel sick.

'These who don’t ever have fruit or veg or just have the odd token apple or tangerine, and consume sharing packs of chocolate (on their own) etc etc how do your children eat?'

Well they have Jaffa cakes for breakfast, pot noodle for lunch and oven chips for dinner obviously.

It’s weird

There’s a pride in the junk you eat

And yet it’s clearly a worry at some level by the way you see everything as an attack.

Not as weird as subscribing to bogus beliefs in ‘healing’ food, and being anxious about perfectly normal parts of diet like sugary pudding or red meat. And being bothered that there are people who might treat food as a pleasure, not a risk.

What counts as micro-managing, Kissing? My DN can't quite reach the hob to cook for himself yet...

Yeah...how about supervising them at parties so they don’t eat any ‘bad’ food? Or
telling them how ‘bad’ fast food is if they ask for it? Or bothering the school about ‘bad’ food they might give for lunch?

Or even just filling their heads with nonsense about the health giving properties of food? [passive aggressive laugh emoji]

r even just filling their heads with nonsense about the health giving properties of food?

you know you are twisting the idea, which is less about health giving properties than shit food damaging your body! People normally don't deny the effect of alcohol on your liver for example, but seem much more reluctant to admit that food can be just as damaging...why is that?

Like with so many things, we probably treat our DCs better than ourselves.

I try to make sure my DCs make good food choices, I make sure they have fruit and veg etc, but it’s usually when they’re not around that I eat cake for lunch or have croissants for breakfast instead of fruit and yoghurt or Bircher muesli.

I will add spinach into curry for example, to make sure they get some goodness, but I will also put cream and almonds into the curry and serve it with a buttery naan, because nice food is as important as ‘good’ food to me and they’re all a healthy weight and active too.

I know the proper healthy eating brigade would say have grilled chicken tikka or daal and brown rice, whereas I make something we all like, but just make sure they get nutrition as well as tastiness.

Kissing, you're very defensive!

Each to their own, surely? Those posters gloating over their 'bad' diets aren't any better than the posters gloating over their 'perfect' diets.

I did think food can help health though; NHS Dieticians can help those needing guidance, with meal plans etc. Protein deficency can cause problems with energy, I think - a lack of essential amino acids leads to complications.

If health is a priority to someone, then that may include exercising for fitness, reducing stress, losing or gaining weight, and following a balanced diet. That doesn't mean they're obsessive, surely?

And balance is in the eye stomach of the beholder eater!

One person's treat may be another's staple.

People normally don't deny the effect of alcohol on your liver for example, but seem much more reluctant to admit that food can be just as damaging

I don't deny extreme excesses of either alcohol or 'bad' food can have negative effects on your body. I don't believe having a share bar of chocolate to yourself every now and then will, in the grand scheme of things, have the effect you seem to think it will.

make sure they get nutrition as well as tastiness

Sounds perfect :)

People normally don't deny the effect of alcohol on your liver for example, but seem much more reluctant to admit that food can be just as damaging...why is that?

Because it’s not true.

Kissing surely you must acknowledge that some foods are bad for you?

Whatdoiwanttohear in large quantities yes. Every now and then, no.