Kid foods: friend or foe?

I shamefully must admit, I don't think anything I really loved to eat during my childhood was actually good for me. But isn't that how most kids feel about their favorite foods? How many kids profess a love for nectarines and all things green? Ironically enough, some of my favorite foods were some of the most cholesterol and sodium induced foods, like chicken nuggets (or "chicken chunks" as I believe I called them) from McDonalds, hot dogs, Slim Jims ("Step into a Slim Jim!!") and mouth watering crispy slices of bacon. Yes, I was an overweight child. Wonder why (note sarcasm)?! I'm surprised I didn't die from a heart attack by the time I reached the teen years with all the animal fat consumption! Maybe this is the real, unconscious reason I changed my eating habits from unhealthy carnivore to pseudo herbivore by my early twenties.....

Then there were of course the salty and sugary favorites....potato chips, Nutty Bars, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches (which will FOREVER remind me of being a kid!!), potato sticks (though I remember being annoyed that they were hard to grab a hold of, the pesky sticks!), my grandmother's delicious cheese toast she'd make with the Cracker Barrel cheese and of course, her gravy.

It makes me wonder if I ever ate anything remotely healthy back then, wow! hahaha. Actually, yes, I did, but I only remember it being certain instances at dinnertime. There would usually be some kind of vegetable on the plate that I avoided like the Bubonic Plague, usually something like onions, green peppers, mushrooms, brussel sprouts. YUCK. Bleh.

I remember my dad and his wife would make me sit there long after everyone else had finished dinner, left the table,etc until I finished eating the dreaded side dish. I spent many a restless evenings at that table. It's bad enough when you have to eat something you hate, but then when it's cold on top of it all, putting a forkful in your mouth just triggers a gag reflex. I thought I was pretty sneaky too. At times, I was so disgusted, tired, or frustrated that I would put a big forkful of whatever into my mouth, only to run into the bathroom, pretend to be going pee or something, and in reality my effective strategy involved spitting out the food into a big piece of toilet paper. Then: get rid of the evidence.

Sounds like I had an eating disorder. I suppose I did: a disorder for avoiding healthy food. I can't remember if I ever got found out or not, though with my luck, I probably did because I also remember times where I didn't end up finishing the food. My dad would make me put the damn plate in the refrigerator, only to eat it....yup, first thing in the morning for breakfast. What an evil torture. I cannot remember much else. I think I blocked it out of my memory from the sheer trauma of the healthy food punishment incidents.....

Maybe on some level it worked though, considering I like fruits and veggies now. I still like my potato chips though. And even though it's been years since I have eaten bacon, I freakishly still love the smell of it. What can I say? Old habits die hard....