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Hello STACers ~
I've been thinking today about how much genetics plays a part in our weight struggles. How many STACers out there have parents/grandparents/great-grandparents with weight issues? Has anyone noticed a trend? I think a large part of the issues we have today in America with overweight stem from the crappy options that we have food wise. Everything is fast food, huge portions & soda soda soda. And i am so guilty of falling victim to it all. I don't care for cooking very much ~ so the quicker the better for me. Which ended up in a lot of poor choices. I guess that must have started in college ~ when the weight slowly started to come on. Because before that, fast food wasn't a part of my life.
So besides the fast food ~ sugars, carbs and the like, how much of our family history are we doomed to repeat ~ or rather, how much of our genetics is playing a part in making things even more difficult for us. As i get older, i see so much of myself in my maternal grandmother. She too was thin in her early twenties, and then "something" happened in her life, i don't know what, and she gained & gained & gained throughout her life... eventually ending up with diabetes, and dying of congestive heart failure in 2000. I wish she were here for me to ask her questions! (And i miss her terribly!)
Here is my theory: My grandparents were born in the early 1900s. I think in 1913 or something like that. They grew up in the Great Depression, where obviously food (and everything) was seriously lacking. I remember my grandfather telling me that for dinner they would sometimes have one cracker and some small amount of milk. Can you imagine? As the years passed they had my mom in the 40s and things got better with the economy. My mom says that she was made to eat everything on her plate - because her parents knew what it was like to be without.
I remember Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with my grandparents - my grandma was so concerned that everyone had enough to eat and was satisfied; so concerned that she barely could enjoy her own food, i am sure! And there were always tons of food around. No wonder my mom had weight issues all of her life. She tried to change things with me as a child, maybe a little too harshly, as i could have virtually no sugar or crappy foods at all.
So for me, when i would go over to a friends house, i would "horde" all the crap food i could get. Like i didn't know when my next "feeding" would be. So i would fill up on sugary things to hold me over until the next time i was somewhere that bad food was too. Why would i do this as a little person? I remember feeling deprived as a child ~ and i was thin! Once college happened, forget it ~ i was in my free-for-all feasting frenzy. How is that for alliteration?
The question in am really interested in hearing about from all of you is this: do you see any patterns concerning food issues, genetics, thoughts about food, etc, in your families? Especially for the women out there ~ if you look at your mom and grandma - even great grandma's - do you see any similarities?
I am not trying to place any blame on our families at all ~ just interested in seeing if there could be a connection; a trickling down of attitudes and feelings towards food. It is interesting...
~ Jenna
I've been thinking today about how much genetics plays a part in our weight struggles. How many STACers out there have parents/grandparents/great-grandparents with weight issues? Has anyone noticed a trend? I think a large part of the issues we have today in America with overweight stem from the crappy options that we have food wise. Everything is fast food, huge portions & soda soda soda. And i am so guilty of falling victim to it all. I don't care for cooking very much ~ so the quicker the better for me. Which ended up in a lot of poor choices. I guess that must have started in college ~ when the weight slowly started to come on. Because before that, fast food wasn't a part of my life.
So besides the fast food ~ sugars, carbs and the like, how much of our family history are we doomed to repeat ~ or rather, how much of our genetics is playing a part in making things even more difficult for us. As i get older, i see so much of myself in my maternal grandmother. She too was thin in her early twenties, and then "something" happened in her life, i don't know what, and she gained & gained & gained throughout her life... eventually ending up with diabetes, and dying of congestive heart failure in 2000. I wish she were here for me to ask her questions! (And i miss her terribly!)
Here is my theory: My grandparents were born in the early 1900s. I think in 1913 or something like that. They grew up in the Great Depression, where obviously food (and everything) was seriously lacking. I remember my grandfather telling me that for dinner they would sometimes have one cracker and some small amount of milk. Can you imagine? As the years passed they had my mom in the 40s and things got better with the economy. My mom says that she was made to eat everything on her plate - because her parents knew what it was like to be without.
I remember Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with my grandparents - my grandma was so concerned that everyone had enough to eat and was satisfied; so concerned that she barely could enjoy her own food, i am sure! And there were always tons of food around. No wonder my mom had weight issues all of her life. She tried to change things with me as a child, maybe a little too harshly, as i could have virtually no sugar or crappy foods at all.
So for me, when i would go over to a friends house, i would "horde" all the crap food i could get. Like i didn't know when my next "feeding" would be. So i would fill up on sugary things to hold me over until the next time i was somewhere that bad food was too. Why would i do this as a little person? I remember feeling deprived as a child ~ and i was thin! Once college happened, forget it ~ i was in my free-for-all feasting frenzy. How is that for alliteration?
The question in am really interested in hearing about from all of you is this: do you see any patterns concerning food issues, genetics, thoughts about food, etc, in your families? Especially for the women out there ~ if you look at your mom and grandma - even great grandma's - do you see any similarities?
I am not trying to place any blame on our families at all ~ just interested in seeing if there could be a connection; a trickling down of attitudes and feelings towards food. It is interesting...
~ Jenna
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