Over Eating

[mazbee]

I went to the German Markets at Birmingham today, whilst I was there I heard a saying I had used on my kids whilst they were growing up, and my parents and grandparents also used with me.

"Eat it all up.... There are starving children out there who would be glad to eat what you want to waste"

I was brought up in a culture that seemed to frown on leaving uneaten food on a plate, when I was very young my grandmother would stand over me forcing me to eat everything.
Later in childhood my father would not let me leave the dining table until my plate was empty.

I tried using the same method with my children, although if they did not eat everything I would eat it so their plates were empty.

I wonder if it was, and maybe still is, attitudes like that which cause some of us to overeat?

My grandmother was diabetic type 2
My father is diabetic type 2
I am diabetic type 2
My son who is in his mid 30's is pre-diabetic.
He also does not know when to stop eating, and ended up at hospital a couple of times in the past because he has over eaten and made himself ill. Luckily his wife has now taken charge of his meals and the amount he eats (thank goodness)!

I am not blaming my diabetic condition solely on eating too much, but it has contributed to the weight I gained over the years.

Perhaps it is time to let a child eat the amount they want (within reason) and not chastise them for not eating everything on their plate.
I have got rid of all my plates over 10 inches in diameter and seriously cut down on my portions, and now I and my husband low carb as well.

I shall now have to apologize to my children and ask they do not repeat this history of causing over eating with their children.

 

[Fraddycat]

Hi Mazbee, there is a lot to be said for this, my grandmothers and my mother and father were exactly like this when I was growing up. I remember being made to sit at the table for hours until I had finished cold mashed potato that I was too full to eat. Eventually I got sent to my room for the rest of the night because I was caught trying to smuggle it to the bin. That must have been nearly 40 years ago but I still remember it vividly.

But I had a revalation when staying at my mums a few years ago and she was saying 'eat up' to my son that if its in my tummy or the bin the result is the same, except if its in the bin (or in the fridge for later) that the person has not overeaten. I think this 'eat up' mentality came about to some extent from rationing during the war.

So now I would much rather throw away food that is not eaten rather than for example eating my kids left overs.

I think genetically also some of us (I am certain I do not have this) do not have the same 'I'm full' triggers that most people have. I can eat and eat until I burst, but but actually if I eat a small portion from a small plate like you say, I am perfectly satisfied.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Eat all your food up!!!

I had the same thing said to me but its worth bearing in mind that we had a lot less on our plates to start with, I was born in 1951 so grew up in the 50's and 60's Ok times werent that hard but we only had 3 meals a day there was never any snacking going on, I would eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast a cooked meal for lunch either at home or at school and a sandwich and a small slice of cake (if I was lucky) for my tea, that was it. I dont recall there being any 'fat' kids at my primary school and only a few at the secondary school I attended, how many I wonder are in todays schools?

Some time in the 1960's I think the first Wimpy bars opened in the UK, then slowly but surely KFC, MacDonalds and all the other fast food restaurants opened offering us things we had never experienced before, things we had maybe seen in American films and aspired to have ourselves, better standards of living saw a larger disposable income then came the borrowing epidemic that we still have today, my parents never borrowed a penny in their lives till my dad took out a mortgage, everything they had they saved up for. Then came the development of the supermarkets and highly processed foods, then inexpensive restaurants from all corners of the globe offering foods that again we had never seen before or perhaps had on the new package holidays that sprang up as people again had more money in their pockets.

More and more people today seem to live to eat rather than our parents and grandparents who ate to live. I remember my grandmother being horrified at the amount of butter I would spread on my bread or toast having lived through two world wars and rationing she would make do on the smallest amounts of foods yet she lived a fit and healthy life into her early 90's. So I can understand the remarks that were commonly made re eat all your food up etc. But I doubt that had the effect of making us overweight as a nation, not originally anyway as it was offset by a general culture of not snacking or eating between meals mainly due I suspect to low incomes and lack of availability of snack foods. Today it may contribute though as mazbee suggests now with the abundance of such readily available food.

