Quite a while ago when I made the decision to ditch junk food and eat organic, I thought I had a big struggle ahead of me. And it all truthfulness it wasn’t an easy transition. When I was younger I worked as a manager at a movie theatre and my diet consisted largely of super oily popcorn and soda pop and maybe an occasional hot dog. I spent 80% of my week there working and playing…this was before I had children. :)
A few years later I was doing marketing for a national physical therapy network and I rarely if ever brought food from home. If I did, it was processed junk and no better than the fast food eateries I would frequent instead. I was eating at least 2 out of 3 meals outside the home and all of it was junk. I think I pretty much drank soda exclusively. Looking back I not only want to vomit when I remember eating those hot dogs but I can also “see” why in my late twenties I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I am doing some major back peddling now.
So why can I say that I am kind of happy this happened to me? Well, I know now that my children MUST be raised to eat healthy and to view foods the way I do now. Yes, it sucks to have cancer and I often think about the fact that it is possible I will not see my children grow up to be adults but despite that I can still see why I needed to have this experience. I DO NOT want my children to have to go through this. Every day I have is just one more day to instill in them a healthy lifestyle and attitude. I am thankful for that opportunity.
I started to think about all of this just yesterday when I was out and about with my kids and they shyly hinted that maybe we could stop at McDonalds to eat since they were “starving”. In times past I would have agreed and I was kind of taken off guard when my stomach actually started to get queasy about the thought of eating anything off the McDonalds menu. I was getting ill just thinking about their food and I used to eat 2 or even 3 meals a day there or at similar places! So instead of McDonalds my kids got a lengthy lecture about why we would NOT be stopping at McDonalds and then when we got home they helped me make a healthy lunch in our very own kitchen.
Every dark cloud has a silver lining. :)
