{"id":14957,"date":"2011-03-30T08:47:33","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T12:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14957"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:42:49","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:42:49","slug":"how-can-we-change-the-way-we-think-about-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=14957","title":{"rendered":"How can we change the way we think about food?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: What’s causing this diabetic more stress: cat pee in the house<\/a> or candy and baked goods in the house?<\/p>\n

A: Candy and baked goods.<\/p>\n

The Purim holiday is just behind us.\u00a0 One big part of Purim is dressing up in costumes.\u00a0 Another big part is exchanging gift baskets<\/a> and hamantaschen<\/a> with your friends.\u00a0 Over the last few past weeks, my sons received boxes and boxes of junk food.\u00a0 On top of that, my son Guy just celebrated his birthday.\u00a0 He had a class party on Wednesday for which we had to provide a cake.\u00a0 And over the weekend we had a party\/soccer game\/junk food festival in the park.\u00a0 Throughout this onslaught of junk food, I’ve been thinking about Jane Kokernak’s recent post, Stewards of our children’s health<\/a>.\u00a0 Like Jane, I don’t want my children to eat cookies and cake regularly.\u00a0 The thought, however, of swapping a birthday cake for a healthy treat like strawberries or oranges, as Jane suggests in her post, seems unfair.\u00a0 Smart and reasonable, but unfair.\u00a0 As much as I’d like to be able to make a break from the traditional kids’ celebratory foods, I can’t.\u00a0 My son’s disappointment would have been tremendous if I’d offered something healthy-ish for his party.\u00a0 Mine would have been, too.\u00a0 In fact, while my sons’ birthday parties have always been fairly modest events, I’ve always ordered them very extravagant cakes.\u00a0 Like this one:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I associate a happy birthday with a big cake.\u00a0 So, how can I change the way my children think about food, if I can’t change my own thoughts?\u00a0 And that question, I think, can be extended to all of America, to the obesity and diabetes epidemic.\u00a0 We don’t just need to eat better food.\u00a0 We need to change the way we think about food.\u00a0 We need to stop thinking that celebrations and holidays have to involve sweets.\u00a0 Because I have diabetes I don’t eat a lot of junk food.\u00a0 I am aware of everything that I eat, and of all food ingredients.\u00a0 If I didn’t have diabetes, I would still eat healthfully.\u00a0 But would I give up all the sweets?\u00a0 I don’t think so.\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 Definitely not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Cake design by Ugata.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow can we change the way we think about food?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How can I change the way my children think about food, if I can't change my own thoughts? 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