My Life With Food

As I have grown up, I have heard all the gripes and moans from all the women in my family about how they need to lose weight and how they are so unhappy about their image. Until now, I have never really understood how the women in my family could gain the weight that they do so quickly. When I was younger, food was never an issue. I could eat what I wanted, when I wanted, and whatever I wanted. Eating candy for dinner was not an issue for me, although my mom certainly would have not approved. When I was younger, I had a type of carefr

ee attitude about life and food. I think that if I would have had more of a discipline when I was younger then maybe it would be a lot easier for me now to eat the right way.

My family was never the type of family that got fast food constantly. My family has always been close knit and loved hanging out together. My grandparents come over every weekend with my cousins and my aunts. For holidays, the big deal is what is for dinner. My family loves to eat. The dilemma is that although my family loves to eat, there is a noticeable weight problem that comes with the way that we eat. I don’t think that we eat terrible food all of the time, but some of the food choices that are made are not the healthiest.

The thing that really gets me is that in the past my parents have always gone on their healthy food kick. This

healthy food kick would include getting rid of all of the junk food in the house and sticking to a strict diet. All of this would last for about two weeks and then somehow Oreos would appear in the cupboard again. This cycle is a constant cycle that goes on about every three months. I find it entertaining because I believe that if my parents would stick to it then they would be successful in losing the weight that they want to lose.

Everything changed after I left for college. All of the sudden, my parents decided to go to the video store and rent a movie titled Food Inc. This movie has changed their outlook on food forever, or at least for more than their normal cycle of two weeks. Now when I go home after being at school for a while, it makes me so happy to see all of the improvements that my parents have made i

n their lives, but then I wish that I could have been home while they were making these changes.

College has been tough for me when it comes to the food aspect. I don’t have the determination and drive to only eat healthy when there is a bunch of greasy chicken nuggets in front of me. Although I don’t think that I am overweight, I do that I will soon get there if I keep it up. I don’t feel like Ohio University offers healthy choices at all. I feel like I am trapped because I don’t have the money to afford food for myself. I think that there needs to be some type of food movement at Ohio University to advocate for more healthy choices. I feel like Ohio University prides themselves on their food when in reality they should be somewhat embarrassed. There is an unequal balance of quality throughout the campus. Some places offer variety and somewhat tasteful choices. The markets at Ohio University are the equivalents to gas stations. They offer nothing that is beneficial to the health of the students. All in all, I have not had a very positive experience at Ohio University with food choices here. I feel as if I were at home I would be eating so much better and helping my health in a positive way.

There has been one person in my life that has been my idol when it comes to food and that person would be my brother. My brother plays college football so the automatic thought is that he takes food and slops it on his plate and just pigs out every time that he eats. This is not the case and what is interesting, is that he eats so healthy but yet keeps his weight that he has to have to compete. He came to visit me for sibs weekend and it opened my eyes. I took him to the dining hall because it wouldn’t stop complaining about how hungry he was. When we got to the dining hall, I showed him around and told him to eat whatever he wanted. We went separate ways and I went to the main line and he went to the salad bar. Watching my brother eat that day was almost sad because he could not find one single thing in the dining hall that was not processed in some way unless it was from the salad bar. As he sat eating spinach leaves and carrots with not dressing, I felt helpless. All I wanted to do was give him something that would fill him up in the way that he normally eats. After his visit, it solidified the fact that I thought the food served at Ohio University is just sickening.

My experience with food throughout my life has fit into the larger food picture because I have fallen to the lower prices and the taste of processed foods. I have never really experienced eating solely organic ever in my life and never really realized how much better they are for me. After watching Food Inc. in class, I never wanted to eat meat again but then as soon as the next time I went to the dining hall I fell victim to the meat. It is not that I now despise meat, but I do wish that there was a better option for the meat products at Ohio University.

I feel like I have experienced somewhat of a normal experience with food throughout my life. When I was younger, I ate whatever I could find without thinking. As I have grown up I have realized what it is like to be able to gain weight. This has been a shock and I find myself trapped in the choices that are available to me now that I am in college.