my eating habits
As if I didn’t already obsess about Maya turning into a functioning adult, someone had the courtesy of bringing yet another concern to my attention:
Rude Person: “Do you think that Maya will have eating issues when she grows up? Especially because she sees the weird things that you eat?”
Me: “What weird things do I eat?”
Rude Person: “Rice cakes with butter for one.”
After suppressing the desire to smack this person I really wanted to say:
- Rice cakes are nothing but convenient.
- Name one thing that doesn’t taste absolutely fabulous when topped with butter.
- Don’t you have anything more pressing to do than to observe my eating habits?
- MYOB.
Since confrontation is not my strong point I said…nothing.
Here’s the thing – I fully recognize that I have odd eating habits. I eat jam straight off a spoon almost daily and I love a bowl of brown rice with salt for breakfast. But so what? Doesn’t everybody enjoy their own weird food combinations?
A different day, a far more notable meal: Seared Scallops at Gulfstream. The best part of this lunch? I didn't have to lift a finger to make it.
I mean, I can’t imagine one of Ali’s friends being concerned for Maya’s well-being after watching Ali inhale a bowl of Kraft Mac n Cheese covered in an inch of ketchup. (And really, if that doesn’t deserve an intervention I don’t know what does.) So what is it about a mother’s eating habits that just seems open for discussion?
Anyway, as I write this I’m eating a spicy shrimp roll on white rice as Maya looks on. I really hope that she can move past the trauma of it all.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
Don’t knock the inch of ketchup. Thats how I eat eggs.
Yes, I know I’m weird.
I LOVE ketchup on eggs too! Ameena – your daughter might have issues regardless of what she’s exposed to growing up. I think it’s just a crapshoot! Don’t lose sleep over it!
Me too. Love ketchup on eggs!
I’m all over ketchup on eggs…it’s ketchup on Mac n Cheese that throws me for a loop. More specifically, KRAFT Mac n Cheese.
Gross.
Yes to the butter on everything. You may be a food soul sister to me. Or if we were dudes we could be butter brothers:)
Oh, and I put peanut butter on an Oreo the other day. That worked:)
I’ve seen peanut butter Oreos! They looked amazing.
I’ve never actually tried them. I am such an icing freak though that having both the layer of filling AND a layer of peanut butter was terrific…
I didn’t pick up any of my mom’s eating habits. She eats healthy food to this day and the day i left my parent’s home for college i started indulging in all the junk food i wasn’t allowed. And that is what i like to this day when the husband isn’t looking. He’s another health food enthusiast. So you have anything to worry about 🙂 Maya will develop her own food habits. Or maybe you will have to start obsessing about that now.
Oh I’m obsessing alright. It’s what I do best.
I think you should have ‘smacked’ the person, and then continued oblivious to what just happened.
Foot is food, anyone can be creative with it, no set rule – were no in prison that we have to eat one type of food one way.
To some people food is not just food…and apparently you and I are both missing that fact!
You are right everyone has weird eating habits. Seriously there are so many other things you could traumatized Maya with that are better than your eating habits.
I’m sure I’m traumatizing her with many things…I was hoping that food wasn’t one of them!
I’m still confused what the woman objected to, your odd combinations (didn’t see any listed salt, butter not weird)? Lack of unhealthy food? People can comment if they think food is overly healthy but not overly unhealthy. I’m not sure I think it’s a mother versus father thing. While this woman deserved a smack (or lecture) I would just love to see what she eats or feels mothers should eat.
Yeah I was kind of curious what this person considered good “role model” food but I figured it would be like opening Pandora’s Box. And I didn’t have the energy to do that.
I believe in butter…and rice cakes…and brown rice for breakfast, for that matter. Who WAS this person? I think your eating habits sound totally normal!
Thank you Emily! So glad someone else is on the same page!
Too funny. I’m glad I’m not the only one who eats the jelly right off the spoon…peanut butter too. Thank Heaven I have no children to scar for life! 😉
Jam off a spoon totally hits the spot, with a cup of tea especially!
