the weight thing

It's always about the weight.  I have been obsessed with my body and weight since I was a young girl.  Even at the age of 18 my mother said it was puppy fat...bloody big puppy if you ask me.

Sadly when I walk down the street (any street) as people walk past me I look at them and think fat or normal.  Yes it is quite a judgement on my part and it is sad.  Especially when I say 'fat' to most people, not just 1 or 2 or the odd person.  I would like to put up an advertisment for my workshops saying: ONLY FAT PEOPLE NEED TO APPLY.  However I would never do that.

Look I am frustrated as the message about nutritian, health and exercise just isn't hitting home with most people. Look at the fat kids we are producing.  When I have clients come to me about their weight and they say things like (and they do)  it's in their genes or that they have big bones or heavy bones I get quite excited as I know I have lots to work with.  Lots of patterns and memories and lots of emotions to work with. Lots of excuses and normally other people's excuses.  Like my mother saying "It's only puppy fat".  It's not puppy fat it's what I put into my mouth, it's how I feel about food, why I eat and it's about exercise I do.

We are a fat nation. 

42.1% of adult males and 30.9% of adult females were classified as overweight (Body Mass Index between 25.0 and 30.0 kg/m2).

25.6% of males and 24% of females were classified as obese (Body Mass Index > 30.0 kg/m2).

Then there's the children: 

children and adolescents, the 2007-08 National Health Survey results indicate that 24.9% of children aged 5 – 17 years are overweight or obese.
25.8% of boys and 24.0% of girls are either overweight or obese.

This is disgusting.  We are becoming a lazy nation.  We are a lazy nation. I have some answers however they will never happen.  Stop advertising junk food.  Limit your kids time on the computer and TVand use it as a reward:  1 hour on the computer/TV = 2 hours playing outside and be responsible parents and learn how to say NO.

I did not want to be my son's friend.  If that happens (which it has) it comes later when he is an adult. I wanted to be a consistant parent who was able to guide my child safely through to adulthood.

Because of my allergies and weight issues I wanted him to learn about looking after himself and eating well.  I had a woman say (jokingly) that I deprived my son as we NEVER took him to Mac Donalds, Hungy Jacks etc.  The only time he went was to Hungy Jacks twice before he was 6 and before we left mainland Australia and they were other kids birthday parties.

So by the time we returned to the mainland my son (then 12) didn't want to eat that type of food as he wasn't brought up on it.  In fact he said he became a bit of a pain in the butt to his mates as when he was out with them and they wanted take away  Lachlan would always go to Subway. 

By this time Lachlan was also cooking a family meal once a week, every Sunday night actually.  He started with basic recipes like spaghetti and currries and his interest in food grew from there.   He did not always want to cook however it was an expectation within our family unit.  Hey I didn't always want to cook but when it was my turn I did. 

It was so important to my husband and I to teach our son about nutrition and about the pleasures of cooking and sharing a meal.  He is now passing on his culinary skills to his flat mate and he rather enjoys the fact that he can.  He does understand about a balanced meal although I know at times he eats at fast food outlets like Nandos.  He knows his body well and can feel when he's had enough.  He does however have a sweet tooth even though I DID NOT put sugar on all his food (refer to first post)as a child to get him to eat it.  Maybe some things ARE in our genes...oh bugger...see ya