I would like to start at the very beginning and give you some background information. Bare with me as being a therapist has taught me your childhood can tell a lot about you. So, to begin, I grew up most of my life with a single mom who did the very best with what she knew. (That is all we can expect from our parents and ourselves as parents.) So, I grew up in Michigan and we ate a lot of red meat, potatoes and canned vegetables. We also ate a lot of fast food like McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Taco Bell. When we had a nice meal out it was at Ponderosa, Olive Garden or other sorts of chain restaurant's. As a child my weight fluctuated a lot and at times I was overweight. I had problems such as bad acne and eczema and overall my skin was very unhealthy. I never felt very confident in my appearance as a child and especially not as a teenager. However, during my college years I gained some confidence. I moved away from home for some time and was introduced to new ideas, one of those being new foods. I had my first encounter with Chinese food when I was 19 years old. This was a big deal to me and to this day I still love sweet and sour chicken. Though that food was not "real food", it was a change from the processed and typical fast foods I was used to as a child.
The next stop in my journey was to California. I had always dreamt of being an actress, so I ventured out to Los Angeles to pursue my dreams after finishing college. I was introduced to so many new foods and ideas about food when I moved to Los Angeles. I tried Sushi for the first time and ate at Indian and Greek restaurants. Nevertheless, due to the culture of that city, I was very focused on losing weight and being thin. In order to maintain this lifestyle I began to try different fad diets such as the Atkins diet and the vegetable soup diet. It was amazing to see the lengths people go to keep their bodies thin. So I never truly learned about real food back then and I continued to eat a lot of fast and processed food. I even thought that the types of foods I was eating were so much better for me than what I ate as a child. Maybe they were better, but they still were not the best. At least it was a step in the right direction, but I had a long way to go.
The next stop of my journey was to North Carolina after finishing my Master's Degree in Social Work. I knew that my next goal in life would be to find a husband and start a family. I didn't want to settle down in Los Angeles and I was ready for another move. So I packed up and moved to North Carolina. Talk about culture shock. I don't know which was worse, moving from Michigan to Los Angeles or Los Angeles to North Carolina. Well, I was introduced to new foods again like biscuits and Bojangles. Needless to say I gained some weight eating these kinds of food. I was now in my 30's and looking for a relationship. Luckily I found my husband after joining a bowling league. He was on a team with all his friends and guess what they liked to do, drink beer. So, I went from being in the best shape of my life in California to living in North Carolina eating southern food and drinking beer. Now, I don't have any problems with drinking. I think it is an important outlet at times, but it definitely didn't help me in my weight battle.
So, after getting married we had a baby. She was born in May of 2012. As you may already be able to see, I have always been a very motivated and goal oriented person. When I see something I want I go for it. Well, this was no different in having a family. After learning about child development in graduate school I had decided that when I had a family I would be a stay at home mother, at least during those first few essential years of their development. Well, here I was with a brand new baby, newly married and in a new job with the federal government and I was stuck. My heart and soul wanted me to stay at home with my daughter, but financially it was not a good move for our family at that point. I tell you all this because I know some of you can relate and the next part is vital in my journey to learn about real food.
After my twelve weeks on maternity leave I have to go back to work. We chose a daycare center that our neighbors recommended. However, after one week of her being there I just couldn't stand it. Not that they did anything wrong per se, but I just didn't feel right about this decision. So, I went on the search for an in-home nanny. I had given myself only until the end of the month to find a new person to take care of my daughter. And I found her in less than one week! She was a stay at home mother, who home schooled her four teenage daughters. Once I met her I knew she was the one for my daughter. I was so excited, but I don't know who she has been better for, me or my daughter. Ms. Kim who is my daughter's nanny is also, as I like to call her, my nutrition guru. I noticed some things about her lifestyle and she would make comments that I was curious about when it came to being a stay at home mother of four. So, I asked questions and she gave me answers. It all started with couponing. Yup, that's right, I became a couponer.
So, to recap. I was raised by a working single mother who fed me lots of processed foods. My childhood was in the eighties and early nineties. I then moved to California in 2000 and thought I was learning how to eat healthy. Then I ventured to North Carolina in 2006 where I learned of southern foods and got married and had a baby. In October 2012 I met Kim who became my daughter's nanny. She begins to teach me about healthy living over the next few months. So, although I learned how to coupon from her it wasn't until January 2013 that my husband and I decided it was time to lose weight. I was at my highest weight in my life after having my little one and I was ready for a change. We decided to start Weight Watchers and it worked. We both lost 25 pounds in 3 months. Well, the story doesn't end there, it is just beginning.
In getting to know Kim I asked her questions almost every day when I picked up my daughter. First it was about couponing and I bought so much processed food for cheap. Then I started Weight Watchers and watched what I ate, so the "junk food" just sat in my pantry. However, I was still eating a lot of processed foods, but I was also learning how to cook for my family. Then my daughter started eating table food and that is when it all changed. I read articles and started learning about what may be in our foods. I read about GMO's. What is that I asked myself and of course Kim. She referred me to some websites and the search was on. I can now say it has been the year of change and we are only at the end of April. I will be talking about my introduction to real food in my next blog.
So, what was your childhood like when it came to food?
