Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm an adult who hasnt lived with her mother since high school, so i cannot give you much advice as to how to deal with her, except maybe offer to write up grocery lists and cook meals.

I have hypertension brought on by the complected pregnancy when i had my twins, that i had tried to control with the dash diet and exercise. when i got to the point that i finally went to a doctor i could feel the pounding of my pulse in my ears and i'd be really dizzy. if you get these symptoms, ask your mom to take you to the clinic (i went to a low-income one, it was rather nice) if the doctor confirms hypertension, they will suggest a diet change in addition to medication. this may be the "boot to the a**" she needs to fix the whole family's dietary habits.

you could also make the transition to healthy foods easy on your family the way i prepare food for company - make healthy versions of classic food. last game night i made a ground turkey meatloaf with whole grain bread in it, and a chunky veggie tomato sauce instead of ketchup (or you can use a chunky salsa). just switch meats to lower fat/sodium meats and all carbs to brown carbs and add veggies wherever possible.

I highly suggest looking into the Dash diet, as it values nutrition over "weight loss" and was designed by doctors for people with hypertension.

It should be easiest to start eating mostly veggies once spring starts. Maybe try a gradual easing-in until then, like ask for one or two specific fruit/veggies per week, then in a few weeks add one to the list and keep adding slowly.

If you guys have a farmers market close enough in the spring, you could offer to walk there to get the family's veggies for the week. Then it takes work off of her back, and lets you make choices. People are more likely to accept change if it makes their lives easier.

Or, depending on your age, you could get a part time job (or odd jobs like shovelling snow/mowing lawns if you are too young or too busy for normal jobs) and then just buy yourself food.

I feed myself and my husband on under $300 a month, including expensive unhealthy habits smile If I were to change our habits I could probably tone it down to under 200.
Let's assume you buy say, half of your food ($150).
Depending on where you live, that should equal 21 hours or less of minimum wage work per MONTH. 5.3hours a week. One small shift. (21h at $7/h which is less than US min wage, 17h per month at the lowest minimum wage in Canada, so you could do an 8h shift every 2 weeks and be set)



Keep in mind that if you want to eat things that your family will not like, it should be your responsibility to make it happen, including shopping, putting the groceries away, cooking it, and cleaning up after it. I cannot see any parent taking issue with it once you tell them you will take care of it all yourself!

Well if you're old enough to buy your own food, then start there. My family is not big on salads but I need it to keep my high fiber diet that no one else in my family needs.

You only need to go out to the store maybe once a week to prepare a few healthy meals that make you feel healthy.

If you don't have a car or money of your own request you go food shopping with your parent. find foods that you are willing to make or cook on your own. start with a simple recipe, like salad, and go to the produce area and pick out your favorite items. If you're only one eating it one bag of 3pk romaine, red, orange and yellow bell peppers, a tomato or two, 1 cucumber, and a bag of shelled sunflower seeds/raisins/ cranberries, is usually good for one person for a week or two if you are not a big salad person, but want it anyway.

But remember its very likely that you will be making for yourself. So buy small. I've been having a salad twice a week and no one for half a year and still, no one wants to join me.

Well mostly bread and processed stuff, and grains can keep pollutants from the soil because its a seed, and I heard its unhealthy because cows and chickens and fish and stuff fed grains end up with more gas and less health but they feed them that anyways because its cheaper than providing land for the animals. It has little nutrients in it and I heard even people in china are getting diabetes from simply swapping to white rice from brown.
But tasty or filling food is hard to come by on a diet like this so I might give in but I dont want to, im a tall person and I would normally eat alot but I want health as well, Im also as picky for example of fresh air over warm air, but because I have been getting bad sleep from the cold I use a room heater with my windows open but that makes it worse cuz then I get dehydrated. Slightly random topic change lol. And winter air has less alkalinity/electrons in it, and more pollution, and my mom is a comfort freak she wants my window shut lol.
She can't stand being cold but most peopel can't and now Im only used to the cold only half of the time anyways, otherwise I would keep the heat space thing off all the time but sometimes I have my windows open a little with it off when I sleep.
Organic peanutbutter isnt that healthy either... i think its why I still have high blood pressure, cuz its still salted and because its acidic perhaps and not alkaline, and salt is also acidic a little. Cancer for instance can occur from too much body acidity.
But also being overheated can cause high blood pressure, so I shoudl actually be colder than I am lol, too lazy to take my hoodies off after coming inside then Ive been overheated xd idk Im wierd and smart but Im just lacking motivation and im being lazy is most of my issues, but also Im not sure what to do for my future.

Ryu: Good luck! I hope you find a diet that works for you! Like I said before, just make sure you do a lot of research on whatever diet you want to do.

I honestly don't think I could cut out meat, grains, and dairy from my diet. I enjoy them too much. Plus, I need meat and grains in my diet b/c my job is so physically demanding. I am not sure an all vegatable diet would be the way to go for me.