Polish and Russian people put Jam in their teas. At least this way you and Ali, your travels expose her to different foods at least she is not a child that will only eat chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.
Seriously…MYOB, people! I can’t believe that person asked you if you think Maya will have an eating disorder – insensitive and out of place! No offense to Ali, but really – what about the people who eat crap day in and day out. Are you concerned their kids are going to have high cholesterol, diabetes, etc??? GEEZ!!!
I suppose that some might say a Big Mac would be okay…whereas a rice cake sends the “wrong message.” So bizarre.
This just made me laugh. You’re FINE Ameena. Maya is fine.
Thank you Lady Jennie!
Ah, those moments where you wish you had something cutting and witty to say like “Rice cakes and butter aren’t nearly as bad as the bs you’re trying to feed me right now…”
Now that would have been a fabulous come back. I need to be quicker on my feet.
regardless of your eating habits, I’m in love with that salad. i could eat one right now for breakfast and it would NOT be weird!
That salad was one of the best I’ve ever had. And I’m not a big salad person usually!
I think it’s great that Maya’s exposed to all kinds of food other than the traditional fattening foods like KFC for dinner.
KFC is just wrong. On so many levels. I’d rather she eat at McDonald’s than KFC!
We all have weird eating quirks. Maya will develop a few all on her own. That woman can suck it.
I used to eat cheese dipped in ketchup as a snack. Nothing else with it. Just cheese and ketcup. I also was exposed to ranch mixed into raman noodles. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it…
I love cheddar cheese with ketchup. Really, anything with ketchup is fine. Except KRAFT Mac n Cheese!
You know we love our weird food combos around here. No shame Ameena, and yes, butter makes everything better.
I haven’t found one thing that butter doesn’t make better!
Eh, people need to mind their own business.
Agreed.
Butter makes everything better! I think she will live seeing you eat brown rice or tuna rolls, both pretty healthy. By 7 am every morning I am usually chugging a Diet Coke while at the same time almost never allowing my kids soda and forcing them to drink their milk. I figure they can spend a good week with the therapist when they are older contemplating my hypocrisy.
I engage in the hypocrisy as well. No shame in that!
I think strangers need to RELAX. I think your eating habits are endearing…and Maya will too (but maybe not during her teenage years). We all eat weird things. We all have weird habits. And I think a bowl of rice and salt sounds really good right now.
I’m actually craving a bowl myself. 🙂
This made me so mad for you..people really don’t think before they speak! It also reminded me of this one time when someone asked me how much ‘longer I plan to eat the way I do’…errr I have no intention to change, I like what I eat thankyouverymuch! If Maya opts for the meals you eat as opposed to typical kiddie foods like burgers and nuggets, I think she is heading in the right direction..and rice cakes for the win always!
Rice cakes for the win! I love it.
Some people are so annoying, like why do they care? My nieces watched me being a little health conscious while I was in my early 20s and they were like 5 to 8 years old at the time, and some people were like, they’ll have an eating disorder, they don’t! Now they are teenagers and at least they aren’t fat and obese, but instead they learned how to read the nutrition facts, and things like that. they still eat lots of crap, but in moderation. people will always point fingers to a woman because they typically influence a child a lot more. Yes, butter makes everything taste better.
I’m not sure why being health-conscious is such a crime. It’s not like I count Maya’s calories or something? People really do excel at pointing fingers.
Your eats seem perfectly fine and healthy. The only time I am concerned is when all kids are fed is a bunch of processed food, it really makes me sad, but of course I would never say anything to the mother. And yes! Everything tastes better with butter!
Agreed. Processed food makes me sad. But I wouldn’t point it out to another mother either. Because I MMOB.
I think it’s far less traumatic for Maya to see you enjoy a rice cake with real butter than for her to see you spraying, like, butter-flavored spray on a “light” rice cake and then moaning about how fat you feel for having just consumed 30 calories.
By that, I mean, people need to mind their own business. What you eat seems totally normal. Brown rice with salt for breakfast actually sounds pretty good : )
So true. Such a good point.
