Tuesday 1.22.13

Get Em When They're Young

So, while in college, I was on the track and field team. I was very fortunate to be a part of a team that, at the time, had just finished top 15 in the nation, and recruited athletes from all over the world. In fact, there were many girls from various Carribbean Islands on the team. Aside from their heavy accents (which, when they were talking amongst one another were so thick, that you would swear were not speaking English), a MAJOR difference between the Island girls and the Americans were their eating habits. 

Rice University has serveral large serveries which are made up of gigantic all-you-can-eat buffets. If you have a meal plan, you can not only eat as much food as you want, but you can take ask much food back to your roon as your want. Well, this was a complete disaster for me, because I LOVE FOOD and I had very little correct information about diet and nutrition. When we got out of practice and all went to dinner, my plate was filled with, salad (not bad), some sort of chicken, spaghetti, macaroni, carrots, a slice of pizza (just one - let's not go overboard) and at least 2 cookies for dessert. That was all in the same meal. The Island girls filled their plates with green things, vegetables and a peice of chicken. I remember talking to one of my teammates, and asked her about her food choices. She explained that as she was growing up, all they had to eat were fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. Cookies weren't even around for her to try, and therefore she wasn't in the least bit tempted. In fact, she actually said that she didn't even really like cookies (gasp!).  Oh, to not be tempted! But it was easy for her. Her tastes were for real food. She'd never been given the option for anything else.

Watching the middle school cafeteria at the school where I used to teach was very much like this video. The school implemented a healthy lunch program (p.s. I often ate the meals and they were DELICIOUS),but the children would not be torn from their Taki's and Cheetos. In fact, I was often asked about the green veggies I was eating, "What is that?!" "Okra," I would reply. Or "Zucchini." They even asked me the names of the vegetables on their own plates!! Much like the kids in this video, they threw away 50+% of their school lunch....then they'd reach into the full sized back of chips that their friend brought to satify their hunger. What I learned from this whole thing: get 'em while they're young. If you have kids, or are thinking of having kids, start getting them used to real food early. It's hard to get them to new and different stuff, and it's hard to listen to them complain about it.....but if they're lead in the right direction early, hopefully they won't end up looking and feeling in a way that doesn't make them happy later on in life.

WOD
5 rounds:
600m run
15 squat clean thrusters (95/65)