My mother is trying to kill me. It won’t do any good to call 911, because she died several years ago. However, she is still trying to kill me. This attempt is centered around how I was raised and the eating habits I learned while she was raising me. Many of the things she taught me have stuck with me well into adulthood and I developed habits which are hard to break; habits that are killing me. My mother was a single mother (off and on) trying to raise three boys. She had to be strict and her rules were always obeyed under threat of physical harm.
As a result, I struggled with my weight all my life. In high school I weighed over 200 pounds my freshman year. I joined the wrestling team and started losing weight to wrestle in a better weight class. By my senior year I was wrestling at the 175-pound weight class. Here’s how my mother tried to kill me:
We always ate under a strict schedule. Breakfast was at 6 am, lunch at noon and supper at 6 pm. It never varied. As I grew older, if I missed a feeding time, there was no food. Skipping meals was forbidden. She never saved any food and my brothers made sure there were no leftovers. This was, of course, pre-microwave. I followed this schedule until my retirement. Very soon after I retired, I ballooned to over 300 pounds. It wasn’t until recently, I discovered that periodic fasting is a good way to lose weight.
Mom always served a desert, and it was usually sweet. I never complained (also forbidden) but now I’m a Type II diabetic. Those deserts were killing me. I do miss them, but they raise my blood sugar to high levels.
Mom always insisted that we clean our plates. She would tell us that kids in China were starving, so we needed to clean our plates. It made no sense to me. I wanted to ship my food to China, but I didn’t know the address. Now I realize I don’t have to clean my plate and the kids in China are much healthier than I.
Mom used to say, “Take all you want, eat all you take.” That was a corollary to cleaning our plates.
Don’t get me wrong; I loved my mom, but I struggle with my weight my whole life. Of course, it wasn’t all bad. She did introduce me to coffee at an early age. Rest in peace, mom.
As a result, I struggled with my weight all my life. In high school I weighed over 200 pounds my freshman year. I joined the wrestling team and started losing weight to wrestle in a better weight class. By my senior year I was wrestling at the 175-pound weight class. Here’s how my mother tried to kill me:
We always ate under a strict schedule. Breakfast was at 6 am, lunch at noon and supper at 6 pm. It never varied. As I grew older, if I missed a feeding time, there was no food. Skipping meals was forbidden. She never saved any food and my brothers made sure there were no leftovers. This was, of course, pre-microwave. I followed this schedule until my retirement. Very soon after I retired, I ballooned to over 300 pounds. It wasn’t until recently, I discovered that periodic fasting is a good way to lose weight.
Mom always served a desert, and it was usually sweet. I never complained (also forbidden) but now I’m a Type II diabetic. Those deserts were killing me. I do miss them, but they raise my blood sugar to high levels.
Mom always insisted that we clean our plates. She would tell us that kids in China were starving, so we needed to clean our plates. It made no sense to me. I wanted to ship my food to China, but I didn’t know the address. Now I realize I don’t have to clean my plate and the kids in China are much healthier than I.
Mom used to say, “Take all you want, eat all you take.” That was a corollary to cleaning our plates.
Don’t get me wrong; I loved my mom, but I struggle with my weight my whole life. Of course, it wasn’t all bad. She did introduce me to coffee at an early age. Rest in peace, mom.
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