Up til now I have kept my armpits to myself. No longer, my friends. This one deserves an arm raising. If it stinks to you, so sorry. Just hear me out.
Most nights at my house I cook a nice, hardy, healthy meal for my family. I have the magic three rule: at least three things on the plate = happy tummies. Most of the time there is a protein, a veggie and a fruit. Most the time there is little or no complaining. Most the time.
However, there are those days...days when I haven't been able to get to the grocery store, or I am just too tired to try and come up with something to cook. It is on these nights, that I make a conscious decision to buy crap.
You know. The usual crap: a greasy, clog-you-artery piece of meat topped with cheese and mayo and whatever else you want to put on it. I usually order it with potatoes soaked in hot oil...aka french fries and a large caffeine-and-cancer in a cup.
My kids may opt for chicken flavored rubber aka nuggets and more frenchies. Yes, I know that apples are an option. But we are throwing caution to the wind, remember. It's not every night I let me kids eat crap. And sometimes they even get a toy.
I know full well when I pull into the drive thru that I am not going to get a well balanced, well cooked, keep-you-fit meal. Who doesn't know this? There are no surprises.
Apparently, there are people in the government who think we don't know what we are doing. They think that they know better than we do and they feel the need to replace our choices with healthier ones. Instead of potato wedges, they would like us to eat carrots. Instead of soda, we will have the choice of juice or milk.
The latest tactic is to remove all toys from Happy Meals. Because we all know it is the awesome toys that keep on bringing us back to Crap King and McDoodles.
Okay, first off, have they seen the toys? They are flimsy at best, broken by the time we reach home. Those toys that actually survive the week, end up in the trash by the end of the month. If they were super awesome, then my kids would take better care of them. The toys are not what brings me back to that pull up window.
It's convenient. It's easy. It's a once in a while treat for the kids. I don't have to cook, they don't get to complain about my cooking. Win/win.
I say to those who want to force us into healthy living...Stop!! If you want to make a change, education is the key. Manipulation is not. Teach people what a healthy meal looks like. Teach them what fatty foods do to our bodies. Teach them what healthy living can do for you.
Should we never eat crap? I believe we should limit it for sure. That being said, it really isn't the government's job to dictate and control what I can and can not eat. Period. That's it.
Don't shove your agenda down my throat...literally. I am not an idiot. I am not stupid. Stop treating me like I am. Step away from my food.
Thankyouverymuch!
And I think that is enough pits for the night.
This is my "O" post for Ms Matlock. I hope I get an A+. I promise to wear deoderant next week.
27 comments:
AMEN! Raise your arms and sing it sista!
Sadly, my kids are past the happy meal stage. I say sadly because this means that instead of spending like $20 for the family dinner, I'm looking at like $42 by the time I'm done with the #3's and "Larging" it. (But I make them get chocolate milk... no soda... which ironicaly costs more)
Maybe the government needs to shove a Big Mac in that burger/pie hole of their's. :)
I actually agree with you on this...and lots of other things that the government - and sometimes just other people - try to control for us. As long as I'm not hurting anyone (except maybe myself) then leave me alone.
Although I do hate McDonalds. :)
Well we know you're not an idiot. But have you seen some of the people in line beside you? oops, did I just write that. Stinky armpit moment. My apologies.
Dana
Original.
Too much control is never good. Education and moderation is the key to healthy eating.
For me as long as the kids get fed and they too eat mostly healthily it is good enough.
Amen to too much government!
you are one of those mom's that actually balances the good with the bad, or at least you try to. i mean no one is perfect right?
i really am not sure where i stand on this whole thing. i think of the little boy down the street who ONLY eats fast food and his super obese mama who sends him and his friends around the corner to CJ's BK or McD's a few times a day....10 yr old kids, being home schooled used as little enablers. And i think, maybe some supervision is a good thing, for stellar parents like her.
but i also don't want the government up in my bizznezz. so, what do ya do?
true story: i have never eaten at McD's. not once. ever. the smell triggers my gag reflex. always has. when my siblings were begging for happy meals i was begging to stay home and eat ANYTHING but McD's.
Thank heaven i had the mother that i do...she let me eat the PB&J instead.
oh i forgot to say...hopping over from MMB. great, though provoking and humorous post. i will be back!
Very interesting post. Sometimes I do with this fine establishments did not exist though..so my kids didn't know about them from friends and beg me to take them. LOL
Tracy
Great Rant! ;-)
Amen sister:@)
We don't do the drive through often when we do we miss the junky toy.
Too much control is not good either, it cuts the appetite !
I'm on the fence with this one. I sort of like that McDonalds, as a corporate entity, is no longer allowed to manipulate children (and for mine, the toys DID matter because they only wanted to go to McDonalds and not other drive-throughs for that very reason). On the other hand, I don't like the government in my business.
So there you are. I'm betwixt and between. Either way I finally drop on this one, I got a big chuckle out of your post, as usual.
=)
I totally agree! When will people take personal responsibility for their choices and quite blaming everyone else?
The first time I realized that the government likes to stick themselves in my life was when I got a divorce..They were no where to be found when I got pregnant or got married. I hate how things are running from their ends and their cry for the "goods of the children!" They don't even know any children on personal basis!
So with you there! Talk about a nanny state—making sure we have no choice, since we clearly can't be trusted to make the correct one. If you're LDS, you recognize that as Satan's plan. If you're not LDS, you recognize that as Satan's (overreaching governments) plan. Either way, it's horse crap. And if we want to EAT horse crap, that's our choice. Let us reap what we sow and learn from our choices. And don't try to give us socialized health care in order to pay for us being idiots. If we live idiot lives, we pay idiot insurance premiums.
I agree! Well said!
Back in the days when my kids were little and I had a freezer I did all the cook once, eat twice stuff (before it was even popular). I baked the 10 pound bag of potatoes when I had the oven on.
We didn't have a lot of disposable income so fast food was a very, very treat and never done as a meal option.
Times seem faster now, though. But we all know it's not healthy. I think the government should work on other problems instead of trying to protect all it's citizens from themselves.
Great post.
Dana's comment made me laugh.
Big Brother wants to tell us what we can eat now...
sigh.
Thanks for this post Stef! I can't agree with you more.
Preach it, sister! And pass me a nugget. ;)
There are some parents who don't give a rat's ass what their kids eat or don't eat. These are the kids who go on to become morbidly obese, develop diabetes and other serious health issues becaseu no one took the time to educate them and help them put the breaks on what they ate.
Although you use fast food as an example, the bigger point you are trying to make is our government thinking they have to run our lives in just about everything these days. We fight wars to avoid this and preserve our freedoms. Fast food is just one small example of a dangerously bigger picture that will smother us if we are not careful.
Well said, my friend! Education about health is the foundation for healthier lifestyles. It's like that one quote "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." If the government wants to see improvements, they need to start from the root of the problem, not try to sneak in vegetables into the meals.
it should be all about education ... but people either dont learn or dont want to learn ... if education solved issues we would all know not to do drugs, not to drink excessivley, not to speed in our cars, etc ... it is frustrating ... excellent topic ...
I agree that the government shouldn't dictate to us, but there comes a point where teens make choices for themselves and no amount of education can always stop them choosing crap. MacDonald's target so much advertising at children, it entices them in and the 'treat' can become a too regular purchase when you have your own income.
Post a Comment