How can we change the way we think about food?

Q: What’s causing this diabetic more stress: cat pee in the house or candy and baked goods in the house?

A: Candy and baked goods.

The Purim holiday is just behind us.  One big part of Purim is dressing up in costumes.  Another big part is exchanging gift baskets and hamantaschen with your friends.  Over the last few past weeks, my sons received boxes and boxes of junk food.  On top of that, my son Guy just celebrated his birthday.  He had a class party on Wednesday for which we had to provide a cake.  And over the weekend we had a party/soccer game/junk food festival in the park.  Throughout this onslaught of junk food, I’ve been thinking about Jane Kokernak’s recent post, Stewards of our children’s health.  Like Jane, I don’t want my children to eat cookies and cake regularly.  The thought, however, of swapping a birthday cake for a healthy treat like strawberries or oranges, as Jane suggests in her post, seems unfair.  Smart and reasonable, but unfair.  As much as I’d like to be able to make a break from the traditional kids’ celebratory foods, I can’t.  My son’s disappointment would have been tremendous if I’d offered something healthy-ish for his party.  Mine would have been, too.  In fact, while my sons’ birthday parties have always been fairly modest events, I’ve always ordered them very extravagant cakes.  Like this one:

I associate a happy birthday with a big cake.  So, how can I change the way my children think about food, if I can’t change my own thoughts?  And that question, I think, can be extended to all of America, to the obesity and diabetes epidemic.  We don’t just need to eat better food.  We need to change the way we think about food.  We need to stop thinking that celebrations and holidays have to involve sweets.  Because I have diabetes I don’t eat a lot of junk food.  I am aware of everything that I eat, and of all food ingredients.  If I didn’t have diabetes, I would still eat healthfully.  But would I give up all the sweets?  I don’t think so.  Nope.  Definitely not.

*Cake design by Ugata.

Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and has continued to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets).

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Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and continues to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets). Jessica’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the diabetes correspondent for The Faster Times. In 2009 she and her husband, both type 1 diabetics, founded A Sweet Life, where she serves as editor-in-chief. Jessica loves spending time with her sons, cooking with her husband, playing with her cats, reading, biking, drinking coffee, and whenever possible, taking a nap. Follow Jessica on Twitter (@jessapple)