Childhood Eating...and The Power of Saying NO

Ben decided to take a nap before starting to study. I put a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and have decided to blog in lieu of cleaning.

(Disclaimer: This post is NOT meant to come off like I am blaming my mom for me being overweight. At some point, I had to start taking responsibility for what was going in my mouth.)

This morning I was buying some doughnuts, and I saw the creme filled doughnuts I used to get as a child. I had an instant flashback to "Debbie Moss Doughnuts." I coined the doughnuts with this name because another woman that my mom taught with liked them, so I always wanted that type of doughnut. I remember getting doughnuts at least one day a week. My mom would take them to work with her, and she would always let me have some.

I remember we were also frequenters of fast food. We had fast food at least one-two times per week. Many times my mom would only order a diet coke for herself, but would get us a full meal.

I often got a candy bar when my mom would go to the store to buy gas. When I was in middle and high school my mom would take me to school. Usually three days a week we would stop at the store. I would either get something to add to my lunch, or I would get a soda, candy bar, and a BLT sandwich.

The theme I notice in all this is the lack of the word NO. I rarely was told no when it came to snacking or what I wanted to eat. To add to that, I never recall being told to "wait" to see if I was still actually hungry. I didn't learn to listen to my body's natural cues of saying it was full. I never learned that certain things were supposed to be "treats" because they were available to me almost anytime I wanted them.