Far 2 Fabulous

What's Normal? A Conversation About Food, Family, and Feeling Good

• Julie Clark & Catherine Chapman • Episode 48

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Have you ever considered how your lifestyle choices might seem peculiar to others? Picture this: Julie's daughter, Rosie, at the stables, leaves everyone in shock when she mentions she’s never tasted fast food. This charming tale kicks off our exploration into the quirky world of eating habits and what society deems "normal." Catherine joins the conversation, and together, we chuckle over our guilty pleasures like the occasional McDonald's breakfast and reflect on how personal choices can flip societal norms on their head. Our discussion is a reminder that what feels right for one family might be a head-scratcher for another, and embracing these differences is what makes life flavorful.

We turn our attention to the culinary battleground of takeout versus home cooking, weighing the pros and cons of convenience against nutritional value. Ever tried airport breakfasts or the satisfying warmth of a slow-cooked meal? We’ve got tales aplenty. With a special nod to vegetarian options, we navigate the often-overlooked world of pulses and lentils, celebrating their affordability and health benefits. And who could resist the charm of Saturday night "Scooby Snacks" or the simple joy of movement? As generations shift in their dietary habits, our conversation is a tribute to savoring mindful indulgences and cherishing the family traditions that bring us together.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Far Too Fabulous hosted by Julie and.

Speaker 2:

Catherine, join us on a mission to embrace your fabulousness and redefine wellness. Get ready for some feistiness, inspiration, candy chats and humour as we journey together towards empowered wellbeing.

Speaker 1:

Let's dive in. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. So today we are going to talk about what is normal in our world anyway.

Speaker 1:

Not us, not us, no, no, what is normal? It will make sense shortly. So I was at the stables and I was approached by one of the girls there. So my daughter goes to the stables and helps out, and there was some discussion around food, probably because the lunch she had was super healthy. The subject of McDonald's came up and my daughter said I've never had a McDonald's. So my daughter is 13 years old, my son is 15 years old and they've never had any fast food. Really, I don't think. I don't think they've had any fast food. Maybe we had Domino's once when we were travelling to Wales and it was vile, but anyway, we'll come on to that. So the girls at the stables, they couldn't get over this, didn't they ask you if it was true? No, that's what happened. So I turn up to pick my daughter up and then the girls say Rosie's told us something and we don't believe her. And she said that she's never had a McDonald's. And I said well, no, she hasn't.

Speaker 1:

And they said you are a horrible mum, they, they, even, they, even, because they're they're very funny teenagers. They even use the word word child abuse at me. Oh, you know, I mean, it's up there, it's, it's up there in child abuse world. I think if you, if your kids eat McDonald's, it's up there in child abuse world, I think it's. I think if you, if your kids eat McDonald's, it's child abuse anyway, don't get me started on that. So that's what they said anyway. And so they then said to me so do you eat healthy all the time? So I said, well, no, we eat normally. And then this, this set off our conversation, me and Catherine, about what's normal. Because they then said but what happens on the weekend? Do you have a takeaway? So I said, no, we don't have a takeaway. And they just, they couldn't get their heads around that. And I told you that story, didn't I? And we were having a bit of a laugh about it. And then, yeah, this led us to talk about you know what we think is normal maybe isn't normal.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, isn't normal, is it? Yeah, isn't normal for everybody. And actually off. So often I am shocked the hell out of when, when I think something is like absolutely this and I think that the whole world must think this, and then, well, often, with the votes and things, I'm often shown that that's completely not the case. So it was really interesting, like the. So you, the girls, were really confused, weren't they? That on a saturday night there's even a television program, isn't there saturday night takeaway?

Speaker 1:

yeah, they just couldn't work out. But what? What do you do then on a set? What do you eat? They were going what do? What do you eat on a saturday? What you don't have a takeaway. But they just couldn't. They just couldn't understand what you do if you don't eat that type of food. It was just so eye-opening. But I might just clarify with the McDonald's and the fast food is that I'm not some kind of evil mum that's banned these things. It's just, it's not part of what we do. It doesn't even come into my mind to eat at a place like that. It's not the sort of things we like. If I say to my children what food do you like, I say to them they, that's not the food that you'll get at mcdonald's. You know, if they wanted to go, they're free to go, but they choose not to because that's just not how we eat.

