How Being Poor Made Me Healthy

What did you eat as a child?

Was the food that you ate as a child nourishing or full of empty calories?  As a nutritionist I typically begin patient appointments with a Health History that includes a general description of the diet they followed as a child along with a description of what they are eating now.  Most, if not all of my patients, rail against their parents for feeding them sugar-laden cereals and microwavable meals. I initially thought that I belonged to this group as well until I gave my childhood diet some serious consideration.

While my mother was no Julia Child (although we all faithfully sat around our black and white TV watching Mrs. Child and the always-inebriated Galloping Gourmet) she innately understood the concept of nourishment.  Every morning she would call out to the four of her daughters “What would you like for breakfast?”.  “I get the first breakfast”… I get second….” was our response (we are a competitive bunch).  The thought of skipping breakfast never even occurred to us.  Yes, we had lots of processed cereal but largely limited to Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies®.  Although these cereals were not the healthiest of options the grains back then were not as refined as they are today and there was NO added sugar.  As a matter of fact, my mother would let us sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar on our cereal before adding the milk (whole milk from cows that were not inundated with hormones or antibiotics). Breakfast also consisted of ONE egg, scrambled or “over-easy”, with two slices of buttered toast.  We all drank Hi-C or orange juice made from frozen concentrate. We probably could have done without the added sugar but at least we started the day with a healthy dose of Vitamin C.

Not once during my eight years of grammar school did my mother give me the 15 cents needed to purchase a juice or milk and a pretzel at snack time…and I didn’t even care.  The thought of eating more food, before lunch or after, just didn’t appeal to me.  I had to go home for lunch because our school was not large enough to contain all 1,000+ students in the café-audi-nasium.  If you lived less than five blocks from the school then eating your lunch at school was not an option.  Lunch at home was always a sandwich and milk.  No cookies or snack. I may have had an apple or an orange after school but only if I was hungry.  In the summertime we inhaled peaches, plums and watermelon purchased from a fruit truck, like a traveling farmers market.  I much preferred these fresh fruits to candy.

Dinner consisted of a meat, starch and vegetable although we never had meat on Friday.  Portions were tiny by todays’ standards but not because we were poor (even though we were).  We ate seemingly small portions because that is what was, and is, considered nutritionally adequate.  If we had lamb chops, each person was given one lamp chop.  When we had steak my mother would purchase two steaks and cut each into three portions (for our family of six).  I loved my mother’s broiled chicken basted with vegetable oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika.  The starch was typically potatoes or rice prepared a variety of ways and the vegetables usually came from the freezer section of the grocery store.  I admit these meals were not very nutrient dense but certainly a better option than frozen meals and fast food.  How ironic that we pay a premium today for anything that is Organic but back then, everything was Organic. 

I don’t recall ever eating a whole grain food as a child although I can remember sprinkling wheatgerm, which we kept in the refrigerator, on my cereal in the morning.  We usually ate white bread and occasionally rye bread-which did not contain added wheat gluten as it does today.  On meatless Fridays we had pasta that we sometimes made from scratch.  It was quite a production and if I am not mistaken, my middle sister still has the original pasta maker.  One reason why making home-made pasta was not as onerous as it is today is because we did not need to make very much.  My mother made one pound of macaroni for six people.  That’s it! 

The five pillars of a nutritious diet are variety, moderation, calorie control, balance and adequacy.  I can only thank my mother for ensuring that each of these components were met.  As a result, my sisters and I have never suffered from high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol or elevated blood sugar and we are all at a healthy weight.  Although my current diet contains more fruits and vegetables the diet that I grew up on would be commendable by today’s standards.  Thanks, Mom!