I think that butter flavored spray would be totally sending the wrong message!
I hate when people comment on anyone’s eating habits. Saying something someone is eating looks gross is one thing (although still rude) but claiming that it’s going to traumatize your child is quite another. There are a plethora of real troubles that will screw up your child, how you eat isn’t one of them.
I’m sure that I have my hand in a number of things that will screw Maya up…and I’m just hoping that food isn’t one of them!
Yikes, said person should be smacked.
If Maya saw you drinking your meals out of say, a vodka bottle, I might be concerned but what gives?
Last night we ate turkey meatballs, grapes and garlic toast.
night before that I ate a home made pinto bean/cheese burrito (he passed) and he had a smorgasboard of nibbles of every food category.
This weekend I will probably cook again and we’ll have more “normal” stuff.
we all just do our best.
and hell yes, anything tastes amazing with fresh soft butter on it.
GAH.
and I’d eat mac and cheese too if I had a box. hahaha
that one didn’t even deserve a response! And that salad looks divine!
Meatballs, grapes, and toast sounds pretty balanced to me!
And now I’m craving those Texas Toast things that come in the freezer section. Those are AMAZING! Haven’t had them in years.
People always have something to say. Don’t worry about it and continue on with your eating habits, which are probably way healthier than what the person in question eats on a daily basis. 🙂
I’m trudging on…against all odds. 🙂
Rice for breakfast! Well, the good thing is that you eat. Ali eat. Weird stuff maybe but it’s nobodies business to say it. I don’t think odd food combos will hurt maya at all. She’ll maybe come up with some strange food combos of her own and be just like you two. And that’s fine!
So glad you think so CC. And definitely try the rice for breakfast – it is delicious!
Who cares what people think about your eating habits. Eating although it is a basic thing we do to survive is also something that is personal. As long as you enjoy what you eat and it’s not affecting your health, I say eat up!
Cheers my lady!
Agreed.
And cheers to you too my friend!
That really is amazingly rude. I’m afraid that I would have said something. You have so much more tolerance than I.
I actually have zero tolerance but I can’t confront. This causes so much controversy in my brain that it isn’t even funny.
Try brown rice with melted butter AND salt. I eat it allll the time! So good.
That’s why I LOVE Persian rice…it has the perfect ratio of butter AND salt.
I think I would’ve asked that person to please write out a detailed plan of exactly what you should eat with a schedule, shopping list (organized by department and price, and a map if available) and color coding where applicable. And then have Maya kick them in the shins. That should shut ’em up.
Why can’t I come up with these comebacks? I need lessons in how to be quicker on my feet.
Don’t you just love how folks will dish out but can’t take. I wish you could have told her, there’s a cure for fussy eaters but there’s none for nasty!
Maya will find her own path in all things when she grows up 🙂
chow darling & HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO YOU & ALI:)
Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Thank you Devaki. And Happy Valentine’s Day to you too!
You have me laughing so hard, I’m in tears!!! Oh boy- I needed that good hearty laugh. Seriously, I was about to reach through the screen and smack rude person up side the head!!…..and I loved your ‘myob’ post- almost spewed my milo all over the screen!
So glad I could make you laugh Anjuli!! And now I have to ask, what is milo?
I bet it’s totally obvious but I’m apparently not that smart!
I would think rice cakes without butter would be far more traumatizing for a child…modeling such behavior would lead to awfully bland palate…
Exactly!
Rice cakes are just the vehicle for the butter. Why don’t people get that?
Bah! This person should really butt out. I’ve seen Maya eat and she has great eating habits. And a spoon of jam a day is an almost necessary treat!
On behalf of Maya and her eating habits, thank you!
Everything is better with butter! I mean *everything*!!
I don’t get how people could be rude like that. Very nosy! Let’s hope this is not a family member so you could just avoid him/her next time you see her/him. Or better yet, avoid meeting this mannerless person altogether!
I can avoid one person but unfortunately there are so many people out there with obnoxious opinions…why is that?
