Halloween is much like having a night on the town drinking. You get all dressed up, have a few drinks, have a few more drinks, think you are having the time of your life, & then.....POW. You don't even know what happened & you feel awful the next day.
I was wrong last night to think that only trick or treating for a short time (45 minutes to an hour) would limit the candy & therefore the consumption. They still received a ton of "treats". Way too many. The picture below is ONLY Brandon's candy. Allyson didn't sort hers so she wouldn't allow any photos.
I can't even begin to imagine how many calories are there & how many grams of sugar are sitting on that rug. Makes my belly hurt to even think about it. The kids went from not wanting to share a single piece, to offering up their entire stash by the end of the night.
As Brandon laid in bed last night, crying because he was worried that he was going to get me sick, he apologized for eating so much. (All in all I think he had about 7-10 pieces.) He looked absolutely terrible, like he had been beaten. He couldn't get comfortable, was laying in fetal position, & was going through a sugar crash.
When he told me that I could have all of the candy that he had left, I reminded him that I am not eating sugar anymore. I reminded him of how great I have felt since I cut it out. I have been especially proud of him the last few weeks because he has accepted my new lifestyle the best. He eats the majority of what I eat & he is happy to do it. I am setting a good example for him & that means more to me than anything. Ally is SLOWLY making better choices & I am extremely proud of her as well. She tends to think that she can eat whatever she wants & because she is "skinny", it is okay. Health is not important to her. That is my job.
Last night was an evening of indulgence. One that kids should get to experience. Now while they remember how awful they felt, I need to get them right back on the track of healthy eating. I'll let them keep some of that candy, but there will be reasonable limits. They certainly won't be eating 7-10 pieces each day. Within a few days they won't even want most of it. They will continue to offer it to me & I will continue to politely turn them down. (Full disclosure - I had one mini Almond Joy & one Reese Cup. It wasn't worth it. I ate them completely out of boredom & because I was holding the bag of candy. I regret it. It won't derail me. It won't happen again.)
Our kids see what we do & they imitate it. They want to be us. If we are excited about healthy eating they will be too. If we care about fitness & being active, they will too. If we like to cook, they will want to help us. You have the opportunity to make a change in your family, your children's family, & their children's family. So make a change today! Hide some of the candy, limit their consumption, but at the very least....don't eat it yourself. If you are consistent, they will follow. Baby steps. Small changes will over time show BIG results.
1 comment:
Very good point about us being the ones setting the good example for our kids to follow. I restarted working out, doing better choices in what I feed our family and it is so easy to see how they learn from it, even if at the beginning they try to fight it.
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