Quote Originally Posted by Sarah View Post
....So yes Reggio, we both might be right here! Guess knowing your crew and your crew's eating habit is necessary to judge this!...


Yup - in your case above I too would have wondered if their inability to 'focus' or 'relax' when circumstances dictated was due to high glucose levels from too much food consumption!

I should clarify that here once you reach your Canada's food guide serving of GRAINS for a child you get cut off regardless cause I personally think our food guide is stacked to HIGH in grains for political reasons verses health reasons - I would not be letting a child eat 3 full bagels or 4 x a 1/2 cup serving of pasta at a sitting like I would with the 3 bananas or 2 kiwi serving sizes or 3 cups of salad ... I only make enough GRAINS for 1 serving per child and just serve them 'small' so they think they are getting more - aka I cut a bagel in half and than that half into 1/4's when serving so if they ask for 2,3.4 servings of everything they are still only getting a 1/2 bagel by the end of the snack or meal - but they got LOTS of fruits / veggies and other healthier choices ... and once the bagel is gone if they are 'hungry' all that is left as options are the fruit/veggies/protein being served.

I also empathize with the fear of creating poor eating habits ... my father was a 'clean your plate' type who if it got put on your plate you ATE it even if you were not feeling well or just not hungry (many a time I finished my plate only to go to excuse myself to go to the bathroom and vomit it up cause I really was not hungry - nice way to teach a kid to be bulimic ) and flip side mother taught me to emotionally eat - everytime I was hurt or sad as a kid the answer was 'here is a cookie it will make you feel better' .... and my parents separated when I was 2 and my dad was abusive so my childhood was often 'sad'

I was able to 'balance' those habits when I was young and ACTIVE in sports and extra curricular activities because if I binged on crap when upset I could work it off skating or running laps at track or what not ... my weight as a child was fine and as a teenager it yo yo'd that 10-15 pounds all my adolescent life as I fought for 'balance' over bad habits like that as teenage years were also emotional ... than in 1998 I herniated my disc at work and when I hurt my back and suddenly was sedentary for nine months not able to walk more than to the bathroom and back or to the fridge and back - I gained 80 pounds cause everyone was bringing 'comfort food' cause I was in pain and that was how my family dealt with 'emotions' bury them with food ... as I healed enough to 'exercise' again working out to the extent I did before was not possible but eventually I got that weight back off after a year doing 2-3 hours a day of low impact stuff at the gym - only to have a medical hysterectomy shortly after that and the hormone treatments caused me to gain it all back PLUS in extra weight and the other treatment fried my thyroid and since I have not been able to get that fricken weight off either ... I no longer HAVE 2-3 hours a day to spend at the gym cause I work 12 hours a day and with the thyroid even eating a diet of 1000 calories which should allow a normal person to loose 2-3 pounds of a week it will take 9 months for me to notice 2 pounds on the scale - so here I sit 100 pounds over my 'ideal' weight just sort of 'accepting' this is my lot in life

This experience definitely affects my 'nutritional philosophy' with kids for sure!

It is why my serving sizes are small to start - so that if they do not eat at one meal I and not feeling the need to make them clean their plate to avoid frustration from waste and expense - cause I can freeze untouched leftovers for another time.

I also only serve 'treats' in moderation on birthdays or special occasions and even then they come with 'healthy' sides.

You do not fill up on pudding or cookies or brownies cause you are having a bad day and you do not get a fudgecicle cause you bumped your knee and it will shut up the crying ... you can cry if you need to no shame in that and I will give you some TLC and ICE for your knee ... but nothing goes in your mouth just cause you are sad or feeling hurt!