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[quote=Anonymous]I can answer this question with good old BTDT experience.  I grew up with a young, single mom who worked very hard to make up for dropping out of college by working her way up through her company.  She also never had an interest (and this continues today) in cooking.  None whatsoever.  So, I ate a chicken nuggets happy meal and eventually a chicken nuggets adult meal every night for dinner.  In fairness, sometimes we would branch out with Wendy's and sometimes Friendly's (always chicken nuggets/fingers).  Sometimes I would eat a home-cooked meal at my grandparent's house (maybe once every couple of weeks).  Lunch was purchased at school.  Pretty sure I didn't eat breakfast, and if I did, it was sugary cereal.  This was my life elementary school through high school, although we had added arby's and burger king to the mix by high school.  Oh, and I shouldn't leave out Fuddruckers.  Needless to say, not healthy.

I don't know why, but I was never fat.  I should have been, but I wasn't.  As a teenager, I never had a flat stomach and was self-conscious about my body, but I look at pictures and I was slim with a cute figure.  I started running for fun my junior year of high school.  I excelled in the classroom (salutatorian of my class), had plenty of friends, and was generally pretty happy.  I also had perfect attendance from seventh grade through high school graduation.

Fast forward to now, I am 35, 5'4", and generally between 125 and 130 when not pregnant.  I have taught myself to cook, to make healthy choices, to enjoy exercising (running and yoga, mostly).  I still have a crazy sweet tooth and enjoy terrible food from time to time (especially when pregnant).  My feet are bigger than is typical for my height, so I think my diet might have prevented me from reaching my full height (which my mom hates when I say this to her), but otherwise, I am aware of no long-term ill-effects FOR ME from my mom's food choices.

For her, it's another story all together.  Although I changed my habits when I left her house and although her haunts started to include sit-down chain restaurants, she carried on largely as she had my whole life.  Once she quit smoking when I was in middle school (and she was in her early 30s), her weight ballooned.  With some thin periods here and there, she was obese most of her adult life.  She eventually developed diabetes, the symptoms of which she ignored.  At 54, she had a massive stroke that has left her without sight in one eye, unable to speak, difficulty spontaneously writing more than a few letters of a word, and completely dependent on others to be able to live the "independent life" she has now.

So, my experience suggests that there is hope for the family, especially the kids.  As for the parents, I hope that they are making choices elsewhere in their lives that minimize the chance that they'll end up like my mom.[/quote]

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