Kids and Diet Language
Every few weeks, my husband and I get donuts from our favorite donut shop. While our 2.5 year old daughter has seen us eat donuts, she’s never asked to try them. As we were picking out our donuts yesterday, the employee asked our daughter if she wanted a donut hole. A little confused, she pointed to the crumbled one. Naturally I was a little nervous; would this open the floodgates into unhealthy eating? Is this where childhood obesity starts? One donut hole?
She took a small bite, put it back down on her plate, and then went to play. There was no drama and it didn’t turn into her asking for more. It was just a food like any other she tried.
When was the last time you were able to do that with a highly palatable food like a donut? As adults, especially adults with tendencies to overeat or use food as a buffering agent for emotions, we use food to change our emotional state. We know that sugar produces pleasure. Donuts are pleasurable, so for me, it’d be pretty difficult to pick up my favorite donut, take just a nibble and then walk away from it.
As a professional in the health and wellness space and as someone that struggled with both heavy restriction and binge eating, I’m in an interesting position. On the one hand, I’m hyper aware of all the harmful products in today’s food industry that are targeted toward children, and yet I also work with women with prior histories of disordered eating. Some of my clients were dr