A lot of America's problems with obesity come from the old days. Sit at the table, eat everything on your plate and your not getting up till its gone. Well at least thats how it was around my house. You ate everything on your plate or you didn't get up until you was done.

When my wife was pregnant with our son, we heard a doctor on the radio talking about obesity in America and how our children were doomed if we didn't change our way of thinking. We don't by nature love sweets, we are pretty much trained (no pun intended) to like sweets, by having them bought for us as children. This doctor said if you dont buy candy or shove candy at kids, they pretty much wont aquire a taste for it. Also as far as meals go, that if you let them eat till they are full, they will stop when they get full. Kids know when they are full, the problem is parents see their plate only half eaten and make them sit there and finish it, because thats how we was brought up. And thats why kids in America are obese, as well as adults.

My wife and I decided we wasnt doing the same thing with our son that our parents did with us as far as eating everything on you plate. We never bought him candy, although he's had plenty of chances to eat it over the years what with birthdays, halloween, or when he takes a trip to 7-11, he just doesnt care that much for it. He will eat ice cream, but stick a piece of cake in front of him and it'll be sitting there when you pick up the dishes. Same goes with food, when he's full he stops eating and goes about his business. He's a junior in highschool this year. When he was growing up, he would eat salads all the time. We would go out to eat, he would always have a salad. His choice, he loved them. He would fill up on salad and then only eat a couple bites of his main meal. He would rather eat at home than go out to eat or grab fast food. I never thought he was normal