Years ago, my dad made me a cabinet. It’s about 18″ wide x 16″ deep x 53″ tall and contains 5 shelves. I asked him to make it because 1) we needed more pantry space and 2) he loved woodworking. I painted it a pretty steel blue color, stained the wood top, and decorated the door with three square inserts of aged copper panels that I hole-punched following a quilted star design. I still love and use that cabinet to this day.

You’re probably wondering what in the world a blue cabinet has to do with health. That’s a very good question. The truth is she isn’t just a cabinet. She tells a story.

The year my dad built her, my husband and I were busy raising our two teenagers. On a side note: If you’ve lived through raising teens, or are currently going through it, you know that that is a subject in and of itself! We’re going to focus here on the blue cabinet and the story behind her.

Back in those days, I prided myself in keeping her fully stocked with as many tasty, mouthwatering, teen-approved snacks that I could fit in my grocery cart. Chips, cookies, candy, and more chips . . . you get the picture. My kids and their friends made a beeline to that cabinet as soon as they walked in our front door. I was known as the “queen of snacks”, and I wore that title with pride.

I remember thinking that these “foods” probably weren’t the healthiest things we could be eating, but hey, how bad could they really be? After all, the food companies wouldn’t put them on the market if they were harmful, right? Plus, I did my best to balance things out by serving pretty healthy meals – most of the time. It’s all about moderation, right? Oh, how brainwashed and misguided I was!

At that time, I thought stocking that cabinet with all those goodies was an act of love. My kids were thrilled, and their friends were more than happy to indulge. My intentions and my heart were in the right place. And I was creating great memories, right? However, if I had known then what I know now, the contents of that cabinet would have been quite different.

Now I cringe when I think about it.

Nothing can really erase mom-guilt. However, with that said, I believe we do the best we can with what we’ve got . . . and with what we know at the time. Looking back, there are a million things I would do differently as a mom. But feeling guilty about the past, changes nothing. Conversely, learning from the past and making more informed decisions can change everything – for the better.

Now that I know how much our health (present and future) is impacted by what we put in our body, I make very different choices. I strive to set a good example. I look for opportunities to share this important information. I do it for me and I do it for you and my family. But most of all, I do it for my precious grandchildren.