Food for thought....

So, I got an email from my friend in England this morning with this link attached. He gets emails any time Houghton Lake is mentioned, and thought I'd be interested.

I went, watched, and was instantly disgusted. Maybe it's just me, maybe it just hit a nerve, but when are we going to stop pushing food??? OMG could our nation become any more obese?????

Just in case you don't go to this disgusting link, it's a story about a new business in our town.

Now, I'm all for the small business person...usually.

This one is a floating food porn pontoon. You're at the beach, swimming, playing, maybe even burning a calorie...do you really need a boat to float up to you and toss you a hot dog???? Wing you some ice cream??? Are we so freaking lazy and fat that we can't trudge our rolls out of the water now and get to dry land before consuming food? We have to have it floated to us? OMG people, when will it stop??

I'm proud to be an American, don't get me wrong. I truly believe in our country, and I cherish our flag. We've got to get over this bigger/better attitude. We're killing ourselves. We're killing our kids. Who do you think this boat targets? Kids. Yep, they're in the water playing, not even thinking of food until this pulls up and waves ice cream in their faces. Holy shit, give the kids a chance to live here!!!!

I just don't know what it's going to take to get our nation on a healthy path. Something drastic I'm sure. It's not right for a parent to let their child become obese. Yes, that's right, I said it. Those of you that know me know I say it like I feel it. Got me into trouble many a time I assure you. Hear me out.

I go to Wal-Mart and see a very obese woman in a powered wheel chair nudging along her mother, also very obese in a regular wheel chair, who is pushing a cart with the fattest toddler I've ever seen. He fills the grocery cart. He's eating out of a bag of cookies like a starved animal. He's 2. I asked. I'm sorry, I feel both of those women should go to jail. They're killing that baby. At 2 years old, anything that baby puts in his mouth is given to him by someone else. They have the choice to feed him healthy food. They, and nobody else, is starting that child on a life full of health problems. That's child abuse in my book. No, I didn't say anything...I didn't know what to say. I'm ashamed about that actually. I hope that baby is still alive.

We need a system here. You take your kid in for his first shots and he weighs more than the nurse, you get nutritional counseling. No more can you use the excuse that you didn't know how to feed your baby. Better yet, every baby born should come with a food guide. "How to feed your baby the healthy way". You have to read it and sign a paper that you understood it before you take that baby home.

When I had my first child, and he started eating food. He was hungry all the time I thought. I'd feed him, and a little while later he'd cry for more. I fed him more. I loved feeding him. What a good boy, look at all he eats! I was 19, I knew nothing. There were no lessons. I took him for a check up and of course he was heavier than he should be. Doc asked me about his diet. I told him how his food went for the day. Get up, have a bottle. A little while later, have some cereal. A little while later, some fruit. Another bottle, more cereal, bottle, veg, bottle, fruit...you get the drift. I thought Doc was going to have an apoplectic fit! He was an old guy, but had his nutrition marbles in a row! Holy shit did he chew me out. He said that baby should be eating 3 times a day. He looked at me and said I was creating an obese child that was going to have a life just like mine. Is that what I wanted? I cried of course. Hell no I didn't want my baby to have the life I had. Kids are mean to fat kids...I'm sure some of you might know that. I wanted the best for my baby. Oh sure, it took a few days to get him on the new schedule, but I did. He was a healthy child. Right up until he hit about 8th grade. Then he started poofing up. He still fights a weight battle and I feel so guilty about that. Did how I started his life of eating create that? I dunno, but my other two sons don't fight that battle. I will always wonder if my oldest sons obesity is my fault.

Your baby falls down and scrapes his knee..do you really think a cookie makes it better???? Um no. A hug and some kisses and a new activity would do just the same. We need to teach our babies not to associate food with emotions like that. Think how that would have helped us along our weight loss journeys.

Your baby won't eat his peas, or his green beans, or any veg? No, if he knows you're going to give him something else, something tastier in his little mind, he won't. They're not stupid those little ones. They learn that if they refuse to eat, you'll give them something else. You have the power to bring good eating to your child. I know I'm old fashioned, and have old ideas, but you know what? A baby doesn't eat his food at lunch, it goes in the fridge and he gets it for dinner. He doesn't eat it at dinner? Bet he'll eat it at breakfast. He's not going to starve to death if he doesn't eat for 24 hours.

I don't exempt myself from all blame either. I know that I always had special treats on special occasions. Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter...they all had their special foods associated. We always went for ice cream after the awards ceremonies at school...so yes, I am ashamed to admit, that food was used inappropriately in my home. I will, however, stand tall and tell you all that I fed my children very healthy meals most of the time. I didn't fry food, they ate veg, they had a very balanced diet. We didn't have desserts, we didn't have junk. There was always a snack for them if they wanted it. Fruit, veg, cheese, yogurt, etc. See, I grew up and snacks were a no no. I learned to sneak food.

I was fat from the time I was in 1st grade. I was skinny in kindergarten, and then pfoooooooot, I woke up fat and 5. I'd come home from school starving to death, as most kids do. My mom didn't allow snacking before dinner. I was fat you know? I did what any hungry kid would do. I found food, I hid, I ate it. I kept doing this until I was old enough to drive somewhere after school and get a few hot dogs and a few bags of chips as I was famished. Of course, I ate so much that at dinner time, I wasn't hungry. I had to eat dinner though, or mama would figure out what I had done.

Had my mother known that snacks were healthy, needed for kids, maybe I'd have got my weight under control earlier. Hell, maybe I wouldn't have been fat at all. I do not blame my mother at all. She didn't know better. I really feel parents of today do know better. They do know what that baby needs, they just don't do it.

I understand it's awesome to be the one that makes your child's face light up. You give a kid something sweet, something he loves, he's going to be happy. You're going to feel good about yourself. If that child develops a weight problem that he will carry with him for the rest of his life , with all the health problems along with it, are you going to feel good about yourself then? I don't think so.

I guess I got off on a tangent this morning...and I'm really sorry this went so long, but can you tell this is something close to my heart. Something I feel so strongly about. I want our nation to be healthy. I want our kids to have a fighting chance in the health world. I want us to teach our children what we weren't taught. I don't want them to have to fight like we're fighting. I for one am having a hard time with my weight...I'd give anything in the world if none of my children had to go through this. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd wave that bad boy all day long to make it better!

I shall step down off my soapbox now.

:-)