Who decided what you got for a Christmas present?
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I remember Christmas as a child. It was a big deal. It took forever to come. My friends and I all wanted various things. We would tell our parents that we wanted this or that and hope that Santa would bring it to us. And, what happened? Sometimes the present we wanted came and sometimes it didn’t.

Who made the decision as to what we received at Christmas? It was our parents. They made the decision as to what we should get, not what we necessarily wanted. They had the experience of their lives to make judgments on what is right or proper for the occasion. The same decisions were made regarding the foods we ate every day.

Our parents’ decisions were influenced by their parents and advertising – and, what was new and available at a cost-friendly price. I had cereal with milk almost every morning for as long as I can remember. On special days (Sundays mainly, although not every Sunday) we might have eggs and bacon. I came from a family of eleven (nine kids – I was the oldest) and the cost of food was a determining factor as to what we got to eat at each meal.

We make decisions as to what we eat daily based on taste and cost mostly. Some of it is also derived from what we used to eat. Some of us want to eat more healthy foods – and, those come at a price. How do we know what is healthy? Are vegetarians (and vegans) more healthy than meat-lovers?

We don’t find out if we made good decisions about our food choices till we have passed a few decades down the road. We are hoping for the best, yet we don’t always get the best. It boils down to our decision-making models. Just as our parents knew what was best for us (based on their ability to provide it, plus whether it was truly in our best interest, based on their lifetime of experiences).

Are you making the best decisions today for the foods you choose to eat? What makes you so sure that you are making the best decisions? What is your source of information on nutrition and health? If it is based on your history and what tastes good, then you might want to rethink your decision-making processes in 2017.

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