Thrift Eating

[fezik23 240]

I was raised in the clean-plate club, more because my parents didn't have any extra money to waste. It was a big no-no to throw food away. My dear beloved father even used to drink the brine from Pickle Juice and things like that. Nothing was thrown out. I call it "thrift eating." I have carried that behavior into adulthood, doing things like cleaning my kids' plates if they didn't want to finish. Now I can't do any of that any more. And I am finding it liberating. I am done--my sleeve says so--and what I don't finish is tossed out. Who knew this could be fun?

I suppose I could save leftovers, but who wants to eat a little piece of turkey burger or whatever? I'm not saying I throw everything away. But it's a lovely feeling to be free of the guilt of tossing what is left on my plate.

[jessiquoi 623]

that is such a MAJOR head change! congratulations!

[Summer Rain 245]

I grew up in a home with very similar eating habits. I can remember many nights sitting at the table until bedtime because I had to eat all the food on my plate before I could be excused...and we wonder how we got to where we are today...

That's an amazing accomplishment on your part and should be a great help to your weight loss and peace of mind

Summer

Edited August 14, 2014 by Summer Rain

[enjoyinglife 313]

Good for you!!!

[thesuse2000 698]

Good for you! That has been hard for me too, but I've also learned to throw things away. I like to think of it as - I'm not a garbage disposal. If I eat more than I need to and have that extra food get processed through my body - it's no less wasteful than if I threw it away. It just went through me first.

[fezik23 240]

Good for you! That has been hard for me too, but I've also learned to throw things away. I like to think of it as - I'm not a garbage disposal. If I eat more than I need to and have that extra food get processed through my body - it's no less wasteful than if I threw it away. It just went through me first.

Perfect!

[pik 262]

The same for me. We had to clean our plate. Can you imagine how many overweight and obese adults have come from that?

These days if I can't finish it, I toss it. Of course I am still only eating yogurt and things like that. Given that nothing tastes right I have been throwing even more out!

[Bufflehead 6,358]

It's funny, I was just thinking about similar issues this morning. I was definitely not raised in the "clean plate" club. In my family, it was considered rude to eat everything on your plate because it indicated you thought you weren't served a sufficient amount of food - an insult to the cook. And if you had asked me 18 months ago if I had problems throwing food away, I would have told you "no."

But the truth is, somehow I did acquire that problem. I just never really had to test it out before. Everything I brought into the house, I ate unless it expired or spoiled. I live alone and I bought the stuff I liked or wanted to try, and I am not a picky eater. So I ate ALL the things! But when I had to start throwing food out after being sleeved, it did bother me. Don't get me wrong, I still did it -- and now it doesn't bother me anymore, I've adjusted. I will say that a lot of it doesn't get thrown out exactly, but put down for the dog. She loves my sleeve almost as much as I do! Lots of leftover meat, cheese, and eggs for her - and much more regular walks around the neighborhood (exercise for me, fun for her). So win-win.

[TEXASLADY52 264]

Proud of you!!!!! My husband and I had a lot arguements over this! We both grew up in a household of where you had to clean your plate because children in China are going hungry. I refused to pass this on to my children. My husband felt they should clean their plates and I didn't. I did not want them to be overeaters like me and him. My children are now grown and are healthy eaters with no bad habits of overeating!!!!

[shmily 424]

No matter how much food we eat, it will NOT help people starving in other countries LOL. Good for you

[bikrchk 1,313]

That's fantastic! I heard a quote once... "Your body is NOT a garbage disposal". Just a positive way to look at it I suppose, and one I try to remember daily.

[ready2B 263]

Raising my hand as another member of the childhood Clean Your Plate Club!

As with a lot of other things I later realized didn't make sense or weren't good for me, I'd swung hard the other way and have often been really wasteful. I'd buy more groceries even when my pantry & fridge were already full, throw out things that were perfectly good just because I decided I didn't want them anymore or let other things go bad because I just had too much in the fridge to eat before expirations dates. It's like I wanted to prove over and over to myself that I had LOTS of choices of what I wanted to eat, as well as the choice to not have to eat them just because they were there. Funny how early control issues with food (and our reactions/rebellions to that) can have such long lasting effects.

[Miss Mac 6,261]

My paternal grandparents raised 12 children during the depression. Every time my family went out to the farm to see her, there was always plenty of homemade food on the table. The ritual went like this, oddly enough: The grown-ups ate first, and then the kids. We did not get to choose what went on our plates. Grandma plated our food, and we had to finish what we started even if it was food we did not like, such as liver or spinach wilted in vinegar. Is it any surprise that my grandparents,parents, most aunts and uncles, and nearly all of my 60 some cousins were obese?

In the family history, there are many obese adults who suffered an untimely death in their late 40's and early 50s, including my oldest brother who died of a heart attack at the age of 47. He weighed 420 pounds. My mother died at the age of 67 of an abdominal aeortic anurysm. She was 5'2" and weighed 320 pounds. One of the reasons that I decided to sleeve is that as I neared my 62 birthday last year, I realized that I was follwing down my mother's path and need to divert to a healthier path with haste,

I do blame a lot of this on the clean plate regiment. We could not have dessert unless we cleaned our plates. So, we finished up too much food on the plate (always including potatoes, bread, mac and cheese) and then had cake or pie or ice cream. No wonder. Geeze Louize. My sleeve has liberated me from cleaning my plate, since I can't just shovel in what I want and then have dessert. Just because there is food in the fridge and pantry, does not mean I have to eat it all. My sleeve, bossy bossy bossy Miss Sleeve insists that I weigh and measure and don't eat beyond capacity. I love bossy Miss Sleeve. She keeps me on the straight and narrow path to good health.

[Bob2013 326]

I also was raised to clean my plate. Since the sleeve the way I have overcome this is to only serve portioned meals which is what each and everyone of us SHOULD be doing. For me, its 3 to 4 ozs. for my wife who is also dieting its a bit more depending on her daily nutritional intake.

Since surgery I have lost over 100lbs. But The household loss has been over 160lbs with my wife's loss included. The surgery isn't just creating a new healthier me, it is creating a new healthier family.

[TEXASLADY52 264]

I love hearing how all of us was taught to clean our plates??? I use to tell my mother it was her faught that I was fat because she would always tell me "if you be good you can have a bowl of ice cream" "if you be good you can have a cookie"......well I saw myself "VERY GOOD"......and I constantly rewarded myself!!! LOL