food, control, treats and lily

So having a baby changes you. It changed me to want to be a better role model, to want to display the best the world has to offer. I have become motivated to retry foods I hate, to turn the TV off and play with rice and snow in containers :-)
Bizarrely though I am slowly realizing what other parents must have known for years, frustratingly little of what my daughter is exposed to and is influenced by, can be controlled by me. My biggest bug bear at the moment is the obsessive desire to feed lily (6.5 months old) chocolate or cake or biscuit. when I say not yet you can see that they don't want to wait and I've been called cruel and treated as if I'm weird for this, but I don't think I'm cruel.

you see the thought of food as a treat is something I've long battled with. For years we've been told how bad junky food is for us on both a personal and global scale. we know we must limit our intake of sugars and certain fats. As such it might seem very sensible to discuss certain foods as treats. I guess the implication being one of rarity. But all too often these foods are very much available, encouraged and used, as a pick me up, celebration or social activity (guilty as charged). The trouble being that calling it a treat, makes it more desirable especially as the very nature of implying rarity makes it seem more needed whenever offered.

"As its unusual, who knows when I might get something like this again? I better take it while I can."

 Even this in itself wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that it isn't rare because food is used for everything, if you're sad have a cake if you're celebrating have a take away if you're making new friends take food, if its 5 o'clock, if its Wednesday, if its raining...well you get my drift.

wouldn't it make sense for good food to be treated as a treat? sometimes that would mean a nice home made cake or similar but sometimes that could mean home cooked shepherds pie or a Cajun chicken salad etc

or why cant food be food and a treat a separate thing? so treats could include magazines, or books or games or time to play etc food would be food and would be enjoyable anyway and once old enough children can be taught about nutritional requirements and tasty pleasurable ways to meet them.

BUT...and its a big one. this isn't going to happen for Lily. I'm always battling this thought process for myself but even if I don't screw it up I know that others are going to teach lily (albeit incorrectly in my view) that cake, chocolate etc is a treat and that if you don't have it you are being good and healthy but you are also being denied something wonderful.
But what's so wonderful about sugar, fat, and salt at unhealthy levels??
what on earth is wrong with wanting to protect my daughter from this unhealthy thinking for as long as possible?
peace out,
mummy cat x