Memories of Childhood Eating

[BrightAngel]

There have been a number of comments about the similiarities
of the No S way of eating and the way one formerly ate in their childhood.
On this issue, I found the following recent post by a very elderly person enlightening.

I remember as a child, that fresh fruit was a special treat we had once in a great while.
A pear was something marvelous,
and to get an orange in a Christmas stocking was special each year.
I occasionally saw an elderly person peel an apple,
and most would eat half of it, or less, giving the children each a slice.

There were sometimes two stewed prunes,
and sometimes a half of a canned pear with cottage cheese,
or a small bowl of three or four peach slices, but not often at all.
Strawberries a couple of times in the summer.

Makes sense to me,
thinking of how our prehistoric ancestors did not have fruit available all year,
or in large amounts even in harvest times.
The research now about what we are genetically adapted to eat is fascinating to read.

[NoelFigart]

Makes sense. In Little Town on the Prairie, Laura talks about a luxurious party where each guest had a WHOLE ORANGE.

These days, of course, fruit is seen as a nutritional necessity. It was driven home to me today when I was chatting with a friend about No-S and she asked me with slight horror when I ate fruit, if I wasn't snacking. (This is the same person who, when finding out my son doesn't like fruit, was concerned about his nutrition. Since he's a fine vegetable eater, I have never seen a need to sweat it).

I DO really enjoy fruit, so I laughed at her and commented that I had a Clementine and a couple of cherries with my bento today. It was delicious, too.

[Blithe Morning]

In November, I did some school programs at Hutterite colonies around the state. Hutterites are an anabaptist sect - think of Amish with electricity.

These fine people were very self sufficient. Their meals were meat, potatoes, and canned (as in home canned) veggies. I was shocked to find a lettuce salad at one colony. It turns out, they had a green house. I imagine lettuce is a good greenhouse veggie here on the northern plains as it is a cool weather crop and you don't have to heat your greenhouse excessively to get it to grow. I think lettuce requires soil temps of in the neighborhood of 45°.

However, I saw no fruit except for the pickled watermelon (!!). Interestingly enough, there were no obese people that I saw. Some of the middle aged folk were a little padded but nothing like you see amongst us "English".

[Nicest of the Damned]

Some of us who are younger might not want to emulate our childhood eating habits, though.

I know my bad eating habits started when I was a kid. There were usually candy dishes around in the living room, and I would graze from them. I could clean out a candy dish while watching a TV show.

My mom grew up in the 40's, and was big on "not wasting food". I'm trying to un-learn the habit that I learned from her of eating more than I really want to "clean my plate", or "finish things up", or "not let them go to waste". Food costs are a much lower percentage of income now than they were in the 40's, and medical care is much more expensive now than it was then. It's a foolish economy to overeat so as not to waste food, thus making it more likely that you'll have higher medical costs from being overweight.

[NoelFigart]

I'm big into not wasting food, myself. I just don't think the HGC* approach is an appropriate way to do it.

Repurposing leftovers is a dandy way to avoid waste without overeating. With excellent refrigeration and freezing available, it's fairly easy. Little bits left over work great in bento or soups. (I make a LOT of soup).

________________________________________
*Human Garbage Can -- Daddy's expression for cleaning up someone else's plate. My father, a lifetime Dept of Defense programmer, tends to use acronyms a bit too often.

[MDScot]

This topic of eating like our childhood/parents is something that I love about no-S.

Growing up ( in Scotland) we certainly had candy on occasions but snacks were just not something that featured in our diet. And although sometimes there were "seconds" I think both seconds and firsts would easily have fitted on a typical modern US plate.

When we go back my boys are often surprised to see how small the portions are - the instructions provided are if they are still hungry, you can go and get bread and butter - but most cases they are indeed satisfied with the portions provided.

[Imogen Morley]

Being a European, I fondly remember the time before the ubiquitous "americanization" of our eating habits. 3-4 reasonable meals a day (Poles are known for having "second breakfasts"), predominantly homemade sweets on special occassions (usually Sundays) or received as gifts. Virtually no snacks, except for occassional fruit or flavored yogurt. And, of course, lots of walking and playing outside as a kid!

[ksbrowne]

I was a little girl during the 60's and the way my family ate was quite similar to NoS. We always ate 3 meals a day. One helping, with no seconds. No snacks, either. No candy or soft drinks. If I wanted something sweet, my mom would let me have a cookie or a small dish of ice cream after supper. But if she saw that I was getting "chubby" she'd make me cut down to only having a sweet once or twice per week. Everyone in my family was skinny back then . . .

[ChubbyBaby]

I've actually been thinking about my childhood eating a lot this week. I grew up in the 70's and my parents came from farming backgrounds, so we had very regular 3 meals a day. We never snacked. We did have lots of sweets though, with every meal. There were always cookies at lunch, and desert after supper. The funny thing is that I remember my Mom always being on a diet, usually a fad one, like the grapefruit diet. I think if she would have cut out her deserts she would have been fine. She definitely had a sweet tooth.

Even though we had regular three meals a day, I always remember being hungry during the day. Breakfast and lunch were usually pretty light, with very minimal protein, and lots of sugar. Breakfast was cold cereal with milk and extra sugar, and a glass of juice. Lunch was usually a thin sandwich with fruit and cookies. I remember being absolutely ravenous by the time supper came. Supper was usually a meat and potatoes affair, with desert, and I always overate.

Perhaps if I would have had more protein and fat during the day I would have been able to control myself at supper. I don't know. What I do know is that I still have the habit of overeating, at supper especially, and it's hard to break.

My mom joined Weight Watchers in the 80's and finally managed to control her weight. My dad and the rest of my siblings were all slim, until just recently. I have one sister who has really put on a lot of weight in the last few years, but she is the one who really loved her sweets, and still does.