Hamming it Up

I don't think about it much anymore, but sometimes it creeps in there. We were at the lakes all weekend, and buying groceries was uhm, interesting. I turn my back and see five bags of chips in the cart. I turn again and see two giant bags of trail mix. I turn again and see a mini-keg of root beer.

"Okay, you guys - let's kind of calm down on the snackage, please?" Pretty much all of us can stand to keep being mindful of our girlish figures, can't we? But it's vacation, I hear. Sigh. I won't be the big bad meanie mommie, I promise. We walk by the meat counter. Organic chicken? Organic turkey? Organic anything? It's Park Rapids, for crying out loud. Wait - yes - organic chicken - Bare - I wonder if that means it actually IS organic, or just trying to SOUND organic? I don't know. One dinner down. Organic hamburger? Sigh. No. No cows. Then Hubby spots it - organic BISON? Yes, PLEASE!

$400 later (hey - it's 48 hours with 6 of us, after all), we're at the cabin, unloading. One child walks in. "What's for dinner?"

"Bison burgers," I confidently say.

He wrinkles his nose and says, "I'm going into town to get something to eat."

I take a deep breath (I seem to be doing that a LOT lately) and say something about somewhere in amongst the $400 worth of groceries I'm certain he'll find something edible, which he does. Am I mean? Was I mean to put back the can of processed cheese spread and one of the trail mixes at the grocery store? Does making healthy food choices for the family always need to feel like I'm pulling teeth or slogging through mud or fighting World War III? I try the "be an inspiration" but it doesn't seem to be working. They just look at me cooking the stirfry while they munch their giant blueberry muffins from Starbucks.

I know my family appreciates the healthy food; I think I know that. My almost 12 year old just said "sometimes" he appreciates the healthy food in the house (I just asked him as he was walking up the stairs). My husband says, " of COURSE" in that voice of his. Oh, this was supposed to be about HAM!

So we went to the logging camp this morning. They brought out a huge plate of eggs, ham and hashbrowns, and another plate of pancakes. I looked at everything and wondered what would be the best choice. I had some scrambled eggs, two small pancakes and a dab of hashbrowns. I looked over and saw one of my family members eating slice after slice of ham, and I got nauseous. What am I supposed to do? Remove myself from society? Never eat out? I can't say anything to anyone - they're in charge of their bodies.

It gets so tricky, this eating thing. If I make it difficult, will they dig their heels in and eat MORE crappy food because they're mad at me and feel like I'm bossing them around? I didn't say anything when they bought those two pies, did I? I even had a forkful of each, even though they contained about 20 chemicals and ingredients I couldn't pronounce. I'm not a total dweeb. Just a sort of dweeb, I think. I don't know what else to do. Drink some more purified water and call it a night, I suppose. I'm sure there will be more food dilemmas waiting for me tomorrow.