My Mother's Healthy Lifestyle Helped Me Shape My Own

Mom was just disgusted by fast food, and beyond disgust was convinced that anything handed to you, out of a window on the side of a building, while you sit and car car and wait, was poison.

I was 6 years old when I had my very first candy bar. I'll never forget it, because for the first time ever, she said I could chose anything I wanted. I looked at the shelves of packaging and only dreamed of what could be inside; I chose a Honey Peanut Butter Dipped Carob type of candy bar they called a "Tigers Milk Bar". (We were t the health food store, of course). These bars are covered in Mocolate... you know, not Chocolate (Mocolate being the word I use for Carob; a type of "mock chocolate" if you will). It was the best thing I ever ate, and still I find those "healthy candy bars" a comfort food today, but do you know what its like to grow up and not be able to eat ANYTHING that the other children are allowed to enjoy? And by the way, something else I learned early on; the bully isn't "BULLY "at all...he's a hungry kid, and that my friends is why he'll knock you down for your lunch money. HE'S STARVED!!!

In his sack lunch he had a PB&H (H=Honey), a bottle of water, your basic pita chips and an apple. Where are the cookies? Well, when mom makes sugar free, oat free oatmeal cookies with wheat flour, you'll skip the cookies too, trust me.

It was never a dull moment in moms kitchen; she always was making up new "recipes" to try to please Dad, but she never was successful. Dad just didn't like her "healthy choices", and frankly neither did I most of the time (I do love HavaChips, though), but we never said a word. Dad sweetly ate the spaghetti with tuna balls, the veggie hoagies with safflower oil in lieu of mayonnaise, the artichoke with lemon she referred to as lunch....and, ice cream? What's that? You mean Ice Milk??? That was as close as Dad and I got to any of that; sometimes she'd allow frozen yogurt if it was sugar free, but usually just on special occasions.

We ate no meat. I was in my first year of college when I went to Dodger game; They had hot dogs, appropriately named The Dodger Dog, and my friends all got one, and while my interest was peaked, I said nothing. But the smell alone was simply irresistible. I had to try it, but was embarrassed to buy my own. "Look at that girl eat the hot dog", I thought I heard someone say. I'm sure no one said that, but in my head, I swear, I heard it clear as day. My friend Stephie ordered mine and I snuck it into the pouch of my sweatshirt so that no one could see. No joke.

We found our seats, I sat down, sank a bit, pulled that baby out, and took a bite. My God, people, have you had a Dodger Dog??? Nothing even comes close to the new senses that awakened the spirit of my taste buds. I was in heaven, bite after bite (all the while hoping a camera wouldn't land on my stuffed face with mustard at the corners of my mouth...the last thing I needed was that on the big screen above the stadium).

I am a vegetarian until I enter the parking lot of Dodgers Stadium.

But should I feel this shame? Should I feel this guilt over eating that poor pigs guts, tongue, and hooves shaped into a small log, wrapped in a bun and served hot and juicy with mustard and a cold beer (had to throw a beer in)? I'll gladly pay you tomorrow for a Dodger Dog today; and from this point on, I'M PROUD OF IT, so keep your "lips and ass" comments to yourselves, OK? Ive been traumatized for years, and I'm finally healing;don't ruin this for me!

My obsession with food, and all that is in it these days, are of great concern to me. Pesticides, growth hormones, live stock antibiotics and other harmful teratogenic chemicals are found in virtually all of of our food. I have to thank my nut of a mother for this: the gift of knowing that you are what you eat. (Even if I am occasionally a hot dog. I'm one free thinking hot dog!)

Did I mention the 20 minute workout? Good times, for all! Monday through Friday, hours before school was scheduled to start, she'd wake me up at 5;00 in the morning with this whisper, "Time for the 20 minute workout!! Up and atom Cheri Am ore". Every single day, Monday through Friday, at 5:oo sharp. What is WRONG with this woman??? Well, who cares.

However it happened, I have been taught the value of a healthy balanced lifestyle; my kids get to go to McDonald's every now and then, but they don't know the menu by heart. I buy ice cream (OK, this time I bought Sugar Free Fudgesicles), and I even put real cookies in their lunches! No, I'm not raising starving bullies, but I am raising healthy kids, and I am passionate about healthy kids. I take pride in making sure my children have a healthy balance, know their bodies, understand nutrition, and take this knowledge with them into adulthood. I'll even buy them each their very first Dodger Dog.