Eight rules of healthy eating from my mom

I have more than ten years of teaching dietetics and food culture in higher education institutions. I thought I knew everything about proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. But now I have two children, and every day I understand more and more that the love of healthy food and the ability to cook healthy meals for the whole family was taught to me not by years at the university, but by my mother. Here are just a few of the lessons I learned from her.

1. Plan ahead

My mother masterfully coped with a family of six — everyone was full and happy, and no one thought about chips. Her secret was that she made the menu for the week. We had traditional dinners — roast on Sundays, pork on Tuesdays, and so on. Every Saturday my mom thoughtfully made a shopping list and then went to the store, rarely buying anything other than what she had planned. All Sunday she spent at the stove, preparing dinners, making preparations for the week, freezing and baking. She always made sure there were fresh carrot sticks in the kitchen in case any of us wanted to crunch on something delicious. And every evening she packed lunch for us to school the next day — so as not to do this in a hurry in the early morning.

2. Buy local products

We lived in a small town, so my mother bought all the products from local farmers in the market. She also went to farms specifically for food: a bag of potatoes, a couple of dozen eggs, fresh milk. She knew where the van with the freshest fruits and vegetables stopped and who sold the best fish. What she could not buy from local merchants, she bought at the supermarket. But I remember her going to the pet store… for bran! It turned out that it was there that the bran for baking is of the highest quality.

3. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty

The land in our area was not very fertile. But my mother had small bushes of peas, a couple of beds of strawberries, and neat beds of herbs like parsley, basil, and oregano.

4. Cook at home more often

I only learned about the existence of frozen convenience foods and French fries when I moved out of my parents’ house and into my own apartment. More precisely, the French fries were at home. But my mother selected potatoes for her, then peeled them, cut them into strips and dipped them in boiling fresh oil.

Mom always said she wasn’t a Michelin star, but I’ve seen her spend hours in the kitchen making food with the freshest ingredients. Every Saturday the house was filled with the smell of vanilla, and hot muffins, cookies and pies appeared on the table in turn. For tea, she always baked a cake and a fruit roll. This went on until every horizontal surface in the kitchen was covered with flour and lined with fresh pastries.

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5. Dine together

Only on Saturdays were we allowed to dine in front of the TV. On other days, the whole family gathered for an evening meal at a common table. More than once, my friends, when they were about to leave for their homes, accepted my mother’s offer to stay for dinner. Another device was immediately placed on the table, and before eating, one had to express one’s gratitude for the food. Dinners were noisy, we talked about the latest news and events of the day, argued and laughed. This time spent with my family is one of my most treasured memories. Research confirms that children and teens who eat frequently at the same table with their families are less likely to engage in destructive behavior and achieve more academically.

6. Eat slowly and remember to chew

It seems to me that no one eats slower than my mother! She has an incredible talent to remain absolutely calm, no matter what noise and uproar is going on around. Mom always chewed her food slowly and thoroughly, lowering the fork and knife onto the plate at this time. Now I know that this is an extremely useful habit — the slower we chew, the better the food is absorbed and the faster the feeling of fullness comes.

7. Don’t Forget Dessert

We didn’t have a single dinner after which Mom wouldn’t serve dessert. But she kept track of the sugar and fat levels in the treat, as well as the portion size. So every night we got a scoop of ice cream, or fruit yogurt, or fresh berries. I have kept my mother’s tradition, and I don’t refuse a sweet pie when visiting her!

8. Don’t throw away food

Mom never let food go bad. The leftover chicken went to make pasta, the next dinner, bread and berries were frozen in small portions … Mom never threw out the leftover cereal, but added it to the muffin dough. And my mother also sorted garbage (already in those days): she didn’t throw out vegetable peels, but sent them to the compost heap, used jam jars to store food, and left cardboard boxes for us for crafts.

Once upon a time, it seemed to me that my mother’s habits were hopelessly outdated. But now 30 years have passed, and I understand that my mother always did the right thing. Now nutritionists and doctors are sounding the alarm — people do not know how to eat right. But all the advice in the books of nutritionists that I read, in one form or another, repeat my mother’s precepts. Maybe I should have just asked her for advice.