Speaker 2:

No, absolutely I, yeah, I wish I could say the same for for my children, but they, they disappear and go off and do it anyway without me. The only time that we tend to, I should say, indulge in that as if it's uh, it's funny, as if it's a treat, but it I genuinely know that it is not a treat for for my body. My, my body knows that completely. I like a mcdonald's breakfast. I'm a bit of a fan of a, a really plasticky egg muffin I don't think we can be friends anymore and a super greasy hash brown but that's hideous.

Speaker 1:

You've just described it as a plastic, a plastic egg thing, did you say yeah, um, egg McMuffin with, like plastic cheese.

Speaker 2:

You know, oh my god, she's actually, I think, a little bit of Julia's just died inside. When you're out early, so if we're traveling somewhere or we're going to the airport, that's when it normally happens. It's like when you're when we're in on the m25 or we're going to the airport or something. That is what I associate with mcdonald's. I certainly wouldn't think if I was at home in my house and I was hungry, I know I'll get in my car, I'll drive to chesfield and I'll buy some.

Speaker 1:

I was gonna say food, because it's certainly, it's not food, certainly not food no, I'm always surprised that the queues down there when I go past on, especially on a Sunday. So Sunday I'm going to come across as being such a traditional girl now, but Sunday for me is family roast dinner time. Yeah, and a roast dinner is actually pretty healthy when you think about it yeah.

Speaker 1:

And so that is just, and don't make you know a big thing about it. I literally just stick the well we eat meat. I know you don't, but I literally stick the meat in the slow cooker in the morning, go off and do whatever during the day, come back, do the vegetables and potatoes and the gravy. It's all done, isn't it? Yeah, so it surprises me when I see, when I see those cues there, yeah, I have to laugh and say when I go to the airport I like if it's like that breakfast time, I do like a cooked breakfast and I like a cooked breakfast.

Speaker 1:

If someone else has cooked it, it's even better. Then, yeah, so if we're going to the airport and it's the morning, we will go into one of those places and we will have a cooked breakfast but you're not selling it to me the plastic egg with the greasy hash brown.

Speaker 2:

Then, after you've eaten, that I eat the wrapping as well, so I get some actual nutritional content. Yeah, I can't even get my words out because it's not, and I certainly don't ever consider it weirdly. This is really interesting, as, I'm saying it out loud, I don't consider it a meal. It's because you don't feel satiated afterwards. It's got no nutrition, nothing in it, so it's it, and you know that you're going to be hungry, probably even more hungry, like within an hour or so afterwards. So it's certainly in my mind it's a snack, it's a one-off kind of thing. It's not something that I would have because I was like starving, necessarily, which is even odder Odder, is that a word?

Speaker 1:

Well, it is now. It is now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's really interesting and that brings me on to loads of things with to do with takeaways and things is that you don't tend to eat them because you are hungry, necessarily, and I know that often after a takeout of some description, I am either going to feel disappointed or hungry or not very well afterwards, not because it's been like badly cooked or anything, but just because of all of the all of the additional stuff in there.

Speaker 1:

the biggest issue, yeah, it's salts and stuff yeah, the fats are a really big problem in a lot of these foods because the the quality of the fats is usually very poor, usually vegetable fats, terrible for you. And then they reheat them and reheat them, and reheat them, and that is normally the thing that makes you feel bad in your body, because your body does not like those rancid, damaged, toxic fats. So that's a problem.

Speaker 1:

Apart from the other things, the cost of it yes it's another one that I just I find it really expensive for these foods and then, like you've said, I know that my body's not gonna like it, it's it's not gonna be nourishing and and I just think and then it's just cost me a fortune. But that's not to say that sometimes I would like a day off cooking, yeah, but if I do want to have a day off cooking, I would normally which actually works out cheaper would get a recipe box, or I would get a good quality ready meal or do like a meal deal in, say, martin spencer's or something, because that works out cheaper than a takeaway. It does.

