Childhood's affect on food and healthy eating! by Payton Doan

Personal Narrative

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-06 20:40:46 UTC

Growing up as a chubby kid was an interesting experience. Although I was chubby, I still excelled in sports like basketball, but I knew it was holding me back from being even better. Still, I had no knowledge of nutrition; I just ate whatever. I loved fast food and boba, and my parents never really said no when I asked for it. My parents never said no to anything I would want to eat; they always encouraged me to eat so I could grow and become stronger. I feel like that was mostly due to their being immigrant parents, and they just thought the more, the better. It wasn't until high school, my junior year, that I started taking nutrition into consideration, but my approach wasn't ideal. I wanted to become skinnier, so I ate less; a dramatic amount less—on top of having basketball practice every day. This led to me dropping 30 pounds in the span of four months, but this wasn't healthy; I was always fatigued, I felt weak, and I had no motivation to do anything. After the basketball season, I decided to start lifting weights, so I started eating more, but I gained a lot really quickly, and this was due to my metabolism. It took a hit when I lost all that weight, and then I was gaining it all back because my metabolism couldn't take it. After two years of consistently going to the gym and better understanding nutrition and how my body works, I now know how to respond to my body and give it what it needs. So with my parents having very loose restrictions on what I eat, my body went through a lot as I got older, trying to understand what works best in order to have a healthy body and mind while also enjoying eating yummy foods and drinks with friends and family. I wanted to further my knowledge on nutrition and also know how to reduce the chance of other children going through what I went through, so it led me to my question: To what extent should parents limit their children's dietary choices? I hope I find a lot of new things about this topic so children don't go through what I went through so they can grow up with healthy eating habits and eventually grow into healthy bodies. (392 words)

Visual Image #1

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-06 20:56:12 UTC

The whole point is for children to enjoy eating. They shouldn't despise eating. Eating is used for fuel and fueling your body when it need fuel is crucial for children and their development.

Visual Image #2

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-06 20:58:23 UTC

Children should frequently eat with their families, as children like to do what their parents do. If the parents are eating food, they will most likely eat it too. This can also be a way to introduce new foods to children's palettes.

Annoted Bibliography

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-07 23:08:41 UTC

Introductory Video

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 00:01:57 UTC

Special Sauce Interview

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 00:36:36 UTC

For my interview, I interviewed my cousin's boyfriend, who is a nutritionist. They also happened to have a two-year-old kid and he explained his process of their style of feeding their child.

Visual Image #3

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 00:47:43 UTC

Visual Image #4

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 00:49:08 UTC

Visual Image #5

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 00:50:10 UTC

This image represents balance and moderation. You can enjoy all types of foods

Findings

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 01:18:35 UTC

During this whole research process, I found things I didn't know and further expanded my knowledge on something I had a basic understanding in. I found out that parents have a very big impact on a child's relationship with food. This impact from a very young age can impact their relationship with food as they become teenagers and young adults. Forcing your child to eat certain foods or finish their meals will only negatively effect your child, especially when you reward or threaten them revolving around food. For example, you may allow your child to play video games if they finish their meal or eat their veggies. As a result, this will only negatively effect their relationship, as they may only see veggies as a reward instead of something they enjoy that benefits their health.

In terms of overeating or undereating, in my interview, I learned that, as stated before, some parents force their children to eat their veggies or finish their food. When forcing your children to do something they don't like, it sticks with them forever. This shows that in terms of food, it can create a bad relationship and result in them disliking the healthy foods that they are being forced to eat. Kids will either grow up hating these foods and enjoy more sweets instead of healthy food, or they might just not eat at all.

It is shown that the authoritative parenting style is the best parenting style for feeding their children. Setting boundaries for what's good for you to eat while also being flexible and allowing your children to enjoy different types of foods is good. This is important because it will let children eat their own way and allow them to get a better understanding of how their body responds to certain foods, how much food they need to fuel themselves, and how much their body can handle. Children learning this will create a healthy relationship with all types of foods and know what balance and moderation are. (335 words)

Self-Reflection Video

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 02:03:02 UTC

Original Art

paytondoan07_ — 2023-12-08 02:07:48 UTC

In my original art, I grew figures that represented getting older from baby to toddler to teenager. Around them I drew a balance of yummy foods of pizza and donuts, veggies and fruits like strawberries, lettuce and brocoli. For protein and carbs I drew grilled chicken and white rice. As for healthy fats, there's eggs and nuts. All of these foods are examples of healthy eating and finding a balance of yummy and nutritious foods to promote a healthy diet.