No Wonder I Wasn’t Skinny!

[rosemary79 136]

So interesting to hear your perspectives. My home was just the opposite. My mom was obsessed with healthy food. Vegetables with every meal and always steamed. Oil and vinegar on salad. Never any fried food or take outs. Never knew sugary Cereal existed until I spent the night out. Special treats for us were a dill pickle, a naval orange or an occasional piece of health food store fruit leather. Once I could drive and go to the convenience store on my own, I went crazy! I've always wondered what my eating would have been like if things were more moderate in my home.

Same at my house... and we were vegetarians on top of that! My brother and I asked for Twinkies for Christmas one year. My downfall was in college where I discovered Ben and Jerry's and fried chicken strips!

[Babbs 14,680]

Ive heard people tell me a diet plate back in the 50s was a broiled hamburger patty, green Beans and pickles. All low carb foods.. somewhere, we decided that we needed more grains and less meats. Less fats and more carbs..

I blame the implementation of this USDA food pyramid. I think it's not coincidental that we started becoming more and more obese after this was implemented in the early 90's....

[rosepose 105]

OMG! Ethnic food! I'm guessing French and Indonesian count and those were my mom's go-tos (holy moly the rice dishes from Indonesia.... and then topped with lots of coconut milk stewed meats and vegetables...) but I lived in a Jewish neighborhood when I lived in London and the BAKERIES!!!! Fresh hot Bagels from the corner bakery on Sunday mornings. And coming in on the night bus after going out Saturday night and stopping at the bakery that was open 24/6 and getting fresh hot chocolate filled rugala (which was like croissant rather than the pie pastry ones I've found here) and cheese pizza for the post drinking meal when we weren't up for a kebab and fries... It's good I don't still live there. I'd have carbbed myself to death by now.

[robinsmj 39]

I grew up in the late 80's- 90's. My mother cooked all of our meals. I really didn't start eating out until I was an adult. Breakfast would be oatmeal on school days, and grits, eggs, bacon, pancakes or french toast on the weekends. We ate lunch at school, and weekends we would have a sandwich or a lunchable with a juice box. dinner was collard greens or pinto Beans, cornbread, fried chicken, fried fish, or pot roast and we literally had cornbread and sweet potatoes every night. We didn't drink soda, and not too much milk only at school. I am the only one in my family that ended up overweight. My mom has been 115 lbs all her life even after having 5 kids, and still eating the same things she cooked for us as children. My sister is the same after having 4 kids. My first husband was killed in 2008 and I started gaining weight after that. Then I remarried in 2011 and started fertility drugs, and had 3 pregnancies (1 living child). I attribute my weight gain to fast food, depression meds, fertility drugs, and pregnancies. Oddly I was fine eating my mother's food.

[MichiganChic 3,262]

Ive heard people tell me a diet plate back in the 50s was a broiled hamburger patty, green Beans and pickles. All low carb foods.. somewhere, we decided that we needed more grains and less meats. Less fats and more carbs..

I blame the implementation of this USDA food pyramid. I think it's not coincidental that we started becoming more and more obese after this was implemented in the early 90's....

Oh, how I wish it were true!! Seriously, 11 servings of Pasta is how I interpreted that - and all in one day. That's more than I eat in a month. And Cookies and processed foods actually have a proud place on this chart. Ahh...the good ole days. Oh wait. Not so good. I weighed 325 pounds from that.

[MichiganChic 3,262]

I remember this exact chart. The nuns used it to teach us nutrition as pretty little kids.

But this is the chart I lived by until recently:

[Chrystee 838]

I grew up in the late 80's- 90's. My mother cooked all of our meals. I really didn't start eating out until I was an adult. Breakfast would be oatmeal on school days, and grits, eggs, bacon, pancakes or french toast on the weekends. We ate lunch at school, and weekends we would have a sandwich or a lunchable with a juice box. dinner was collard greens or pinto Beans, cornbread, fried chicken, fried fish, or pot roast and we literally had cornbread and sweet potatoes every night. We didn't drink soda, and not too much milk only at school. I am the only one in my family that ended up overweight. My mom has been 115 lbs all her life even after having 5 kids, and still eating the same things she cooked for us as children. My sister is the same after having 4 kids. My first husband was killed in 2008 and I started gaining weight after that. Then I remarried in 2011 and started fertility drugs, and had 3 pregnancies (1 living child). I attribute my weight gain to fast food, depression meds, fertility drugs, and pregnancies. Oddly I was fine eating my mother's food.< /p>

did she home make everything? I think that was a big difference vs. prepackaged crap. Plus.. if you didn't make enough to feed an army, and just for the dinner.< /p>

[robinsmj 39]