Theres an old joke about the Sea Food Diet - I see food and I eat it.... Unfortunately in too many cases we lack the ability to moderate what we eat nowadays, maybe theres something in the theory that it is deeply ingrained in our unconscious psyches to eat as much food as we can when ever we get the chance as a sort of survival strategy that we know longer need due to the availability of food nowadays.

 

[lucylocket61]

I think the root of today's problems is the size of the plate and the amount on it.

If there was just a reasonable-for-the-size of person portion on a plate, there would be no waste to force down or throw away.

and the money saved on food bills could go to charities if desired.

 

[phoenix]

I'm from the same era as Sid(year younger )
I remember as a toddler at nursery: if you didn't eat it for lunch, it came back for tea. (I now squirm at the smell of tripe Unfortunately it's a favorite food round here , tripe for breakfast on fete days :lol: )
My parents didn't always insist on eating everything but you certainly didn't get a pudding unless you had eaten your first course or even if you prevaricated ( because you weren't hungry), not eating your meat though was a major 'crime'

I agree that portion sizes have increased; an average plate then was 9 inches in diameter. I think a lot of plates in the UK are now much bigger.
From the US a graphic that show hamburger/chips/coke sizes, first in 1955 and the sizes offered in 2002

http://getbetterhealth.com/avoid-weight ... more-37490
Last time we were in the UK we went to lunch in a carvery The portion sizes were enormous. I think that the portion served to my 2.5 year old grandson (at reduced cost) was bigger than the whole of the 4 course lunch I had at a French restaurant yesterday . He didn't eat more than a fraction; I ate all mine yesterday but missed out on dinner.

 

[mazbee]

I was born late in the late 50's
My grandparents owned a grocery shop with a transport cafe at the side of the shop. They also catered for weddings and large functions too. My grandfather was a master baker, a chef, He even made and sold his own ice cream.
I loved cheese as a young child, and would choose this over sweets, I remember my grandmother blanching tomatoes to go with the cheese.
The shop was just around the corner form my infant school, so I had to come home for lunch.
I was always given a full cooked dinner in the cafe at lunchtime.
I was often late afternoon school because I struggled to finish my meals.

I think my grandmother was trying to give me what she could not give my dad and his siblings who grew up during the war years.
It was in here eyes a way to spoil me as the first grandchild.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I was born in 1944 and I remember my childhood and was told by my parents of their childhood. We had no central heating, we used public transport where available and walked to school or wherever. The lack of heating meant we lost a lot of energy through body heat loss and we lost a lot of energy through much walking. We did, however, have fairly large quantities of high carb/high-GI and saturated fat foods but I assume we lost a lot of that calorie intake. I don't remember many obese people on the streets; interesting.

 

[GraceK]

I was born in 1953 and was encouraged to 'eat it all up' but I wasn't forced or punished if I didn't. I had Cornflakes or Weetabix every morning for breakfast, which I absolutely hated. I walked to school and back and for lunch I usually had a tin of Heinz soup and some bread or beans/cheese on toast. I walked back to school and home again and at teatime I had a cooked meal of meat/fish, veg and potatoes. Puddings were unheard of except on Sunday and it was usually Mum's home made rice pud or home made cake. Snacks were fresh fruit, nuts, buttered toast and of course ... chocolate and sweets ... Mum had a sweet tooth. I don't think I ever saw my Dad put a sweet or chocolate into his mouth.

I cycled daily all through my childhood and in my 20s and early 30s I walked my kids to school twice a day and cycled to work every day because I worked locally. I didn't eat a McDonalds until I was about 42 and that was just to try it out. I never became a regular fast food eater.

What I did find difficult was the change in working hours during the 80s. At school I had 1.5 hours for lunch, but my kids had only 45mins. At work I was used to an hour for lunch but then in came the half hour lunch break. I need an hour to eat lunch, rest and digest before going back to work. But with the advent of half hour lunches taken at the desk my digestion definitely suffered and so did my ability to concentrate. I think it's a very unhealthy practice and I've often felt I've had to almost choke myself to eat my lunch or risk being hungry mid afternoon.

 

[KennyS]

My mother wasn't quite so rigorous about forcing food down my gullet but she was quite strict about waste.... Her moto was: Take all you want...eat all you take.

Kenny