My mom was of the processed food era, so I grew up eating a lot of junk (and don’t have much taste for it now, ironically).

Like some of the PPs, though, I don’t keep a lot of junk in the house, but don’t care what my kids eat when they’re out and about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't forbid any foods. My kids have regular treats. One of them is a sugar fiend, the other is not. They eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole foods.

If they see something at the store and want to try it, I'll buy it at some point (maybe not right then, but eventually) so they can try it. It takes the mystery out of it.

I do try to bake and make homemade treats, so that they can see how much better homemade cookies taste than an Oreo. That's a work in progress

Again, nobody cares about your bragging.

I don’t find this poster or the PP bragging at all. They just say they don’t forbid anything and try to model good eating but that their kids can have junk from time to time. The kids I knew with the most unhealthy relationships with foods were the ones who were policed the most growing up.

Carnation Instant Breakfast

Nothing is outright forbidden and if my kids eat is elsewhere occasionally I don't care, but:

white bread
fruit snacks - I ate these with lunch every day as a kid and I now consider them a treat/dessert food, they are like 99% sugar
soda
most food with dyes and artificial flavors - this means that I buy popsicles made from fruit instead of otter pops and my inner child is disappointed
snowballs, hohos, ding dongs, etc.
handi-snacks

I have such nostalgia for these snacks and don't want to be controlling but I am creeping toward pre-diabetes and don't want to pass that on to my kids...it's tough. I've cut back on so much junk but it seems normal to me to have snacks and treats throughout the day and have dessert daily so it's just a constant battle. My kids probably eat 25% of the sugar that I ate on a daily basis as a kid.

We don’t forbid anything but the food we buy and serve are MUCH different than I got when growing up.

A typical day for me:
- chocolate milk for breakfast (I didn’t like eating breakfast, still don’t)
- chocolate milk, pb&j, pack of Oreos and chips for lunch
- 3 chips ahoy cookies with milk for a snack
- dinner was generally pretty healthy except that it was served with a can of Coke and followed by some dessert every night


Seems crazy looking back on it!!

Anonymous wrote:Vienna sausages. My mom would pack a can of six sausages in my lunch. Also cans of potato sticks.

Memory unlocked! I forgot those Vienna sausages, we'd eat them with saltines. I haven't thought of those in decades!

I have never banned my kids from eating anything ever. I buy healthy foods, some treats etc. If they get exposed to other things (soda, little debbies etc) that's fine. They will eventually grow up, drive and buy their own food.

For those listing foods they "don't allow," are your children very young?? I cannot imagine forbidding foods, though there is plenty of stuff we ate growing up that I don't buy--bologna being one of them because the idea of it grosses me out. But one of my kids came home and said, "I tried Jimmy's bologna sandwich at lunch, can you buy some bologna?" then I would.

Anonymous wrote:I don't forbid any foods. My kids have regular treats. One of them is a sugar fiend, the other is not. They eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole foods.

If they see something at the store and want to try it, I'll buy it at some point (maybe not right then, but eventually) so they can try it. It takes the mystery out of it.

I do try to bake and make homemade treats, so that they can see how much better homemade cookies taste than an Oreo. That's a work in progress

Again, nobody cares about your bragging.

Vienna sausages. My mom would pack a can of six sausages in my lunch. Also cans of potato sticks.

Skim milk was the beverage of choice as a kid. I will never let my kids touch the stuff but we have whole.

Bologna (which I lived off of), Pecan Sandies, Goobers PB & J mixed in a jar

I don't have any foods that are 100% off limits.

But I don't push milk nearly as much as it was pushed on me as a kid. I only drank juice or milk. My kids drink water, sometimes juice and rarely milk.

I don't forbid any foods. My kids have regular treats. One of them is a sugar fiend, the other is not. They eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole foods.

If they see something at the store and want to try it, I'll buy it at some point (maybe not right then, but eventually) so they can try it. It takes the mystery out of it.

I do try to bake and make homemade treats, so that they can see how much better homemade cookies taste than an Oreo. That's a work in progress

Probably nothing. We ate bologna on white bread growing up. It was cheap. Once in a while isn't a big deal.

Other than sandwich meat we didn't get a lot of processed foods as kids. If we had snacks/treats my mom made them. When available we were allowed 2 cookies per day. Cake was for birthdays. Pie for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We never had soda in the house. It was mainly water or milk to drink. Mom would make popcorn on Saturday sometimes.