Healthy Habit Household

As I sit here at the community center pool pondering all of the tasks I need to list out and begin working on for my work projects and for the business, I am “kindly” reminded of exactly where I am at the moment.  As if the high pitched, ear piercing squeals from the girls running around like whirling dervishes weren’t enough, every minute or so the air is punctured by the blaring lifeguard whistle aimed at the boys who are fearlessly playing a game of tackle football in the water.  My son is fortunately not one of them and is content to test the strength of his lungs as he attempts to swim around the whirlpool area without taking a breath. 

He is nearly 10 and is getting increasingly concerned about getting enough exercise.  I haven’t decided yet if he is merely using exercise as a synonym for play, but either way, I am happy about it.  He will have a natural propensity toward weight gain as his dad’s genetic make-up isn’t stellar either.  Although both his dad and I have a significant advantage in that we gain muscle very quickly, we both also gain fat quickly as well.  One of the things I believe has helped Justin is that we always have crap food around the house along with healthy snacks and the rule has always been that you canhave as many healthy snacks as you want, but the crap snacks are limited to 1 aday.  Justin routinely chooses the healthy options and now does a lot of the self regulation required with the crap.  He also has been asking to go with me on my runs in the mornings and has been doing push-ups, sit-ups and squats every now and again.

I am encouraged by the signs that I see with him.  Unfortunately, my dad tried to instill this behavior in us as kids, but there was a significant resistance to it and the food thing,…. well, that was a lost cause.  Our house was full of Pepsi and we regularly ate out due to the crazy schedule my mom had to keep with all of us in various youth sports all over the city.  My parents never kept crap in the house because we would devour it in no time and “ding dongs” were expensive(albeit, much more delicious back in the day I will argue).  Although the philosophy of out of sight, out of mind, never worked for me. 

My babysitting career was highly profitable and kept me busy nearly every weeknight and weekend where I didn’t have a sports commitment.  This, unfortunately for my waist line and thus my social life, led to many a ding dong bender at my client’s homes.  Embarrassing as it is to admit, I once ate an entire box over the course of a Saturday, because after I had already eaten four ding dongs, I figured an entire box (out of the 6 that were there) would be less noticeable than the large quantity out of a single box.  Yes, ridiculous logic, but remember that I was only 14 and highly intoxicated… on ding dong filling.

I thought that I was unable to handle the “freedom” of having sweets and crap food around due to my escapades as a youngster.  During college I found myself justifying purchases of crap “because it was my money and I earned it.”  Interesting that I was also slowly earning the consequences of the 9:30pm Mickey D’s French fry and Coca Cola drive through ritual.  It wasn’t until I was married and my husband was reading an over eaters anonymous book that I learned to think about things in an entirely different way.

The book bravely suggested to stockpile your favorite crap food in the house and keep it that way. If you had a love affair with Oreos, then buy 8 full size packages and when you are finished with one, go buy another; keeping 8 packages in the house at all times.  Surely this book had to be a joke right?  Surely they had to know that someone with a true eating disorder would plow through the Oreos and gain 87 pounds in a fortnight.  However, the concept is simple and through personal testimony quite effective.  You see, we are all animals at our core.  We are programmed for survival and when we feel like that survival is threatened, we will adapt and create behaviors that aren’t always favorable.  In a home where there is a limited amount of “good” stuff and you have to compete for it, there is an instinct that kicks in where “I better eat it now before someone else does or else I won’t get any.”  Using the technique outlined in that book, I was able to retrain myself that I can have them anytime I want….  Afterall, there were 8 bags in there! 

I believe that is the principle that has made the difference for Justin.  I believe that because we haven’t ever over-emphasized diet but rather focused on healthy choices and a healthy lifestyle, Justin has been able to make that leap early.  Granted, it probably also helps that he doesn’t have to worry about siblings stealing candy out of his Halloween stash from (9months ago) either.  :)  My only hope is that it continues and his outlook on healthy living, exercise and diet will continue to grow as he does.  I do not want him to experience the same frustration that I did through the first 36 years of my life.