Reducing expenses

[lwheelr]

With a young kid, if they eat it, the portion is the right size.

Ok, so that is a bit simplistic, they'll often overeat on goodies.

But with dinner, if they eat it all, they were hungry, and they needed it all.

If you feed them wholesome food, they generally won't overeat.

 

[patandchickens]

Yup, I dunno how totally-universal it is, but for my kids and the kids of people whose "feeding habits" I know reasonably well, if you give them good old-fashioned food, as much as they want but limitations on how much of any *one* thing they can eat at a time, they mostly do seem to self-regulate pretty well.

I think when people end up with overweight kids is mainly when they are feeding them poor (thus unsatisfying) food, or letting the kid go crazy on one or two high-cal foods even if they would be fine as *part* of a balanced diet. (For instance if I let my kids eat as much imported cheese as they wanted, and as much nuts, they might get a bit porky ) (Although they'd have to fight *me* for it first LOL)

So I dunno about limiting portion sizes too much, except maybe to just encourage them to think about whether they are actually HUNGRY still or simply would like to eat more <whatever>. (I do have to do that with my kids somewhat... 'mom can we have another tortilla?' 'you just had lunch, wait a half hour and see if you still want it then' <and usually they don't>)

Pat

 

[tortoise]

He's definitely not over eating and we don't do the "clear your plate" thing necessarily. But I'm sick of scraping his plate into the garbage. I f I know what he *should* be eating, hopefully less food going into the garbage!

 

[patandchickens]

You can freeze it for soup you know or feed it to the chickens.

I have had waste problems with my kids, b/c their appetites vary SO much from day to day, and finally concluded that the solution is to give them only a leetle bit at a time. Lather rinse repeat, as they request. That way if any gets wasted, it isn't much.

Pat

 

[tortoise]

If you are concerned about nutrition, do NOT go with anything the USDA promotes. Their defined job is to find markets for farm products, and the main farm products in this country are grains and soy. So their job is to promote those, not to promote health. Your health based expenses will ultimately skyrocket if your family eats by the USDA recommendations.

Really, the best way to reduce grocery expenses and promote health is to buy only (or at least mostly) things without a label with serving sizes on it.....whole foods.

Um yeah.. so using USDA guidelines I am way over doing grains. And I eat less grain than typical American diet. Not enough veggies - but I knew that.

I think there is a lot of confusion over what a serving is. Bagels, for example. On the package, the serving size is 1 bagel. But USDA guidelines... that bagel is 4 servings of grain. USDA says I need 6 servings of grain. That IS 1-1/2 bagel, but most people think that means 6 bagels (24 servings!)

If you use the USDA serving sizes, the pyramid makes more sense. For my 6 servings, that would be 1 meal with pasta and a 1/2 a bagel. That's not overdoing grains, IMO.

I am ignoring the fats rule, lol. USDA guidelines would give me 265 Calories of added fat, sugar or alcohol. I'm off the charts on good fats and ignoring it.

 

[Wifezilla]

if I let my kids eat as much imported cheese as they wanted, and as much nuts, they might get a bit porky

Since insulin is what prompts your body to store fat and cheese and nuts contain no or very little insulin triggering sugars and starches, these items will not make your kids fat. It might make you poor, but if they gain weight it is because of what they are eating or drinking WITH the cheese and nuts, not the cheese and nuts themselves.

 

[patandchickens]

if I let my kids eat as much imported cheese as they wanted, and as much nuts, they might get a bit porky

Since insulin is what prompts your body to store fat and cheese and nuts contain no or very little insulin triggering sugars and starches, these items will not make your kids fat. It might make you poor, but if they gain weight it is because of what they are eating or drinking WITH the cheese and nuts, not the cheese and nuts themselves.

Wifezilla, eating a bazillion more calories than a person uses, from WHATEVER source, WILL make ya fat.

THAT is what I am talking about.

(e.t.a - I used nuts and good cheese as an example b/c those are the things that I think my kids would be most likely to waaay pig out on if they had the chance, because they *like* them the best. Not because of what kind of foods they are. Sheez, not everything in the world has to be a low-carb issue, does it?)