I think they should mind their own business 🙂
I second that!
idk if my mom passed on any crazy food combinations to me (though growing up in a food-centric house did, haha) but my whole family thought my eating rice with ketchup (and that’s it) was hilarious … and i turned out fine. more or less. 🙂
Rice does taste quite amazing with ketchup. But I wouldn’t dare do it in front of my Indian dad who would FREAK out.
I love the mac and cheese + ketchup combo actually, haha 😛
I definitely have my share of weird eating habits!
But is it the Kraft variety? If so then maybe Ali is married to the wrong girl… 🙂
I used to just have the Kraft variety since that was in the house growing up, but now if I ever have the craving, I try to at least keep the mac and cheese homemade 😉
I’m sorry, I got totally distracted by that seared scallop dish.
I don’t blame you. It was heaven on a little plate.
I love rice cakes! I haven’t tried them with butter, but I like ’em on their own!
I don’t know why they get a bad rap? I love them too.
Between the random things I come up with… and David’s “European” style of eating… our child will be severely confused as to what meals are “supposed” to look like.
But there lies the problem – the “supposed” part. I guess I never figured that part out myself… and I am doing just fine! 🙂
I don’t think there is a “supposed” part. As long as one can avoid canned hot dogs and beer I think anything else should pretty much fly!
We are definitely in the clear on the canned hot dogs. But I have seen “jarred dogs” in Madrid. GR-OSS!
Agreed – everyone has their own eating habits. Maya will probably have her own too…somewhere between the rice cakes with butter and the mac and cheese with ketchup…
Happy weekend!
So far she likes both…it’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds. 🙂
Happy Weekend to you too!
I don’t have any weird habits now I’ve had to give them all up but when I was younger I used to eat ketchup with a spoon from a bowl. I could never get enough or I’d make ketchup sandwiches. I’m so over it.
We recently had visitors over and their children opted to eat boiled rice with ketchup… Rather than what we were all eating.
I wouldn’t worry about it, some people are just insensitive and never think before they speak.
How did you break your ketchup habit? I need an intervention myself…
I’m diabetic and a ceiliac plus i have a nut allergy. So I had no choice I had to stop a lot of things I enjoyed eating. I also grew out of a lot of habits as I was growing up.
I think if an eating habit isn’t harming you in anyway then it’s fine. A little indulgence doesn’t hurt anyone.
Kids eating disorders don’t come from what their parents ate or fed them but from mental issues.
It’s also true that men are never chastised for what they eat. I look after my nieces and nephews and get told of for drinking too much coke. My brother smokes and his mates never tell him how this effects his kids.
Double standards.
Right now my addiction is diet coke and nothing helps getting off it. I end up with awful migraines if I don’t drink it for a day.
Wow…you have a lot on your plate. Well actually, you probably don’t. I feel for you not being able to eat so many things! I went through this whole thing where a doctor told me I was gluten-intolerant. Apparently they hand that diagnosis out quite freely.
Anyway. There are worse things than Diet Coke. Like smoking! How annoying that nobody comments on that? Especially since your brother has kids? Very bizarre.
Isn’t it funny that women are always the “ones” that are pegged for anything? Bad habits, good habits, too much of this, too much of that, overprotective, under protective- it all seems to fall on our shoulders.
Yes, we all have our food combinations and Maya and you for that matter have nothing to worry about- she has great examples.
Ketchup is so interesting. So many people need that for their food? Funny.
On another note, I tagged you on my blog and I hope you participate-it’s a bit of work but it would be fun to get to know you even better. I really enjoy your blog. Take care,
Shauna
Ketchup works miracles for people like me…who can’t cook. It makes EVERYTHING palatable. 🙂
No judgment here.
I’d kill for anything with butter on it right now.
Kill.
I like dipping pickles in ketchup.
What?
Pickles in ketchup? I’m trying not to judge, I swear I am.
Your eating habits seems perfectly fine to me. Of course I eat toast with butter (and sometimes jam) several nights weekly. So I might be biased.
I had toast with butter and jam for breakfast. Best meal ever. Any time of the day or night.
