My family are obsessed!
I am sure my family will dislike me immensely for writing this post and you will all have your own opinions on this topic, but I am also fairly comfortable in assuming that most families have their oddities. Since I was a teenager I have always been aware that the eating habits within my household are unusual, frequently getting mocked by my friends for having to share one pizza between five as the main meal of the day. We are not poor, and are fortunate enough to be able to eat a balanced diet of fresh food largely as we choose; however I have been brought up to learn that regardless of economic stability, one must meticulously watch what they eat. In my family it goes beyond that of ensuring my siblings and I take part in regular exercise (indeed growing up we took part in dancing, horse riding, tennis and swimming alongside bike rides and country rambles), and do not exceed our maximum calorie intake per day. It has become the source for many a family argument, beginning as a bicker over who will have the last spoonful of vegetables on the table. A typical scenario is that one family member will offer said vegetables to every person around the table (usually twice) not necessarily out of politeness but more more so that they can revel in the glee that someone else around the dinner table has eaten more than them. It is a very psychological issue and one that definitely affected me as a teenager in my obsession maintaining a ballet dancers svelt figure. I can proudly report that I did not triumph in this however, and have not looked back since ending my one nutri-grain-bar-a-day diet aged 13. For my family however, I feel that dietary issues and food obsessions have not been resolved, as these dinner-time squabbles continue. Although sometimes detrimental to my waistline, I now regularly take the last spoonful of vegetables on the dinner table, whether I am hungry or not, to make a stand against conforming to a social and familial obsession with being a stick thin model (who incidentally I'm sure are not excessively happier than the average just because they can wear size 6 jeans). Now I realise that my analysis above may perhaps make me sound like I err too far onto the unhealthy side of the scale, however I still have an interest in nutrition even if I don't follow it on a diet! I watched an insightful Horizon programme on the different influences of fat and sugar on individuals last week. It followed a pair of twins who ate either only foods containing sugar for a month, or only fat. This meant that while one twin could eat fruit galore, the other relied heavily on meat and protein products, without any sources of fibre. It concluded with some unusual results which even the doctor participants admitted they hadn't expected. The 'sugar' twin lost significant amounts of body muscle, while the 'fat' twin struggled to maintain insulin levels and became dangerously close to becoming diabetic. Finally, the findings of a rat study were presented which proved that fat or sugar alone is not appetising, whereas a mixture of the two (for example a doughnut or slice of cheesecake), can be made extremely delicious to the human (or animal) palette, but in actual fact can be reducing the brain and body's ability to recognize when they are full, and to provide enough nutrients to enable our vital organs to work successfully. This BBC 2 programme serves as a simple warning to us all, that without any in-depth understanding of the scientific workings of the body, joe blog can categorically say that while a mixture of fat and sugar is delicious and more-ish, it does nothing for our waistlines, physical or mental health. This post is a succinct overview of what is an extremely prevalent and somewhat sensitive issue to many people. There is a big difference between being of slim and not eating versus being slim and exercising and eating a balanced diet. So food is a very contentious issue in our family, but I wonder if there is something your family obsess about, and how long it took you to notice that perhaps it wasn't 'the norm'?
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About meI enjoy writing and have had experience from my degree and through working on news posts. I hope to use this blog as a summary of extraordinary things I've discovered or witnessed in everyday life. Archives
March 2020
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