How Do You Eat?

How do you eat? What are the natural components of your food intake day and when do you most naturally want to eat? Man is not biology, but man has a biology and in the natural state, when all inhibitions and all supervision is off, he will find one eating pattern more to his liking than another.

For the last week, I’ve thought a lot about food because we are joining the UDDA Child Care Food Program, and all menus, buying and lists and receipts have to be current and it’s my job to see that they are.

While I was working on the menus I started thinking about the diabetes factor that I’ve been tagged with. I’ve had a circular argument with my previous doctor who did blood work in the morning and found my sugar high – not very high, but high enough to say, “You’re a diabetic.”

As a particularly stubborn person, I resisted. “Prove it,” said I, and he couldn’t. The blood work varied dramatically.

My new doctor gave me a blood monitor. At first I thought I was just responding like I normally do – strangely, because my sugar count was highest in the morning and lowest in the late afternoon.

But then I got to thinking about the somototypes, my own in particular and it all made sense. It made sense for my children and grand children as well, and for the children at school.

I’m a classic mezomorph. I’m stocky and stronger than I should be. When I exercise, I build muscle and actually increase dress size. I eat to fuel. Doesn’t really matter what it is, I’ll eat anything but guts, and I’ll do it until it’s gone. It’s a job like any job – you do it until it’s done – quickly and efficiently – then it’s off to do another job.

Do I enjoy what I eat? Sometimes. Depends on whether I’m thinking about it or not. But I’m a fairly good cook, and I enjoy creating food in the kitchen. The kitchen is a very natural place for me to invent, to play, to welcome my friends.

So you’d think that I’d be eating all the time. As a mezomorph, my natural fueling times are noon and six hours later. Naturally, it’s rare for me to even think about eating besides those two times. I don’t snack, pick or have any desire to eat – my tank is full until noon every day. When I force myself to eat breakfast, it’s unnatural. In the afternoon, I might eat a cookie if the cookie is worth eating. When I do snack, I put on weight fast.

And that’s why the monitor says my sugar is highest in the morning. It’s left over from the night before – still in my bloodstream. I eat, and two hours later, I’m in bed for the night. (I know dull as dishwater) but I’m awake for the day by 3:30, so by noon, I’m ready to really eat. I eat three times what Edith eats.

What does “Me” have to do with the children? “Know thyself and to thyself be true.” Understanding self with an intellectual curiosity helps us understand others. One has to have a starting point, and self is a good biological starting point.

Jackie Snyder is a classic Ectomorph. He can metabolize air. He eats sporadically through the day, but only a couple of teaspoons of food. Then he’s full. He weighs proportionately more than other children his size, but his food intake is starvation quality. He is not a sweets eater, and prefers the blandest of food. Food is a challenge to a Ectomorph, and the very idea of eating is secondary to doing nearly anything else.

Then there is Miss Stacey who thinks about food all the time. She’s an Endomorph. She wakes up with food on her mind, could eat non-stop, but doesn’t, and the taste, texture, color and amount of food is very important to her. Food is always in the air, so to speak, and there is always a drink in her hand.

Look at the way people drink water. I drink tepid tap water frequently through the day from a child’s cup at the sink. The very idea of a fancy cup of water with ice and lemon to be carried around is naturally foreign to me. My coffee cups are everywhere.

It’s the same with children. With every child, there are natural eating patterns that parents should understand from a somototype point of view as well as from an actual individual eating pattern established by the child.

But the agreement between the mother and the child could create friction if the parent’s body type tries to bully or supersede the natural inclination for food by the child.

“Why isn’t he eating?” is the most natural mother question. The answer might simply be answered by looking at the child’s body type. Watch his patterns. You can curb a fat child being fat by curbing his constant eating. You can encourage a very thin child by letting him snack through the day. A mezomorph child will never give a parent food grief. Know your child.

At school, we have food around all the time because kids need extra calories. Some will take the extras and some won’t. It’s not a criticism if they don’t. It’s a personal decision they have a right to make. It’s like meal time.

Some children will eat everything that’s offered, and some children will resist nearly everything. That’s why we serve twice what the USDA Child Care Program asks vendors to do. If a child has trouble with meat, you can bet there’s a second protein or two for him. If a child doesn’t like vegetables, there’s fruit. If there is a problem with noodles or rice, there’s bread.

Every child goes away with something, and more often than not, when the pressure is off, a child will eat nearly anything, except the Eccy who’s just rarely hungry and is busy metabolizing food fumes.

Food is a really interesting activity.