My father is suffering with depression right now and has been off work for several months. Also, his diet it really bad and i'm getting worried about the amount and types of foods and drinks he consumes. Now I am a keen sportsman and have recently graduated from uni with a sport degree. I have also been on alot of nutritional courses and eat healthy myself. So i am aware of whats good and bad for you. Now my mother works mon-fri 9-5 and her diet isn't much better! They have both put on large amounts of weight over the last few weeks/months and its getting silly now. Both suffer with high blood pressure and high cholestrol in the past which again worries me. I have told them that they are eating the wrong foods, advised them what to eat/drink and even offered to cook them healthier foods. My mum has recently turned around and said that she is going on a specific diet and is going to pay to join. Which is good as she has discovered shes eating the wrong food but is going the wrong way about it. From the nutritional courses I have been on I no that alot of these comercial diets are not good. I don't no if its linked to my fathers depression or what but I feel they ignore my advice and feel they are taking the piss now! It's really annoying and worrying me! I don't understand why you would buy into a comercial diet when your son who is qualified in this area is offering you advice and support! Has anyone got any advice for me on how to get messages to sink in? or to get them to eat healthy please? I'm fed up with my house being full of takeway boxes, cake wrapers etc...
Some adults think a parent job description includes knowing more than their kids (paradoxically, especially when the kid has more education than them) and will take the advice of any stranger that remotely sound qualified (hey they work in a store that sells this)... but that's another issue that has to do with the overall relationship you have with your parents. They're grown adults - all you can really do is show a good example of eating healthier stuff that doesn't look like rabbit food, and maybe have that conversation with them, the one about "you are the world to me and I'm worried that if you keep eating like you are, I won't have you around much longer"... You could always try the future-grandkids-won't-know-their-grandparents guilt-trip if that's something you are considering later (surrogacy or adoption) but depending how comfortable (or aware) theyl are with the fact you're gay this could get awkward real quick...
hey welshy.. this sounds tricky, when you know better than your parents - and you clearly do. what is your father doing about the depression ? because recovery from depression should change his whole outlook on life including his physical health. Depression can suck the will to do anything from a man, or woman, so I would cut him some slack and maybe concentrate on whether he is getting the best treatment I am surprised when there is so much programmes on TV now about bad foods that they are not getting the message Its good that your mother is thinking about her diet tho. good luck!!
"I have told them that they are eating the wrong foods" If I had to put money on it, I'd say this is where your problem lies. Speaking as someone who has suffered from severe depression for most of my life I can tell you right now that saying "you're doing that WRONG" is the most sure-fire way to make sure I'm going to keep doing it. I think part of it has to do with it just being one more thing that's going wrong in life, but it just happens to be one thing that makes you feel OK...bad foods are comforting for a whole bunch of reasons, some of the time eating crap food can be the difference between feeling OK and reaching for the bottle! Not to mention your background actually works against you. You have a sports degree and did a bunch of nutrition courses. You are what a lot of people might call (rightly or wrongly) a health nut! There is something about hearing 'you should be eating this' from someone who actually knows how to be healthy that is kind of off-putting. I'm not saying stop, I'm just saying keep in mind that if you suggest eating something my mind is going to go straight to 'yeah, but I don't NEED to eat a sports diet' even if I DO think I need to improve my diet. awesome has a good point, if you can try and suggest things that are easy and don't look like rabbit food, and just change little bits and stress how much they mean to you, they might act on it a bit more!
How about making a somewhat healthy dinner (say, tuna casserole + a veggie + a light dessert), serving it and calling out that dinner's ready, come before it's cold? Would they eat it then? The only problem with this solution is that they will become somewhat dependent on you feeding them...
If they become dependent on you feeding them wouldn't that be a better way? That way they don't have to order take out? Another suggestion I can throw out there is if they like to eat snacks. I suggest making a bowl of mixed nuts so they won't have to reach for a bag of crisps.
Tried making healthy snacks available and they avoid them, also I can't feed them i have a life as well, i work etc etc
Well then... I'm afraid there isn't much you can do. =/ Hopefully, they'll eventually see the light, but don't count on it too much.
