Help! My teens are eating all my healthy food!
Okay, I know it sounds stupid, but I'm at a loss and don't have a clue how to handle this. It was DEFINITELY NOT in "parenting 101", and I NEVER thought my kids eating all the healthy food in the house was EVER going to be a problem.
So I was just diagnosed with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease yesterday by my doctor. (I've never drank alcohol in my life, hence the NA part of it. I also don't smoke or do drugs). I'm a 39 year old female, 5 foot 1 inch tall, who was misdiagnosed for 7 years with IBS, and it turns out it was endometriosis and adenomyosis, and a scalpel expert excision later, I'm free and clear of it. The problem is all the meds for "IBS" they made me take for 7 years unnecessarily due to the misdiagnosis made me pack on pounds and now I have a horrific time trying to get it off. I was 134 before these meds (6 months postpartum with my youngest child), and am now 213. I had my surgery in 2019 but haven't been able to drop the weight.
Because of my diagnosis, my doctor said I NEED to do everything I can (within reason- no crash diets that makes it worse) to lose weight. The NAFLD has given me extreme exercise intolerance, and because my liver is enlarged (normal is 12-15 cm, mine is 21) it pushes on my diaphragm and makes me winded very quickly, and the winded part causes severe calf cramps after only 5-10 minutes of steady walking to where I feel like they're being ripped off my legs. I am working on trying to find a way to exercise at home without a gym because the nearest gym is 20 miles away (I live rurally) and I can't afford the gym AND the gas to get there every day. My husband and I are brainstorming ideas there.
But the issue HERE is that I went to the store and bought a bunch of fresh produce after I left the doctor. All things I like. Apples, oranges, bananas, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, broccoli florets, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, snap peas, sweet peppers. I need to focus on protein, fruits, vegetables, hydration, low fat dairy, and some whole grains but taking it easy on those, in combination with exercise and starting fandayo, a weight loss medication.
That was yesterday evening. Today I went to get some of this produce for breakfast, to go with some lean ham steak, and the raspberries are already almost gone, along with almost a whole pound of strawberries. I know my kids, and they like produce too, especially berries.
I can't afford to buy the whole produce section. Our family of 4 with a 17 and 14 year old girl (make no mistake, teen girls CAN outeat teen boys, especially during "that time of the month"!) only has a budget of $600 a month for groceries, give or take, and that includes the protein I need to eat (and my doctor did not say just beans. He wants me to eat meat too so I don't lose muscle during this, and meat these days can be pricey, and yes I always shop for deals and have a chest freezer).
My kids are healthy. I love that they love produce, and I even bought extra cucumbers for my youngest who loves them. But I NEED TO EAT THE PRODUCE TOO, especially me with this new diagnosis.
So, while I cannot be mad at them for eating fruits and vegetables, how do we manage the fact that I can't buy $6/6 oz raspberry packs and $5/lb strawberries every other day? That, of all 4 of us, IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT FOR ME TO EAT THE HEALTHIEST right now.
In other words, how do I balance out my kids eating healthy when they're eating the produce I DESPERATELY need to have priority on? Like I said, I can't be mad at them for making healthy food choices, but UNLIKE ME, they don't always have to eat super healthy, but I NEED to right now.
Any advice? (And we are working on planting a garden to help, but my fruit trees are years away from production). And fresh produce is expensive. Just what I got yesterday was half our biweekly food budget. One last aside- grocery prices are stupid expensive!!!
Edit- I should also mention that my gallbladder was removed 9 years ago because it was only functioning at 10%. So no gallbladder anymore, haven't had one for years.