Speaker 2:

But see, we did this the other day. I'd been on a dog walk and we'd walked past the Indian and it smelled amazing. Yeah, it's expensive to and I find that you've not got the same experience when you have a takeout at home as you have in a restaurant, but you almost pay the same price, yeah. So I was thinking I don't really want to pay out for an Indian, I would really like one and I really can't be bothered to cook. So we headed off to the supermarket and we got one of their like. We did a bit of a mix and match of their Indian takeout ready meals and by the time we had got home and we had heated it all up, etc, etc, and we'd sat down and eaten it it was okay.

Speaker 2:

However, I wish that I had just made my own at that point All the effort that we'd gone into to doing that. It would have tasted better. I would have been able to put a lot more vegetables into it. Yeah, and because we're vegetarian, there's the vegetable. Indian selection is not always that great. It would have been more satisfying in in all ways had I just made it in the first.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was very annoying you just have to remind yourself the next time that you're going down that route that, yeah, last time I did this, and the time before and the time before yeah.

Speaker 2:

I have learnt that now, actually with Domino's, because when I'm eating Domino's pizza, I quite like the taste. I actually like the dip more than anything else, and apparently at one point they took that away, but I think I believe that's back now. What's the dip then? What is it? It's a garlic and herb, okay, and I there's lots, I think there's lots of other ones, but that's the only one that I've that I've ever had, and we only ever have a like a margarita, because we're vegetarian. So I will have that and then immediately regret it. I'll have, I'll have indigestion, I will feel bloatedated, I'll feel sick, I might feel a little bit guilty, because there is an enormous amount of calories that I completely didn't need and and so it totally ruins the the experience. I think there are two things to unpack there. One is that actually I've learned that it doesn't make me feel very good, so when I feel like I want to quote, unquote, treat myself that I need to have a look at that differently abuse yourself.

Speaker 2:

Abuse myself, yes, slap myself around the face with the big pizza. Um, yes, so I need to look at that that differently. And also, if I choose to have a domino's pizza or other other pizzas are available, that I choose to enjoy it if that's what we're doing at that point. I know that it's mikey's birthday coming up and that is his celebration of choice. I'm very sad.

Speaker 1:

We normally go out to pizza express to have a meal, but he has decided that's not what he wants to do and there's a massive difference between the pizza that you would get somewhere like a pizza restaurant versus that domino's one yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And the social experience. You don't get that sort of not necessarily sat around the whole kind of it's like saturday night takeout, isn't it? And often you'll have the takeout and maybe it'd be in front of the the television, if it's just, if it's a regular thing. So if you're having, maybe friends around and you're having a takeout, then perhaps it's you're going to have that on the table. But I think probably if somebody has it regularly, they might all be sat around the television eating their takeout, and so then there's not that social interaction as well that you get with a restaurant and that whole kind of experience.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's a difficult one. If it's, you know, your child's birthday, and it's their choice at the end of the day, isn't it? You've got to go with it, so you're just going to have to suck that one up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that's it. So I'm going to I am going to make the choice that that this is what's happening and that I'm going to enjoy it. I imagine that I'm going to try and fit as many fruits and vegetables into their day beforehand as I possibly can is the way that I'm going to work this choose to enjoy it, make a big salad to go with it yes, could definitely do that and then put up with the bloating and the sickness afterwards.

Speaker 1:

Take a digestive enzyme. Make a big salad.

Speaker 2:

That would be a good thing, because I was kind of thinking it would be good to actually come at it the other way, rather than having some sort of uh, renny, or something afterwards. Yep, do it before. Yeah, yeah well we've.

Speaker 1:

We've gone right down the rabbit hole of takeaways now, haven't we just? But it's interesting that, yeah, that normality around the Saturday night or the weekend takeaway is just not normal for me in my household, and it seems funny to me that someone else, when I'm talking to them, just is so stuck with oh my God, what do you do then? What do you do on a Saturday? Well, I just cook a dinner. Actually, what do you do on a saturday? Well, I just cook a dinner. Actually, what we do on a saturday is we have something called scooby snacks, and scooby snacks comes from um the uh, the children's tv program which has now gone out, scooby doo yeah oh, dear my brain.

Speaker 1:

Today it comes from from from that TV program and Scooby needing his Scooby snacks. But anyway what Scooby snacks is for us is lots and lots of picky bits that we put out in the front room because me and the kids normally sit and watch Strictly together or something like that. That's on and we have things like cheese and olives and hummus and carrot sticks and and we will have some crisps and we'll have some chocolate yeah, normally, but most of that meal is still pretty healthy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah no, I love that and it's still and it's. It's a treat, isn't?

