"Mom, I ate all the food groups!"

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:20 pm

This morning during our rush I hear my 8 year old say excitedly "Mom, I ate all my food groups!" I look over and see a spread for a king and my tiny 55 lb. son beaming a smile to light up the state. I see cereal with too much milk, orange juice, toast with jelly and way too much peanut butter... and one full kid. He was trying to force it down so that he could have all of the food groups, as if missing one would be horrible.

I've always thougt that the whole food group idea is pushed way too much. I was always thin and carefree until I heard in school that you need to have "3 square meals" a day. I probably had up until that point in my life and I was eating what I wanted. I think that we crave what we need if we're not over eating. I actually crave brussel sprouts when I'm hungry... Never when I've just got the munchies and am not hungry. I remember eating 'enough for me' in school and the cafeteria lady telling us that we needed to eat a particular item because it wasn't a good square meal otherwise... like it didn't count unless you had all 4 food groups. I remember also eating potato chips one day and being told that it didn't "count" because it didn't count as one of the food groups. I was told however that chips were bad, but as my concious said that, the adult's words were absorbed however subconciously it was, to believe that chips simply didn't "count". Maybe it was a greedy translation on my part, but I don't feel that every meal has to have every healthy food group in it to be called "good" now either, and it makes me mad to see my son stuffing down his breakfast for his teacher. He varies his breakfasts normally, but might have had just raisin bran with milk... which does contain whole grains, fruit and Dairy/protein. I think that's good. He's a healthy thin to normal weight. I make breakfast for them quite often and try to make healthy stuff. As the generations in my family progress, over the 5 generations that I've observed... we're slowly, steadily getting bigger. Now, before you jump on me for this, I realize that the food pyramid is different and that they keep updating all of that info. but I hate all of those food rules! I think that all of this over-emphasis on what we eat is the main problem and that every food goes through the "good" and "bad" phases and back agian.

That's why I love the NO S way of eating naturally! Thanks Reinhard!!!

geekmom · Post by **geekmom** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:52 pm

I think the food group and "square meal" idea is great as a general guideline but shouldn't be used to rigidly define what is on our plate at each meal. I ask my kids to look at what they eat over a longer period of time, say a week or two, and look for gaps in their diet that show they need to focus more on certain types of food. This has been a helpful approach with my 14yo girl who seems to want to eat nothing but starches with the occasional dairy product thrown in.

I have an 8yo son too, Renee, and he seems to do a pretty good job of choosing a variety of healthy foods over time. This summer he's been eating a 5lb bag of apples every week in addition to his regular meals! I honestly don't know where he is putting all that food and expect he will outgrow his entire wardrobe soon.

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 6:17 pm

Geekmom... I definitely agree... and we need to tell our kids especially that variety over time is best. I have 4 kids and my 16 year old daughter eats just like yours, and my 14 year old son is fast approaching it, and has grown 4-5 inches in the past year Doc says. Whew!

clarinetgal · Post by **clarinetgal** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:31 pm

I know what you mean! I also think that it makes more sense if you try to average your nutrients out over time, rather than rigidly trying to get all 4 or 5 food groups with every meal. I do try to get all of the food groups with my meals, but if I decide that I want, say, just whole grains and protein with breakfast, then I just make up for it later on and not worry about it.
I just have one child right now, a 1 year old, and the early childhood literature my state sends me always talks about making sure the food group consumption averages out over time.

Sara R · Post by **Sara R** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 3:17 pm

I read a useful guideline in Home Comforts, a book about homemaking. In her chapter about meals, she says that traditionally, meals consist of three parts: one protein, one starch, and one or more fruits or vegetables. "The triad is primarily a social or traditional idea, secondarily a nutritional one." I prefer this kind of thinking about meals to strict food-pyramid thinking.

bluebunny27 · Post by **bluebunny27** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:07 pm

Yeah, my lil' nephew was always asking me to buy all natural peanut butter ... so I did the other day. Tastes pretty good too, yum. It's supposed to be better for you, no salt or sugar added. I have 1 tbsp. per day so it wasn't too bad for me even with the regular one.

What makes me laugh is my nephew was insisting on getting the all natural pb and then he eats salty and sweet stuff with it on the side, lol ! Hum, I guess it's better if there's no sugar in the pb but what about that jam you put on top ?? Even Steven ?? Plus 1 tbsp. is enough really, no need to pile it on cos' there's still many calories in pb, even the all natural kind !

Kids !

Cheers !

Marc