Monday, February 8, 2010

Eating Healthy is Hard

It's easy to eat healthy when you have two things that most people have none of:  money and time.  I would love to have the time to peruse healthy recipes, the time to buy fresh fruits, veggies, organic meats, etc., and the time to artfully prepare them. Ideally, I would have time on Sundays  to prepare meals for the week, and then all I would have to do when I came home each day would be to take stuff out of the fridge and pop it into the oven.

I work until five most days.  When I get home, I have a two year old who wants Mama's attention.  He doesn't care that I need to prepare food for dinner, it is more important that I stop and draw him a beetle, a kitty cat, an elephant and a spider.  Over and over again.  Even when my husband runs interference and tries to keep Zane occupied, he continues to seek my attention.  Which is fine, except when it's not.  Which is when I am trying to cook, because that usually involves ovens and pots and pans and knives and other things that toddlers aren't supposed to have contact with. We have an oven lock, but when it is time to open the oven door, here comes the boy. 

It also doesn't help my eating healthy that my husband never met a vegetable that he liked(his mother is the same way).  And he doesn't like casseroles. He likes meat and potatoes and bread--all the things you are supposed to eat in moderation, he eats to excess.  Occasionally I can get him to eat something healthier--I found some "light" sourdough bread that is only 40 calories a slice(Nature's Own) and doesn't taste like paper, for instance, and he likes the Smart Ones breakfast muffin sandwiches.  But I usually have to sneak healthy stuff past him, like adding extra veggies to the spaghetti sauce. I've tried to appeal to the Daddy factor--he needs to be seen eating healthy so his son will pick up good eating habits.  I have had no luck, just like I had no luck appealing to his lowered risk of Alzheimers, heart attacks, etc.   I am open to any and all ideas.  

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