Speaker 1:

it. It's something different, it is a treat, and if we don't have scooby snacks, the kids are not happy, are they not? No, we've it's got to be Scooby Snacks on a Saturday night, because I formed a habit when they were young and now it's in there, yeah. So that's not moving, but I like it as well because it's an easy meal for me as well, on a Saturday night yeah. So, that's what we do.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, the girls at the stables just couldn't. They just couldn't to have a takeaway. So yeah, what other things do you think that we do, that we think are normal, that other people, that other people don't exercise?

Speaker 2:

It's it. For me it's a, it's almost a daily given and I know that on a, on a day that I either choose or I don't have time to move my body in some way, shape or form. I'm really aware of it yeah, me too, definitely I.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't imagine not doing something, unless there's a very specific reason, like I'm in bed or something. Yeah, I am going out and outside. I mean, we both go outside, don't we? Every day. I mean, I've got, I've got the dog, the crazy dog now, and that does definitely force you in a way to go out.

Speaker 2:

But even before I had the dog.

Speaker 1:

I used to go for a walk every day, yeah, and I used to feel like the person because I didn't have a dog that people would be looking at me going.

Speaker 2:

Why are you out?

Speaker 1:

Why is she out walking in all weather? She hasn't got a dog. Where's the dog?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was definitely only the dog walkers out this morning and the pouring rain, but yeah, it's really interesting. And do you know another thing is that when I start to train somebody new and they start to stretch so if we're specifically thinking about Pilates and they start to stretch their body, and then it's almost like you wake that stretch reflex up and then they realise that they haven't done this for ages and you come, you want to. You know, watch them, put their arms out, roll their shoulders, and then you realize that actually that's not normal for people. Do people have forgotten what feeling that freedom of movement is like, because they don't do it very frequently?

Speaker 1:

yeah, yeah, because it's not normal for them. They miss out. Wow that feeling.

Speaker 2:

I think so because it's such a lovely feeling and it's so natural. Like you, look at the dogs and the cats, that will just do it very naturally. It's not even. It's not even a habit, they just do it instinctively. And we lose that when we become so sedentary. Yeah, it's a shame, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

you were saying to me, um, a while back, about when I think this subject came up for us before, probably when I was telling you about the story from the stables, because it was a little while ago and you were saying about something else. It was food related, I think that. Can you remember what it was? Was it? Was it to do with hummus or be all of low fat or things like that? That was another thing that that we thought, oh, hang a minute, maybe this isn't normal that's.

Speaker 2:

I think there's probably we were talking about foods that probably people don't have, either don't have very often or had never tried before. But yeah, things like hummus, things like avocados, things like olives maybe not now, I mean I don't know come into the facebook group and tell us. We would love to know. I I think that, uh, like my sort of parents generation, that those things were not normal and they are absolutely run of the mill in my house now they're.

Speaker 1:

I mean, if there's not olives and hummus in my fridge, then something's going seriously wrong one of the things that comes up quite frequently when I'm looking at people's food diaries is that there won't be any beans, pulses, lentils on their food diary. And again, I'm using these a lot. And then I'm speaking to people and they're saying well, I've never used those. How do you use those?

Speaker 2:

but do you find I feel like there's a story about about sort of lentils and things that, but people just say either, oh, I don't like them. When they cover such a vast variety of foods, you can't possibly not like all of them. Yes, people don't know how to, how to cook with them, and actually that's that's still something I'm educating myself with, and I've been vegetarian since I was 11 and there's this whole story about not being able to digest them very well. Yeah, I hear that a lot as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, the old school way of doing it is to buy the dried varieties of beans, pulses and lentils and then soak them, and no one can be bothered with that.

Speaker 1:

I can't be bothered with that, I agree, I can't be bothered with that so just get them in the tins and the thing I like about them is that you've got a good source of protein for a start. They're so cheap. Yeah, you can do really, really nice meals I mean, I am a massive talking about curries and things a doll you can't go wrong with a? Doll and it's so lovely and so easy to make so and dead cheap, yeah, absolutely and it's so, then if you want.

