My mom will pull her hair out in handfuls when she reads this
April 24th, 2008
Last night I ate a pint of ice cream for dinner. Seriously. I mean, Matt and Siena each had a little bit for their dessert, but I had already eaten a double-scoop cone of two different flavors when I bought the pint, which means I probably ended eating more than a pint yesterday, myself.
By contrast, Siena had organic spinach, a Boca vegetarian sausage, and whole wheat organic pasta for her dinner. Elliot had the same, with organic peas and corn instead of the spinach. And they watched me eat ice cream straight from the carton for my meal. Sometimes it’s awesome being the grown-up. (Not that I do this all the time; if I did, I guarantee Siena would start to protest and then I would be at a crossroads: give up the ice-cream-as-substitute-for-dinner, or let the whole family start eating nothing but ice cream. While that might make for a good reality show, I don’t think it would make for good bedtimes.)
If you’re wondering about the title of this post, you should know that my mom’s nickname (given to her by my brother and me when we were little) was “Ms. Nutrition.” We would say this in a teasing, sing-song voice whenever she quashed our hopes of purchasing a product containing corn syrup, or anything as decadently unhealthy as white bread instead of whole wheat. A Fig Newton was the closest we ever came to having cookies in our snack drawer; I tasted my first soda at the age of twelve, at a friend’s house. Saltine crackers and Kraft single slices of American cheese were my snack of choice at my best friend Heather’s house — not what I would want in the way of cheese and crackers today, but they were exotic and irresistible at the time.
The weird thing is, I appreciate all that. Thanks to my mom, I would say I grew up with a good understanding of nutrition, and I really do feel better when I eat well. I buy organic, whole-grain, low-sugar everything (including snack foods — I think they have better options now than when I was little) and I would say we all enjoy our healthy meals.
With the occasional exception.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Remember when we had CHEESE for dinner at your house? (And wine for dessert?)
April 24th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I would like to say for the record, as a kid and even now, I could never understand Laura’s addiction to Kraft sliced cheese– we just used it in grilled cheese sandwiches and occasionally on crackers, but probably with smoked sausage or something. I do remember after years of eating stone ground crackers and toaster oven made nachos at Laura’s house, the glorious day when Fig Newtons arrived!
April 30th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I can see the healthy-eating torch has been passed on–now please pass the ice cream!