Question:
I have teenage children who don't want to change their eating habits, how do I cope?

Has anyone else had to deal with this situation? Have you insisted that nothing but healthy food be brought into the house? Thank you for any help! I'm three weeks post-op and will start on solid foods tomorrow!    — Char-Ree C. (posted on May 22, 2009)

May 22, 2009
Hi, I am raising 18,17,15 & a 14 yr olds. They are grandkids. Or as they say..they are rasing me! I did not change there eating habits. None of them are over weight..I was the OBESE one..not the kids. So, they eat normal..I eat what I can/should. I have my snacks..ALL sugar free..I eat my protein and no PASTA,potatoes. I dont eat anything not necessary.Meaning eat to survive..not servive to eat.
   — tootsie52

May 22, 2009
Char-Ree -- when I had my surgery in April 2000 my sons were 13 and 9 years old, and just getting into that phase where if it wasn't nailed to the floor and/or permanently stuck to the wall, they ate it. It was like a Biblical plague of locusts flew through our house, every day. My sons are now 22 and 18, and they STILL eat everything in sight -- and I still don't. They eat what they eat and I eat what I eat. I cook and bake for them, but don't eat it, or eat very little of it. They're quite used to it now, how "Mom doesn't eat what we eat", so it's no longer an issue. As an earlier poster said, I was the one the size of a house, not them. They DO like to eat healthy -- they like salad and veggies and fruit and stuff -- but they also eat stuff I don't, like steak and bread and desserts and whatnot. I didn't change my family, I changed myself, and it really isn't as hard as it might seem to be. Blessings --
   — Cheryl Denomy

May 22, 2009
I buy mostly healthy stuff. I don't bring in anything that I know I'm too weak to resist. However, I still get my daughters the things that they like. The key for me has been to pick out the things that they like that I do NOT have a problem resisting. That way everyone is happy. The problematic foods (like donuts in my case) are something that they are just going to have to get somewhere else. But I have no problem resisiting things like...say, Skittles....they love them....but I don't give a fig about them. It just requires a little thought and strategy when you are shopping.
   — PaulaJ

May 22, 2009
As one other post stated, I let me family eat what they want. I even fix it for them. My husband doesn't have a weight problem and neither do our girls. The only things that I have quit brining home are the items that I feel that I am not strong enough to resist. As time goes by and I see the weight coming off that list has been getting smaller and smaller becuase as I see the results I cheat less beucase I want to look and feel good.
   — phyllismmay