My girlfriend has this expression that she uses All. the. time.
“Don’t hate. Appreciate.”
I love that.
This is what you must tell the people who judge what you do, eat, whatever…
Xx
I’m going to need to note this down…I’m sure I’ll be using it more than you can imagine. 🙂
Hey Ameena! Hope you’re well. Actually I was wondering why you suddenly stopped posting — only to realize my stupid wordpress settings were all messed up and I wasn’t getting the new blogs in my email like before! Sorted out now…
Just reading up on the stuff I have missed…
Don’t worry though about the eating habits. Maya’ll be fine. It’s cool to be different!
So sorry about your WordPress settings! This has happened to me in the past. Glad that you found your way back! And thank you for the comment. 🙂
Ugh people being melodramatic about eating habits is so passe- how obnoxious, I would have definitely smacked her and her faux concern.
I can only imagine how screwed up my kids will be with their eating habits then- my very convenient peanut butter & pickle tortilla snacks, my foie gras on toast for breakfast, and excessive use of arabic condiments
Foie gras on toast? Impressive.
Your kids will be cultured, that’s for certain!
Definite MYOB. I love how people criticize/comment upon other people’s child-rearing. Not that YOUR eating habits necessarily have anything to do with bringing up Maya.
Just another reason that I’m glad that I don’t have kids. I mean, I’d definitely f*ck them for sure, but I don’t think that it would be because of my eating habits.
Oh trust me…poor Maya is subject to far worse than my eating habits. Far. Worse.
I love rice cakes with butter too! 🙂 Besides, people should just mind their own business – and in my books there are definitely worse things to eat than rice… (seriously… that comment was just weird, why would rice cakes with butter give a child eating issues? I can’t think of a single reason)
Isn’t butter the best on a rice cake? That and marinara sauce. And Maya loves them both!
When I was a kid my grandma used to butter Saltines for me as a snack. And while we’re on the subject of crackers, she also used to heat sweetened milk and drop in two Jakob’s crackers into it and let it soak up. Then break them up with a spoon. It was heavenly. Oh, and since we’re talking about heated milk, my godmom used to make heated sweetened milk and gently swirl in a scrambled egg until the egg poached in the warm milk into little chunks… mmmmm, yummy goodness I haven’t had in decades.
I also liked white bread with a thin layer of mayo, and used to mix in rice with mashed potato and gravy and then pat it into a nice sturdy mound (think of that one ET scene) and then dig into it… and last but not least, there was a time in my life when I used to mix in a scoop of vanilla ice cream into orange juice and drink it like a big ol’ Dreamsicle smoothe.
Now as an adult my “strange” eating habits are… wait, I have no strange eating habits, they’re all perfectly acceptable! Heh.
*maybe it was the Jaws scene… I can’t remember now.
Wow. Milk + eggs? Ice cream + OJ? You do have some amazing concoctions my friend. I am impressed!
I remember Dreamsicles…those were amazing!
PS: I can’t do mayo. At all. Ever.
I got called out for letting my five monther mash tahini and blueberries into her face (actually eating said “gross-out” combination is still but a pipe dream). People – especially Americans – have interesting definitions of what is acceptable, especially when it comes to children.
On a side note, I’m enjoying your writing even more now that I’ve spawned. Mine might be little yet, but the blissed-out mom squad is already making me twitch.
I remember Maya mashing avocados in her face. It took about 3 years to actually start eating them instead! And now she loves them.
Thanks for the compliment. So glad that my blog can offset the “blissed-out mom squad.”
I love it.
I mean, you’re probably dooming her to a life of only eating white carbs covered in cheese. But we all have crosses to carry, no?
Truth: When I was a pup, I tried to eat a stick of butter, I loved it so hard. Spread on, sister. Spread on.
You’ll always remember that stick of butter Kat. Memories like that will never leave you!
Spread on is right.
People are so rude sometime, gah! I hate when comments are made about my food but of course I can never say anything. Hope you didn’t scar Maya 😉
Katie
So you share my fear of confrontation? Glad to know I’m not the only one!