I grew up in the late 80's- 90's. My mother cooked all of our meals. I really didn't start eating out until I was an adult. Breakfast would be oatmeal on school days, and grits, eggs, bacon, pancakes or french toast on the weekends. We ate lunch at school, and weekends we would have a sandwich or a lunchable with a juice box. dinner was collard greens or pinto Beans, cornbread, fried chicken, fried fish, or pot roast and we literally had cornbread and sweet potatoes every night. We didn't drink soda, and not too much milk only at school. I am the only one in my family that ended up overweight. My mom has been 115 lbs all her life even after having 5 kids, and still eating the same things she cooked for us as children. My sister is the same after having 4 kids. My first husband was killed in 2008 and I started gaining weight after that. Then I remarried in 2011 and started fertility drugs, and had 3 pregnancies (1 living child). I attribute my weight gain to fast food, depression meds, fertility drugs, and pregnancies. Oddly I was fine eating my mother's food.< /p>

did she home make everything? I think that was a big difference vs. prepackaged crap. Plus.. if you didn't make enough to feed an army, and just for the dinner.< /div>

Yes, everything was homemade. We didn't even eat canned veggies. Only fresh stuff. And sweets were things like homemade sweet potato pie. Not store bought.

Edited July 10, 2015 by robinsmj

[Mommabird 367]

My mom grew up poor during the depression. She didn't get heavy until later in life and even then wasn't too over weight. Because food was so scarce for her, feeding her family was an act of love. I grew up with homemade meatloaf, cube steak breaded, fried and smothered in cream gravy, fried chicken. Back then, you couldn't buy ethnic foods at the grocery store. So, on Saturday mornings, my mom and dad would drive to the Hispanic part of Houston and buy everything needed for a Mexican food feast. Flour tortillas were unheard-of and corn tortillas came in a flat can. Mom would fry them up into taco shells.

Every regular meal had potatoes in some form or rice. My dad didn't like regular rice, so, it was always cooked with whole milk and lots of butter. (basically, rice pudding with no sugar)

Sodas and candy bars were somewhat limited, but, we still had plenty!

Whole milk, white bread, white rice, butter, ice cream was always in the freezer. lunch at school (carried in a metal lunch box with a glass lined thermos) was sandwiches, chips, homemade Cookies and whole milk.

I was extremely skinny growing up! My problems started in my early 20s. Undiagnosed PCOS and doctors who didn't have a clue about it. Standard weight loss programs made me gain and gain. Even the food plan the dietician put me on during the six months of mandated weight loss before my gastric bypass made me gain!

A diabetes diagnosis made me have to eat healthier, so my children grew up eating healthier than I did. So much so, that when my DIL was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, my son had her blood sugar stabilized within days as he knew what to do for her! (I am now the grandmother of an extremely healthy 3 1/2 week old baby boy)

I still crave all the foods I grew up with but other than the extremely rare occasion, I don't endulge. And when I do, it's only a few bites. I'm 7 months out from my RNY and no food is worth risking the way I feel now. I feel good and have more energy than I've had in decades!

[MIMISAN 404]

This is an interesting post and I have thought about this often but unfortunately I really can't blame my parents for my shapely physique (ROUND IS A SHAPE).

My family was a the lower end of the income ratio. We were probably poor enough to be on assistance but in my household that would not be acceptable. So we made do. My mom was a good cook even though she did cook like everyone did in the 50's and 60's. Everything was full fat and fried and my dad was fairly insistant on gravy and bread with almost every meal. We had fresh cow milk, homemade butter because we milked the cow!

We considered it lucky to get 3 meals a day and usually one of them was a sandwich. There was no real snacking at our house unless it was a Mayonnaise sandwich. We didn't have goodies and Cookies in the house because my parents couldn't afford it. We did not eat out at all. I never remember going into a sit down restaurant with my parents EVER.

Once in a blue moon my mom would splurge and we would go get a bag of hamburgers and in those days you could get 5 for $2 ! WOW I AM OLD. About 4 times a year they would buy a half gallon of vanilla ice cream and a six pack of cokes and we would all have a coke float..

Even eating full fat food you don't get fat if you aren't getting to gorge and we never felt really full. Since we also had chores and had to play outside we worked off our food. I was still the largest child in the house and out of five kids I was always bigger than everyone else. I wasn't really fat but I FELT fat because my sisters were little thin things and I was bigger boned and looked nothing like my mom who I thought was beautiful.

As my story unfolded I got knocked up by the first guy that told me he loved me and had to get married. I gained 60 lbs with that first baby and kept it on because I had no one to tell me to quit eating crap! My weight kept sneaking up and up until today I felt totally useless and I have to take the credit. I put the food in my mouth even though the scale kept moving upward and finally I am getting the nerve to have the surgery and admit I need help. I no longer expect to be pretty or sexy and don't really need too but I do want to feel lighter, more energetic and healthier. I don't want to be buried in a piano case or have them knock out a wall to get me out of my house.

I guess if I have to look for a reason that I am fat its because I felt inferior to my sisters and felt like the ugly duckling. Add to that the fact that we never got sweets or had access to them and that made me want them even more. Then add to that a young marriage with no family support since we joined the military and stress from raising kids when I was a kid myself and that is probably a recipe for disaster. The good thing is that I have 3 lovely children, 6 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren so far. I did get a divorce after 28 years to the first hubby and met MR PERFECT and we have now been together 18 years! Mr. Perfect is almost perfect, supportive, humorous, loving and I love him so....I am on to my next hat trick.

