How to Stay Skinny and Healthy While Eating Whatever You Please

Feb 27, 2009 by Anna Migeon

I’m pretty slim, and so are my kids and husband, so occasionally someone asks me if I “watch” what we eat. I don’t have a simple answer for that question.

I’m no Don Gorske, the guy in the documentary Super Size Me (an excellent tool, by the way, to turn kids off to fast food) who claims that Big Macs make up 90 percent of his solid food intake, averaging two a day since 1972. He also drinks little but Coke. Yet, at 6’2″, he weighs only 185 pounds.

I do eat whatever I want and, since they’ve gotten bigger and they’re conditioned, I let my kids eat whatever they want, but I don’t want to give the impression that we stay fit, slim and healthy in spite of eating junk. My motto is “Love healthy food and eat whatever you want.”

We can eat whatever we want because what we want is all manner of healthy foods. We like all that stuff. So, whatever we want to eat, we eat. If we want a Little Caesar’s pizza or a Snickers bar, we eat it. It’s not all the time, though. I usually don’t feel that great afterwards. I don’t bring  soda, candy, or any other junky snacks into the house. If I did, it would be tempting. We would eat it if it were there. I buy all healthy foods, and we get hungry, and we eat them and enjoy them.

In the end, we all tend to do what we want. Going against our heart inclinations is too hard for any length of time. So this love of what’s good for them is a pearl of great price for our children.

“Take advantage of the last moment when you have complete control over what your child consumes,” writes Mireille Guiliano in French Women Don’t Get Fat. “As children we develop our lifelong sense of what is natural and comforting, and the adult continues to seek comfort from the same sources, regardless of how unhealthful. . . The best gift you can give your child is a conditioned attraction to the things that are good for her.”

We condition a child’s attraction by introducing him to the widest variety of vegetables, fruits, and flavors, in season, carefully prepared and presented winsomely.

“Tasteless fruits and vegetables won’t win them over for life,” Guiliano notes.

If your tastes and your child’s are jaded, and you love what’s bad for you more than what’s nutritious, you can make the choice to find healthy foods that you can love. The great adventure of eating well is a lifelong journey.

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© Sacred Appetite / Anna Migeon / 26 February 2009 / All rights reserved