In today’s fast paced society it’s rare to take time to think about how you got to be were you are today. When wanting to lose a ton of weight we automatically search for 6-12 week workout programs. Those programs go hand to hand with a super fast diet plan.
We all know that healthy eating is the best thing to do to stay in shape. The truth is 80-85% of a successful healthy lifestyle comes from the foods you eat. Sadly, we still don’t understand one simple concept. No matter what a diet plan tells you what you should be eating, YOU will be the one ultimately deciding what goes into your mouth.
Have you ever really thought about why you even eat the foods you eat?
If your desire is to be ripped and thin, what does your waist currently tell you?
Does it look like a waist of a person who has consistently made the right decisions day after day?
Your waist reflects years of food decisions. Each inch tells the story of what foods you settled on during your past meals. Unless you had a gun pointed at your head, you decided to eat those foods.
Whether it was due to being tired or lack of time to find something nutritious…. in the end it was still YOUR choice to put those foods into your mouth.
Let’s get to the exact reason why you eat the foods you eat. Let this be an awakening moment for those that struggle with diet plans.
Baby
When you were a baby, you had very little control over what you could eat. You had no idea how the world worked and was dependent on your parents to provide the proper nutrition you needed to grow up healthy and strong. Those first weeks of your life started a trend that left an imprint into your eating habits for the rest of your life.
As infants, our first healthy choice of food is breast milk. Every mammal on this planet starts off by feeding on breast milk. It’s natural and nutritious.
Parents First Influence
That first food that parents choose after the breast milk phase starts the development of what you will be eating for years. Most mammals naturally make good food selections because their food source is naturally occurring (due to them being in…. nature). Humans eat based on convenience.
When stressed out and sleep deprived, a parent will feed their child whatever baby food product they can easily find. Organic or not, it’s fast and convenient. Unfortunately most of the items contain lots of sugar. That’s when babies start to get their first taste of sweetness. Those innocent mashed bananas, sweet peas and carrots give babies their first sugar rush!
Not Great But Cheap
As you grow up, your parents have more tough decisions to make. Those decisions lead to good or bad habits being passed down to you. Some households are unable to cook nutritious meals and depend on fast food joints to get by. Others can only afford generic food brands at cheaper rates. The cheaper the food, the poorer quality of nutrients it will contain. Left with little options, lots of families gravitate towards those foods.
Cakes, cookies and other sugary sweets are easy ways to make kids instantly happy. We don’t physically see the affect of those goodies until years down the road. Since we can’t see it immediately with our own eyes, we avoid it because we think it’s ok.
It’s just one snack.
That one snack turns into thousands of snacks by the time kids become teenagers.
From Generation to Generation
Mom and dads are only repeating the same habits that was passed down to them by their parents. Being a new parent is scary and adventurous. It’s up to their parents to help lead their ways.
If grandparents have healthy habits, those habits would be passed down to their kids, which hopefully could get passed down to the grandkids. As generations move on, it get’s harder and harder to imitate past healthy lifestyles.
Modern conveniences make it much easier to avoid cooking healthy home cook meals. Ten minute or less meals have become the normal because it’s faster.
I remember eating weekly hamburger helper meals. Not because my mom didn’t love us but because it was convenient and tasted good. That food became a staple of my childhood.
Do You Cook
If you’re a person that loves to cook, how did you get that trait?
Was it from watching a relative cook?
Was it from watching a TV show.
Statistics show that those who cook for themselves are more likely to live healthy lives when compared to those who don’t cook. If you’re cooking for yourself you’re obviously eating what you cook.
Have you ever really thought about how those recipes came into play?
Why do you bake cakes?
Or fry chicken?
Why do you have to have turkey on Thanksgiving?
Why do you eat the foods you eat?
Before you take that first bite of dinner tonight, take a step back and let this article sink in. Check back next week as I continue with Part 2!