Wow, what a rude person! I’m trying to instill good eating habits in Z these days. I attempted giving him an organic whole wheat pizza the other day which he vetoed. Sigh. I think my little one will take after his dad when it comes to eating habits!
Don’t give in! He’ll stop throwing it at your face and eat it eventually, I promise.
Maya and I have been through the same thing. 🙂
Maya eats broccoli and smoked salmon. She is going to be just fine. And weird food combinations are fine as long as you are not being a whiny pain in the ass about them in public. And clearly, Rude Person has too much free time!! I mean, observing a 6-year-old’s eating habits? When the 6-year-old in question is not even RP’s own child? I am afraid for their child!!
I know! I wonder if RP even has children. I doubt it. Because otherwise she’s know better than to cast stones…
People suck. Rice cakes with butter sound pretty good if you ask me.
Agreed Leah! Agreed.
I’m a huge ketchup fan and now I’m actually contemplating what mac & cheese would taste like with ketchup. Either way – I want to know how this person can call your eating habits weird unless she lives with you and watches what you eat besides rice cakes and butter.
PS Butter does make everything better.
This makes me want to vomit now, but when I was pregnant with my 1st, I would eat kraft mac&cheese and mix in ketchup,mustard and bbq sauce.
Your “friends” seem like they know my “friends”, what happened to live and let live?!?! And your eating habits are not weird…i like to eat chocolate in the shower…that is weird…
I don’t know, you’re eating habits sound ok to me. My brother loves ketchup on his mac and cheese as well. The thought makes my stomach turn. He also loves applesauce and cottage cheese mixed together. What the he** is up with that hot mess? Trust me, you’re doing just fine. 🙂
“do you think your child will have issues growing up because of your meddling?”
Holy crap! It’s less about what you eat and more about how. If you eat in fear or from depravity or not tasting stuff or always making sure that everything you do it perfect, I am more concerned about this woman’s issues that any impact you may have on Mayas
lol that was pretty NOSY of them. Eat away …. I am sure Maya will have her own weird food combinations when she grows up. its only genetic 😛 HAHA
Uh I don’t see anything weird in your food combo haha..Isn’t it strange when we actually eat REAL food, people think we’re the crazy ones while the ones who are eating stuff out from a packaged box considered to be “normal”?
So true Jos! I bet if I was eating a Twinkie people wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. 🙂
Hi Ameena
Rice cakes with spreadable goat cheese, tomato and cucumber slices and feta.. my mother
a slice of european bread toasted, butter, nutella, jam and sourcream yes all at the same time. Its not like like your feeding your kid all that boxed garbage. I wonder if that person had kids. Seems the people with no kids cry foul the loudest.
Goat cheese is one topping I haven’t put on a rice cake – brilliant idea Erika! And your mom is one smart lady…except I might not put the sour cream on. 🙂
Aaack! It’s 10:45 pm here and you’re making me hungry again.
Kids will develop their own eating habits no matter how healthy us as parents eat. I think people just need to mind their own business, that’s all.
I think that’s true – kids will develop their own eating habits. I only hope I’m giving her a decent foundation!
that meal looks delicious btw. and i had when people observe other pples eatings habits….its so rude!
Yes you should have told them to MYOB…talk about weird, how about worring if their children will turn out nosy and annoying?! Plus everybody had some weird eating habit…I am currently trying to erase the vision of Ali’s right now, lol
I’m trying to erase it too…constantly. 🙂
Ha, your brown rice with salt reminded my (quite happily) of my ‘diet’ when I was in Patagonia- I had never consumed so many carbs in one time and god did I love it!
I want to hear more about the “Patagonia diet.” I bet it would be a best-seller!
Oops.
I can totally imagine that rude person as my husband talking to me. He has a problem with everything I do, eat, wear, think, speak, etc and doubts if I’ll be able to raise our kid/s well considering the lifestyle I have.
!@#$%^&
Why does your hubby have problems with everything you do? This sounds like me, except that I have a problem with everything Ali does! LOL