[maggie409 765]

I am from the south and my mom cooked on a budget. A pot of red Beans with cornbread w/butter and German Fried Potstoes. And can anyone say "Spam"! My mom and dad loved it! Everything was fried and covered on gravy. My moms idea of vegetables was canned corn or fried okra. I watched my Grandmother make a pot of whipped potatoes once to go with her ghoulash and she put two full sticks of butter and a whole can of pet milk. Dang! I'm getting hungry! Lol

[Elode 8,093]

Yogurt! Lots and lots of yogurt and not the healthy stuff we have today the sugar filled kind! I thought it was healthy and granola, full of SUGAR!

[Cheryl Fil 4]

If it's served at Cracker Barrrel then most likely it was on my Grandmother's table. My mother too is an excellent cook. We would often have white rice and potatoes served at the same meal. Has anyone ever tried a brown and serve roll with stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, and cranberry salad sandwich ? Yum!

[Bandora 136]

_{I would have to say besides the obvious liquid calories ( soda, sweet tea etc) mine would be salad.}

_{I assumed veggies were healthy and I loaded mine up with cheese, ham, bacon bits, croutons and topped it off with ladle of ranch. Because I picked up salad from a salad bar I would also do a scoop of full fat cottage cheese or potato/pasta salad. If it fit in the Styrofoam container I guessed this was a serving. WOW! Also, in the 90's I ate way to many carbs. Remember Susan Powter? I was eating volume and loading up on all the refined carbs because they were low fat.}

[Sajijoma 1,324]

Oh god, I've got a list..... broccoli salad. It's basically blanched broccoli, cauliflower, in some mayo/cream sauce with a ranch seasoning mixed in. We used to sell this at the grocery store deli I worked at(schnucks if you are a midwesterner in the St. Louis area) I thought it was healthy so I'd buy that, but OMG the facts on that one I would have been better off and probably less hungry if I had eaten a whole rotisserie chicken! In that same vein is 7 layer salad. lettuce, mayo, peas, cheese, spinach, and some other stuff I can't even remember layered up like a big giant lasagna. I thought "hey it's salad it has to be good for me" but I easily put on 10lbs eating it. It's all the yummy fat and mayo and cheese that sink that one, but makes you want to eat it. Also melba toasts. I convinced myself that by putting ham and cheese on melba toasts that I wasn't eating that much, but would blow through literally a pound of meat n cheese combined before I was done, when if I had just made a regular 4oz meat and 1 slice of cheese sandwich I would have been full and done.

On the subject of what mom fed us that turned us the way we are....my mom has and always been mentally ill. She's schizophrenic and hears voices in her head that tell her to do things that she wouldn't normally do if she were in her right mind. She's a loving mom when she's well, but when she's off her meds it's a whole nothing creature. I've come to a place where I understand that now and have forgiven her, but the damage was and is still something I suffer from her illness. When I was 4yrs old the voices in her head told her I was going to be fat! HUGE! Just like my brothers. They were all well over 300lbs by freshman year in high school that I can remember. So she put me on a diet that the voices in her head gave her which consisted on 1/2c cottage cheese and one half of a cling peach from a can. That's all I was allowed to eat once a day. If I snuck food and got caught I was given a punishment of several days with no food at all while they ate infront of me big giant meals and taunted me with how delicious it is and how I couldn't have it. I went from being able to eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound and never hungry to a stark raving starving hungry person who gained weight at the snap of a fingers who went to my grandparents houses and first would hide from food and then shoveled food non stop. I went from being slighly under weight and taking up to a few days to eat a package of M&M's to severely overweight and ravenously ripping the package open and swallowing them all at once literally overnight. In essence, her illness started me on the road to a life long battle with weight and the inability to get the starvation mode turned off. Then when I was taken away by CPS from time to time when they bothered to follow up, the fostercare people would feel sorry for me and stuff me with yummy stuff I never had before like oreos and ice cream and potato chips and brownies and cakes for your birthday just for being alive(who knew about these things!) and it was the first time I had froot loops or Burger king or deep dish pizza! I fell in love with that stuff and as I got older and bounced between home and fostercare, those special treats became my comfort and it's amazing how our parents or even well meaning people can really screw us the hell up with food! I still want the comfort of stuffed crust pizza after a bad day and I still want a bowl of ice cream when I really need a hug instead. It's a process to break those associations for sure! I'm struggling now with the help of a good shrink to undo the damage, but cottage cheese to me always equals punishment. I've struggled with that my whole life and even though I bought some this week to try to develop a new association with it, I can't bring myself to open it. It's just sitting in the fridge taunting me! I know this is one I have to get past because I've read the post op diets and cottage cheese is a huge component in the soft food stage plans I've seen, but my body is already rebelling at the thought.