Relationships
MOM’S WORLD
Food is Love, Or Is It? I think most people have a complicated relationship with food. While none of us would be here
if we didn’t take in calories so that our bodies could have energy and carry on all our primary functions as human beings, the way that food governs our heart and our head can be quite overwhelming. My biggest downfall is a sweet tooth to which I find myself enslaved, always craving some sort of dessert after the meal. My husband used to joke that dinner was just a “minor inconvenience” prior to dessert at the Wagner
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household, and he wasn’t wrong. I grew up on brownies, chocolate mayonnaise cake, Nestle Toll House bar cookies and too many other baked goods courtesy of my mom. Getting to indulge in all of these delicacies was amazing when I was a teenager and had a “hollow leg,” as my mom used to say. Now my peri-menopausal body is way less forgiving. So I try to reign it in, exercise and find substitutes that are not as bad for you when I can.
As a mother, I feel that I have always tried to express my love for my kids through my baking. Making and eating cut out cookies at all the various holidays throughout the year is one of my favorite things to do, and it still happens — just sometimes with my friend’s kids instead of my own. Raising three sons who have all wrestled creates a backdrop for food that is not always healthy. I cringe at the wrestling culture that glorifies “cutting weight,” but also have seen my kids over the years do just that. With my oldest son, Will, it seemed that he would never have to worry about the pressure of losing weight every week. He was about 85 pounds in middle school and was constantly being told to eat more and gain weight, since the lowest high school weight class was 106 pounds. However, the weight gain didn’t happen.
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