Down the slippery slope

Being the Mom means managing most of the food intake for the family members. (I guess because I have boobs and have used them to feed my offspring, I'm supposed to be an expert on food an nutrition?) Anyway, I try to limit the junk intake in our house because I DO care about the health and well-being of my loved ones. I also try not to be TOO Nazi-esque with junk food because it can lead to dangerous binging.

I once had a friend whose mother was a nurse and wouldn't let her eat things like chips and ice cream because of the potential damage to her health. This friend admitted that she once snuck to a corner market near her home and bought a can of Pringles with her allowance. She then proceeded to shove as big a stack of Pringles that would fit into her mouth and chew and chew and savor the salty, fatty, crunchy goodness.

My mom was also a nurse and while my Sis and I were growing up Mom was a careful monitor of the family's food intake. We had treats, but they were divied up and rationed out. Mom would put the treats for the coming week into the large freezer in the basement so we wouldn't snarf everything at once. One of the rare times my Sis and I were ever in cahoots was to look for the freezer key so we could sneak some of the treats.

We also got to have a few more treats when we were on vacation. That was definitely a special time. We didn't get to go hog wild or anything, but the restrictions were relaxed a bit.

Earlier in the month ONO and I took the mini-muffins on a little vacation. It was the only official one of the year. We spent a night camping at the Indiana Dunes, a day at the Dunes beach, and then a night in a hotel (ONO is SOOOO smart!) And, true to form, I relaxed the snack restrictions for the sake of the vacation. Being mostly vegetarian, meat is a big treat. So for camping we had hot dogs and brats and for breakfast we had some sausage. We also had those little powdered sugar donuts as well as Smores. How can you not have Smores camping??? At the beach we had TWO kinds of chips and a taco dip and ONO and I each brought along a 6 pack of our favorite soda. His is diet Coke, mine is full-powered Pepsi.

I REALLY enjoyed our get-away -- in many ways. It was a mostly relaxing, fun time with few worries. But, even after a few weeks, I'm still struggling to claw my way back up to the top of the Food Pyramid.

Here's what we all know we're supposed to be eating:



Here's what my eating habits looked like on vacation:



Of course it would be "Pepsi" not "Coke," but still, the image is about right.

The problem with this slippery slope is that it's so nice and squishy (or crunchy, depending on your cravings) down at the bottom. But I keep reminding myself that I really don't need anymore squishy than I already have.