28 Feb 2011 The healthy diet dilemma

by Kellie Dye

You want baked chicken but your family wants fried chicken. You want a salad, but your family wants French fries. You want to eat at a restaurant that serves healthy food, but your family wants the pizza buffet.

You know what I mean. Maybe you are trying to lower your cholesterol or blood pressure, or you might be trying to lose weight. What I often hear is how difficult it can be to embark on a healthy way of eating when you are the only one at home who actually wants to eat healthy.

You might feel resentful toward your loved ones for not supporting you and yet you might also fear that you are depriving them if you demand that everyone eat healthy. 

This dilemma is very common. I know many people who will prepare two-three different meals at one time for various family members. For any moms (or dads) who have done this, you know that you can’t keep that up for very long.

Well, I happen to have a pretty hard stance when it comes to this dilemma and it goes something like this: What’s good for one is good for all.

Sure, you may have a skinny teenager who wants to “bulk up” for sports, but that doesn’t mean that they can be exempt from eating healthy. I see enough kids in my practice who are thin, yet they have high cholesterols and/or high blood pressure due to their diet. Just because someone in your family doesn’t have a weight problem doesn’t indicate that they are the picture of health. 

Your job is to provide healthy food to your family. It’s up to them whether they eat it.  Call it tough love if you will. No parent should be a short-order cook, so prepare and serve healthy meals and don’t make an issue of it. 

Kids will never learn to try healthy foods unless they are exposed to it over and over again. Let go of the feeling that you are depriving them and remember how much you care about their health. Why should you feel guilty about not keeping regular soda in the house? Love them with fruits and vegetables, not candy and fast food.

Whether you like it or not, I did warn you that I have a hard stance when it comes to this issue. No matter who in the family wants to embark upon a healthy way of eating, it’s good for the whole family. 

You may not get much support at first, or at all for that matter, but try to take comfort in the fact that you are doing the right thing for your family and for you. If the parent is healthy, the family will be healthier.