Hi Carrots N Cake readers. This guest post is really an honor for me because I am practically addicted to Tina’s blog. I can’t go through the day without checking in on her at least two or three times. She always seems to have either an amazing cookie recipe or a great exercise tip that I had never thought of and in our house she is simply known as ‘Tina’. Even though I have never met her in my life I feel like she is a friend. I know her husband’s name and her dog’s name and sometimes that is just plain weird, but “Welcome to the Blog World!”
My name is Maria (aka RealFitMama) and my blog (which you can check out to get my whole story) is picking up speed everyday. I write about, well, my life. My life is crazy! I have a husband (Jason) and two daughters (Linsey is 8 and Regan is 2). We, like most parents, are doing the best we can to raise happy and healthy girls who will one day become productive, successful members of our society. Right now my focus is really on the happy and healthy part. The females in our house are vegetarian and the male is an omnivore, but I have my feeling he will be joining our side sooner than he realizes!! Every time I write an article regarding cruelty to animals or tainted meat or what Monsanto is doing to our agriculture his mind changes a little bit more.
That’s not what I want to talk about today though. I want to address the difficulties we as parents (and everyone really) face living in a “fast food nation”. It’s more difficult than ever to raise children naturally when they are bombarded a zillion times a day with all kinds of unnatural products and the people bombarding them are telling them that they need these products or the “cool kids” all have these products or they will be a “cool kid” if they have these products. When McDonald’s sponsors the newest “it” movie with toys in the Happy Meal how do you say no when your daughter is crying because all her friends go there after school? How do you look her in the eyes without feeling guilty when she’s crying because a kid at school called her a “vegetarian freak”?
To put it in the most honest terms – I tell my daughter the sad, brutal truth so that she knows where I’m coming from. When Linsey was about 3 years old she and I sat down together and watched Super Size Me because she wondered why we never went to McDonald’s or Burger King like most of her friends. When she started asking questions regarding being a vegetarian I showed her the PETA documentary Meet Your Meat. I also make sure that she understands how using fresh fruits and vegetables not only helps our planet, but gives us the opportunity to have fun in the kitchen together. Some may call my parenting style bold or eccentric. Others may call it abusive, but I call it “what works for me” and so far Jason and I feel that our children are just what we hoped they would be – happy and healthy.
I would never in a million years tell someone how they should raise their children or what they should feed their children, but so many times in the eight years that I have been a parent people have taken it upon themselves to do just that to me. Many people (even in my own family) have told me that my daughters are malnourished because I don’t allow them to eat meat. I have been told that we are unhealthy by people who are overweight and under active. It can be hurtful to have the people I love and trust the most judge me so harshly as a mother when all I am trying to do is avoid all the health pitfalls so many Americans (my family included) fall into daily.
Instead of getting defensive or fighting back (which I have been known to do in the past) I have decided (since it is a new year after all) that I will no longer get sucked in to other peoples insecurities regarding their health and food choices. Instead, I will continue on this path of health and fitness and happiness with my husband and my daughters because in the end all I want is to give them the healthy start I didn’t get.In April, Linsey and I are running a 10k to raise money for the ASPCA and having her wake me up at 5:45 in the morning to ask if she can join me in my morning pilates session tells me that we are well on our way to fulfilling our dream of having happy and healthy children.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
i read your blog also and i just want to say wow…
I think its important for kids these days to know where their food is coming from if we want future generations to be healthy and move away from this ‘western diet’ of processed foods and ‘convenient’ fast food joints. Kudos for not getting caught up in all the criticism as well…
I hope to teach my kids in the future about the importance of nourishing their bodies with the
right foods and why it is so and be a real fit mama too! =)
Awesome post, good for you for not giving into the pressure from family and choosing to raise your children without the garbage we see so much of. I think that showing your children those films is actually very brave and who but a mother knows if their child is ready for such things, well done.
Great post! Although I am not vegetarian, I can totally relate. Once I became a parent I realized that someone will always disagree with your parenting style and choices. Someone will always think they do it better. I know I feel great about how my Husband and I are raising our children and nothing confirms that we are on the right more then when we see our happy and healthy children.
“Instead of getting defensive or fighting back (which I have been known to do in the past) I have decided (since it is a new year after all) that I will no longer get sucked in to other peoples insecurities regarding their health and food choices. Instead, I will continue on this path of health and fitness and happiness with my”
This left me speechless! I am going to embrace this way of thinking…. THANK YOU!
It is so nice to “meet” like-minded families, even if it is only through the blog world. Although our family isn’t vegetarian, we only eat organic meat we’ve purchased from farmers who we’ve met and who’s farms we’ve visited and feel they treat their animals ethically. I keep my son away from processed foods and struggle at family events when everyone wants to feed him ice cream and diet coke for lunch, and raises their eyebrows when I instead offer a banana or a sprig of broccoli. I love your statement that you will “continue on this path of health and fitness and happines…” – and think that I will adopt it as my guiding point for these “fast food” years to come! Glad to have found your blog!
To all who have posted so far and sent me amazing emails…THANK YOU!!! It is so nice to know that as a parent you are not alone and others out there feel the same way you do. While I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. My girls have the occasional reeses peanut butter cup (my favorite) and beg for gogurts at times (which I have given once or twice
) the big picture is what is important to me.
I feel good knowing that I am doing something healthy for mychildren that they will (hopefully) carry with them their entire lives. They are the future and I feel strongly about investing in them!
Wow great guest post! I loved it. I don’t have children yet, but my parents raised us in a similar fashion and I remember the feeling of wondering why we didn’t have soda in our house. (Kids LOVE soda) Now I really appreciate it.