I recently posted on my other blog about my mother's opinion of the biggest mistake she made in raising me - sending me to Germany as a foreign student. To recap: she thought it was her biggest mistake, because I switched from being a conservative, religious Republican to being a liberal, agnostic. I thought the year in Germany was one of the best experiences of my life. I still think so.
Here is what I think her biggest mistake was: requiring us as kids to eat everything on our plates. Yes, I knew she had suffered greatly during the Depression and food was extremely precious to her and to her family. I also know that they learned to waste absolutely nothing. But, our family has always had a tendency to be obese (yes, in spite of the Depression) and teaching me to clean my plate was a mistake. It taught me that the amount of food that I should eat was whatever was on my plate. If I took too much, I had to finish it, anyway. If I didn't like a particular item, I had to eat it anyway. I never learned to judge how much to eat, based on my hunger and/or degree of fullness. I was a "good girl" -- I cleaned my plate. Every day. Every meal.
That is probably not the only reason I struggle with obesity. There is probably a large genetic component. And there is probably some of my own culpability. And finally, there is a possibility that there is also some sort of viral implication. But I do get a reasonable amount of exercise, so that should help -- and it really doesn't much. The exhortation to "clean the plate" probably DIDN'T help.
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