Speaker 2:

It's funny, though, we're back to takeouts already. Again Back to these. There is something about a weekend food, isn't there? Even so, we don't have takeouts very regularly at all. However, when we are doing our food plan for the weekend, we often mimic a takeout. So, we will often have a Thai or a stir fry or a Friday night pizza. Every Friday night we make pizza, but we make it, we make our dough, we make our sauce.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you make the dough. And again, when you make your own pizza and it's not difficult to do, that Pizza is so easy to make you put all your toppings on and then you compare that to your Domino's margarita. You know why would you eat the Domino's when you're comparing those?

Speaker 2:

And again, it's a social bit that we all come into the kitchen. We're often kind of milling around the island and we're making our own pizzas and we're putting our this might be controversial we're putting pineapple on our pizza. I like pineapple on pizza. I think it really splits the camp camp.

Speaker 1:

yeah it is funny with things like that, but I love that that you do that on a friday night. What a nice family thing to do, and we do.

Speaker 2:

Then go and plonk ourselves in front of the tv, and there's nothing wrong with that. I just love it I love a friday night. Often, though, if we've got a night out on a friday night, I'm like I want to sit at home and eat pizza. We're going to be singing this Friday night.

Speaker 1:

You're not going to be, though, are you? No, no.

Speaker 2:

I'm not going to be singing, you're going to be out and about. So if you were out, if you went into, like Clackett Lane or something, if you were on a journey and you hadn't packed your Scooby snacks in the car, what would you grab?

Speaker 1:

so in somewhere like a service station there's normally a waitrose or a martson spencer's. I'm going in there getting their salads and things. Yeah, you know. Yeah, nuts, I will grab those. Yeah, I just, I just don't want the after effect of eating feeling really sluggish, rubbish food, especially if I'm sitting in the car. Yeah, because that impacts your digestive system. I find it really difficult to eat food on the airplane for that reason yeah you know when you're in that position, you're just sat there.

Speaker 1:

My system doesn't like it. I actually most of the time get up and move after eating. Yeah, just that is my normal thing to do because that helps the digestive system. And if I don't do it, I know about it and see the trouble is we don't know what we don't know.

Speaker 2:

So the things that we do in our everyday life are normal to us, and it isn't until you get questioned in the stables.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it's not saying that you know I'm doing it right and you're doing it wrong because you have a takeaway. It's not about that. It's that I that's not what we do, and it was just the reaction from you know, from those from those um youngsters, about the fact that my kids have not had any any fast food, that that was a form of abuse for a start. I know they're only joking, but you know there is an element of oh, you know your kids are going to go right off the rails. I don't think only joking, but you know there is an element of oh, you know your kids are going to go right off the rails. I don't think they are, because they know what they like and at some point they probably have mcdonald's and they probably will like it because we know that it's made to fire off certain tastes and and brain chemicals etc. So the chances are they are going to like it when they eat it, but afterwards I'm pretty sure their body's going to go what the hell just happened there?

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah, absolutely. And they've got this, this baseline now of of knowing what fuels their body and and like nourishes them. So, even if the, the takeouts and the mcdonald's and things sort of sneak in when they're able to, when they're a bit older, they will still have that baseline sort of knowledge just in their like, in their bones. They'll know to come back to that. And I, well, I am and I'm hoping. I'm kind of half saying that and half hoping, because you kind of you, you let the children, you teach them as much as you can, but then you do, you have to let them go, yep, and hope that they make good choices.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, let's hope so. Time will tell.

Speaker 2:

Yes, you know we'll report back in about 10 years' time and let you know folks, although I do get often I get Mark and I get said back to us but that's your thing, that like being healthy and and looking after yourself, that's your thing. They do like to kick against it a little bit now, but again, hopefully it's it, it's in their bones, so they will. They'll come back to that. They'll understand. I'm gonna. I'm gonna say something my mother has said to me. They'll understand when they've got children. Yeah, they will for sure. If you are listening to this and it sounds like some of our habits that we have formed sound completely different to yours, we would we would love for you to point them out to us. Come into the facebook group, let us know what's what's normal for you and we can carry on this discussion in there as well. Yeah, absolutely see you in the facebook group. Thank you for keeping us company today. If you enjoyed the podcast, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

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