By now everyone knows I try to feed my kids healthful foods and steer clear of the junk for the most part; but every once in a while I let them have something that I consider junk.  Recently when my eldest had a Coke then the following day he grabbed a Gatorade I said no.  He didn’t like that answer. Now the worst part was that we were at a friends house and I don’t want to insult them by going into the whys and why nots of my decision. They’re giving their kids the Gatorade. My eldest has Asperger’s and so sometimes he needs the full explanation when he’s questioning my answer; no isn’t always enough for him.  I also don’t want to beat a dead horse by talking about artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners, preservatives, and HFCS in front of everyone.  

I know that I get people rolling their eyes at the conversation or them feeling that what’s the big deal in just letting my kids eat/drink it.  I wish I didn’t have to say anything, I understand people just don’t want to learn why certain foods (and drinks) are bad for you… they just want to go on eating whatever they want without any consequences— or I guess knowing what those consequences are. 

But… I will go back to my old analogy of letting kids smoke cigarettes (okay, before you comment I know that second hand smoke affects others so eating unhealthily only affects person involved).  The reasons I think they’re similar are that not that long ago people thought smoking was benign and because smoking doesn’t harm the person right away, it’s a cumulative effect.  Same with eating bad foods— it’s not the initial eating of them but the continuous eating that harms the body.  And the long-term affects of eating junk can turn up earlier in life now and affects the health system that treats them.  Hey, if we had a pill that could treat the heart and lung disease of smokers I’m sure we wouldn’t have warning labels on cigarette packets.  We have the Paula Deens of the world telling everyone to eat garbage and it’s alright if you get diabetes, just take these pills/shots for thousands of dollars to treat it.  No one wants to learn why I feel the food my kids eat is important to their health future.  I am trying to instill that instead of getting sick from bad eating habits prevent illness by eating well and get all the nutrients that you need to be healthy.

I know it’s tough in our society with all the mixed messages from the processed food industry. That’s why it’s hard to not say anything.  I do try not to preach. When my kids really want the soda and candy and cakes and ice creams and other junk foods I need to say no sometimes and unfortunately sometimes I have to explain/re-explain my reason for it.  Maybe if I were a better parent my kids wouldn’t question my decision— they’d just accept my answer.   It also seems that during the summer we’re around so many more places that serve all this junk.  Like the unlimited free soda at the amusement park we went to last week.  It’s not easy.

So sorry, I’m just trying to help; don’t mean to be a nuisance.   Maybe if you took the effort to learn just a little on it you wouldn’t roll your eyes, but you’d be right there with me, fighting the fight.