Pat

 

[lwheelr]

Pat, I think they'd only pig out on them temporarily. You get tired of your favorite stuff and start balancing it out again if you have access to unlimited amounts.

Not that I think that it is an affordable thing to do, 'cause you are right, they are way expensive!

 

[Wifezilla]

Wifezilla, eating a bazillion more calories than a person uses, from WHATEVER source, WILL make ya fat.

THAT is what I am talking about.

Sorry Pat, the Calories in Calories out theory only works in pretend land. We get fat due to the way our hormones regulate our fat storage and appetite. Our appetite and fat storage get out of whack when we eat a diet high in carbohydrates regardless of the source.

"The conventional wisdom both in the medical community and among the rest of us is that we get fat because we consume more calories than we expend. We overeat, in a word, or we're too sedentary. And so it's all about energy consumed and expended. But, as I describe in GC,BC and argue, forcefully, I hope, in Why We Get Fat, this calories-in/calories-out idea fails to explain some of the critical observations in the field....obesity and overweight are disorders in the hormonal and enzymatic regulation of fat tissue. And since the amount of fat we accumulate is fundamentally regulated by the hormone insulin, the obvious culprits for why we get fat are the carbohydrates in our diet, because, for all intents and purposes, it's carbs that regulate our insulin levels."
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=13831444

 

[lwheelr]

I disagree with the condemnation of carbohydrates wholesale.

I think that it is not an overindulgence in carbs that does it. It is the WRONG KIND of carbs, and even "normal" amounts of refined carbs can mess up a body, and even minimal amounts of refining can cause problems.

Just as calories are not just calories, carbs are not just carbs.

When you switch to wholesome carbs, the need to count them will usually disappear, unless there is an underlying health issue that causes insulin usage problems, and often that will correct over a period of a year or so.

Biblically, and historically, bread has been the staple food on which life has thrived. People ate it in fairly large amounts year round. They ate more fruits and veggies in the summer, and more meat in the winter, but bread was the staple all the time, and it was the food of famine, because when veggies would not grow, and animals were not available, grain is what stored and kept through anything. The bread consisted of fresh milled wheat, water, leavening, and salt. Sometimes other grains, but usually just wheat. Grains were consumed in high quantities in meals also, as cereal, in soups, and boiled and seasoned - oats, brown rice, hulled barley, were the staples.

When you get the preservatives and the sugar out of the bread, and when your carbohydrates are fresh and whole foods, things process differently.

Fresh milled flour is different than aged milled flour that has had the germ removed.

Fresh oats, rolled that morning, are different in nutritional makeup than rolled oats that you buy from the store - they even taste different, more tangy.

Potatoes with the skins on are a different food than potatoes with the skins of, and your body processes them differently.

Those minute differences are things that help your body properly process them. Get the good stuff back into the carbs, and get the refined stuff out, and they are again what nature intended them to be - the staple food that sustains us through feast or famine.

A friend of ours repaired our Pasta Mill a few days ago. When the last box of Whole Wheat pasta is gone, we are going back to 100% homemade pasta. Because it makes that much of a difference.

I counted carbs for diabetes control for a long time. I don't now. I just eat what tastes good. My taste buds have readjusted to demanding what I really need, so I crave whole wheat and oatmeal and plain potatoes in limited amounts, and I crave lots of veggies and fresh fruits, plain meat and fresh eggs.

10 years ago, if you'd told me I'd ever WANT whole wheat bread, I'd have told you that you were nuts. Changing to 100% whole wheat was HARD for me, I did not like the taste. Now, white bread tastes gross.

But once my body got the hang of where the real nutrients were, it now asks for the good stuff. And I am no longer a compulsive eater - I battled compulsive eating for 25 years. When the refined foods went away, so did that endless loop tape that played in my head telling me to eat and eat and eat. I finally realized that compulsive eating was just my body trying to get enough of those trace nutrients that are removed from refined foods. As soon as I went to whole foods, it got enough, and that tape shut up. If I crave bread now, I eat bread, and I feel satisfied with a slice or two.