Your Health Legacy

Honestly, I sometimes worry if my” obsession” with health will make my kids, daughters especially, self conscious, diet conscious, or weight obsessed. I am just like you. I want my kids to grow up with a healthy relationship with their body and food.

The interesting thing I’ve observed (in my subset of 7) that will help you as a parent is that the old adage of more is caught than taught is true.  

And they are watching how you feed yourself, how you feel about your body, how much anxiety you have over how you look at social gatherings, whether you enjoy shopping for clothes or find it frustrating. They have a sixth sense to know if you are nourishing yourself, punishing yourself, or giving up on yourself with food. They even know if you feel controlled and exasperated by food or in control of your nourishment.

At first eating with health in mind may be a conscious choice. But, overtime that conscious habit becomes an unconscious lifestyle where you equate nourishing yourself with foods that make your body and soul feel good. You equate how you eat with self love, valuing yourself, and self care in the deepest sense.  

Once you experience that transformation - not only you, but your children benefit. What they begin to see is a parent that prioritizes investing in themselves. They see a parent that is vibrant, has energy, can confidently enter a room of strangers. They see a parent who is comfortable in her skin - happy about how she looks and feels. They see a parent who is at ease with food: she can enjoy celebrations and normal life without anxiety. 

That is a gift. And from that gift which you give them when you eat well, learn to eat well, make it your default - is that they see an alternate reality from what may be in the social surroundings. 

They see that life doesn’t need to be a diet to feel good about yourself. That everyday eating well gives you room to indulge without guilt or repercussions. They see that as they grow, their bodies change and they can feel beautiful every step of the way.  And, very importantly, you teach them that they have power over their choices, how they feel, and their health.

The result in my own family is:
They naturally developed habits that make them feel good:

• Jacob doesn’t eat sweets.
• Irina says thank you for dropping off jolie for lunch and texts back thank you, that was really good.
• Anna tightened her eating window because eating a big lunch and a little dinner gives her more time to relax after work.
• Nadia asks, “Mom, I want to eat something you would eat.”
• Jonathan becomes discerning about junk vs. real food.
• Eli makes eating a ritual.
• Nathanael starts the morning with tea and a C’’est Top. 
  

All of these things have happened and I have not said a thing. But I live it, they see my energy, my attitude, my health.

I invite you to consider that more is caught than taught. So everything you do to take care of yourself is powerful. You can teach your kids and those around you lessons for life. And they will model for others. You can be the center of a beautiful ripple of health and self love.

Take a moment and tell me what ripple you are creating this week.

Julia
​xo