I am losing the battle. Every day, my daughter is becoming more and more addicted to carbs and sugars and leaving meat and vegetables in the plate. Some people say that kids mirror their parents in terms of diversifying their diets. Big fat liars! Today it was a chicken burrito with chicken, rice and of course cheese. Half way through the meal, it became clear that there was too much chicken and that the cilantro has graduated to vegetable of amazing powers.
I confess, I recall eating ground beef with potatoes and rice many times over my childhood.... Potatoes are still vegetables, right? I think that to the mother who enjoys gardening so very much, the reality of a picky eater may be more hurtful than to most urban folks. The joys and flavors of the earth are certainly absent in the genes of my offspring. I think that what perhaps concerns me the most is that my daughter seems to care little for things which have not been heavily refined or harvested within 100 miles of the house. Fruits however do get asylum from this entire discussion, as their sugars surely must come from cookies or ice cream trees onto which they must grow.
I for once had faith in the school system and the Disney Channel. America is spending millions of dollars against child obesity, trying to have conversations around portion sizes and what is healthy, still the appeal of rice in a wrap of bread prevails. At that point, I get mad. I get angry at her for not taking care of herself and disregarding the stern warnings, I get mad at McDonalds for making sure that their extent of veggies limits itself to pickles and empty iceberg lettuce, I get mad at carbs for being so ridiculously delicious and I get mad at myself for not being more clever about this. Mad. Mad. Mad. Carb Fury.
And then I realize that the stress is probably more harmful. Deep breaths and a moment later, dinner is over and we're begging for dessert. Ugh.
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