Jill,
That show was just disturbing wasn't it..I was watching too..both stories are so sad...but with such great hope!
I have never told my children that I'm on a diet, because I'm not on a "diet"...what I try to tell them is that I want to eat more healthy foods and less junk because I want to be able to run faster (run period is more like it!) and go on big hikes with them and Daddy.
When I was little, my Dad was so weird about food....he was extremely overweight, smoked 2 packs a day and had the temper of a mad bull...and yes indeed, surprise surprise...he died at 44 of a massive heart attack when I was seven. Anyway he was a crazed man at the dinner table. My sister who's seven years older than me and was his step-daughter was the tiniest little thing who ate next to nothing...he would scream at her and MAKE her finish all her food even though it was far too much for her, there was crying and yelling and it was just awful..he never did that to me, his biological child. So today, we are grown women, she is 34 and I'm 27 we're the same height, five foot nothing she weighs less than 100 pounds and I weigh more than 200 pounds.
I'm telling you guys this because it totally fascinates me the way it affected us. She grew up and was strong enough to say I'll stop when I'm done, dammit! I grew up insecure and I suppose I wanted to (psycho talk coming...lol) please my Dad, do what he wanted so he wouldn't do that to me too!
SO...lol.. what I do with my kids, and have always done...is NEVER force them to finish a meal if they are full. We're big on telling them to listen to their tummies, their bodies instinctively know what they need. If there's ever dessert involved...they have to finish (or eat said number of bites) their veggies and most of their protein..but not their potato or starch. Kids from infancy are programmed to eat what they need.. IF you don't mess with it.
This is SUCH a tough issue...but we can do it
xoxox
Linda