Slacker Golden Rule #3

Commit to building small, healthy habits.

Once you are comfortable eating only when you are hungry and stopping when you are full (Golden Rule #1), and you've given yourself permission to eat what you like and to eat only what you like (Golden Rule #2), it's time to move on to building healthy habits. Which habits you work on will depend on you - there are plenty to choose from, and they all can make a difference. Here's a list of possibilities:

- eat breakfast every day
- eat fruits and/or veggies at every meal
- snack on fruits and veggies
- drink a lot of water
- drink less soda
- move your body every day
- eat together as a family more often
- eat more home-prepared meals
- add more fiber to your meals
- take a multivitamin every day
- take a calcium supplement, especially if you’re not a milk drinker
- stop smoking
- build muscles with weight training or resistance training
- sit down to eat
- avoid eating in the car
- eat out less often
- eat a variety of food, from all of the food groups
- avoid “grazing”
- avoid eating in front of the TV
- try new recipes
- cut down on salt
- other? ________________________________

The point is to keep challenging yourself to take just a little bit better care of yourself than you did yesterday; you deserve it!

Feeding Kids 101

There are great battles going on every night at the dinner table all across the world. The main problem is that we never got the job description for parenting - the one that would have detailed the rules for feeding kids. So, we make it up as we go, and many of us mistakingly believe that getting the food into the kid's belly is main task number one. We don't feel satisfied until the child has eaten the required serving of broccoli, because if they don't eat it, we're a bad parent - right?

Maybe this is why I love this area - it comes as such a relief to many parents when they finally hear and believe the message - you don't have to get the food into the child! Your job is to get the food to the child!

I'm not making this up - the correct way to feed children is to allow them to have some responsibility in the process. Ellyn Satter, author and the pioneer of this method, calls it the Division of Responsiblity. From her website:

Feeding demands a division of responsibility. Parents are responsible for the what, when and where of feeding; Children are responsible for the how much and whether of eating...Ellyn Satter

This requires a bit of attention to fully digest (bad pun, sorry); but, it really boils down to this - you as the parent need to get the food to the child in a structured way - meaning meals and snacks. Then, your job is done. It is not up to you to get the food into the child - that's his job. Barring medical problems, healthy children will eat well this way and will thrive.

This is really the way to raise healthy eaters - this method helps kids to learn about food at their own pace, try new foods at their own comfort level, and grow to the weight they are supposed to be.

Peace to the dinner table!

Let's learn from the skinny people

I know that it seems like certain skinny people stay that way because of blessed genes; but, if you really spend time observing a naturally skinny person, you will realize a couple of things.

#1 - Naturally skinny people tend to honor their hunger. If they are not hungry, they have no problem saying so and simply don't eat. Also, they tend to stop eating when they are comfortably full, even when there is chocolate cake LEFT ON THE PLATE!

#2 - Naturally skinny people tend to eat what they like and leave the rest. Many of these people have been labeled a "picky eater" by those who know them, as if that's a bad thing. They are guided by what tastes good to them, and as they get older and wiser, they are also guided by what they know is doing their body good.

#3 - Naturally skinny people are RARELY, if ever, perfect eaters. If you meet someone who you think is a naturally skinny person and also eats perfectly, chances are they may be suffering from something called "orthorexia" (a term coined by Dr. Steven Bratman). Orthorexia Nervosa literally means "fixation on righteous eating", and it occurs when healthy eating becomes an obsession - another day, another topic.