Growing up I was always expected to eat all the food on my plate. I didn’t think much of what was good to eat and what wasn’t. My parents would take my brother and I to Taco Bell and we especially liked McDonalds. In grade school we had a neighbor that would always take us to McDonalds as a treat once a week of their carpool days. I would get a cheeseburger happy meal and a shake. My brother and I loved it. As I got into middle school I started to care a little more about what I ate. I still ate fast food and I remember l really liked Jack in the Box. As I got into high school food became more of an enemy to me. I was really paranoid of what I ate and worked out a lot. I ended up working at McDonalds on base as a first job. At first I did eat there and that’s why I started working out so much. It was probably until the second week or so that I just told myself no more, I was too worried about gaining weight. I worked there for a couple months and got another job. Fast food was seen as a treat, you get food and they give you toys at the same time. As a little kid to me it was fun.
Now that I am older and have a family of my own I am more aware. For a little while after my pregnancy things were hectic and we did eat out a lot. This was not helping, I wanted to lose weight and this definitely wasn’t the solution. My husband and I see that yeah it does make a big difference on what we eat. I don’t want to raise my son to eat fast food and it really starts at home. Now we rarely go out to eat and I cook all the meals at home and take snacks. Let me tell you what a difference it has made in my weight loss. I still have a ways to go but I feel better and I have energy to workout, go to school, and care for my family. What I really noticed was that it took longer to go buy the food than just to make it at home. When you eat out and get stuck doing that you find yourself losing time and money, that’s what I experienced.
Food is a part of life and what we eat really does affect our mood, and energy. Don’t get me wrong once in a while if I find myself eating out I won’t worry. I tell myself two times a month are what I am allowed and really I don’t even know if I want it anymore. I feel that I have a better relationship with food and have found the right ways to eat. As I think about my history with food and the different food chains it really amazes me how much of an impact this has on peoples lives. I just know that I want my son to grow up eating food that is going to benefit him, once in a while fast food will be around. It made me think if I wouldn’t want my son to eat fast food all the time than neither should I, like I said earlier it starts at home.
