Jaime Oliver
This month, members of the Yahoo! Mother Board are exploring thoughts and opinions about teaching kids healthy eating habits. I am passionate about what I feed my child. I’m just lazy when it comes to feeding myself.
I recently explored this topic on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, and here’s what I had to say:
When I first heard of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and the show on ABC-TV, I was intrigued. I set my DVR and watched faithfully as Jamie met the people in the fattest city in America and tried to convince them to change their eating habits and live healthier lifestyles. He even tackled the public school lunch program. I was shocked and appalled by the eating habits of the families and school kitchens featured in the show. “How in the world can parents feed their kids that junk,” I smugly asked myself.
After firmly planting myself on Team Jamie — and passing judgment on the kind people of Huntington, West Virginia — I had my own personal food revolution. Before I can join a Food Revolution to make America a healthier country, I needed to look in my own kitchen. I realized that I feed my kid like a professional athlete, I feed myself like crap. The person who really needed a food revolution… was me.
I feed my kid like a champ. Seriously, I feed her with complete responsibility and discipline. For example, her breakfast is steel-cut oatmeal with a drizzle of honey, a glass of low-fat organic milk, and a side dish of strawberries. And while she eats this breakfast, I pack her lunch of an almond butter sandwich on whole-wheat toast, carrot sticks, organic yogurt and fresh blueberries.
I am a hypocrite. My breakfast is a processed bar of some sort in the car on the way to work. My lunch is a lame frozen entrée, pre-packaged apple sauce and a diet cola. Oh yeah, and I eat whatever junk may or may not be lying around the kitchen at my office. And everyone once in a great while, I even remember to eat lunch before 2 p.m. Of course, let’s not forget the wine and Pirate’s Booty I usually consume around 10 p.m. every night.
The light bulb goes off. Yes, I need to practice what I preach. I need to value my body as much as I value my daughter’s teeny little (and growing) body. I worry and plan about each drop of food that reaches her lips. I want her body to be healthy and vibrant and good. Why in the world would I not expect (and want) the same thing for her mother?
Jamie’s lessons enter my house. Jamie Oliver inspired me to eat better and healthier. I now eat fruit and yogurt smoothies for breakfast and try very hard to pack a healthy lunch as often as possible. His cute face (and encouraging words) are good reminders to eat whole foods, healthy foods and non-processed foods. He showed me that I can pack a healthy lunch at low cost and with little effort. He reminded me that my body is valuable too, and I must make time to feed it properly.
My comfort food is back in the house. The best lesson Jamie taught me is that my love for meat-and-potatoes are okay. I watched him make mashed potatoes on Oprah, with the lesson that whole foods are good regardless of the package. I now know it’s not the end of the word to enjoy a meatloaf (with bell peppers, onion and parsley from the Farmer’s Market), mashed potatoes (skin on, with fresh garlic and olive oil) and roasted broccoli for dinner. Not only is comfort food back in my house, so is my joy for eating!
End of the day, I started watching Food Revolution to learn how to make “other people” in America healthier… but the lesson was all mine.
- LTV Mom
This post was inspired by participation with the Yahoo! Mother Board, where 80 amazing women share thoughts on a single topic each month. While Yahoo! is my client, these thoughts are mine and I did not receive compensation for writing this post.
Just trying to squeeze in some television between mothering, working and crashing.
