Friday, November 18, 2011

Soapbox: Pizza A Vegetable?

My husband and I are splurging this evening - we're having pizza.  We found a local pizza shop that makes fantastic pizza.  It's not healthy.  It's a splurge. And I plan to have a big salad with it so I'll be satisfied with one piece.  Even with the salad and the 1 slice limit, I know this type of splurge needs to be the exception to my eating - not the rule.  I'm sure I won't have any argument from my readers on this point!

So, my question is - why are we allowing our tax dollars to go towards putting unhealthy foods in our public schools?  I can see pizza every now and then - maybe every other month or so.  Part of teaching our children to make healthy food choices is to actually limit the unhealthy choices.  When the food budget is spent on pizza, then how can the healthier options be the focus?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/11/15/142360146/pizza-as-a-vegetable-it-depends-on-the-sauce

For the past few weeks, I've noticed a trend when NPR reports about obesity:  it's turning overweight people into victims.  There's an excuse offered in each article.  Is this so we can feel better about ourselves?

The obesity issue in this country is not simply a matter of calories in, calories out.  Or "Eat Less Move More."  It's also about big business.  It's about manipulation.  It's about dumbing down.  We have a choice - we can be victims - or we can opt to disengage.

How?  Choose to cook using real, not processed ingredients.  Choose to not frequent restaurants that serve food product in enormous quantities and assure us that's how normal people eat. (Chilis, The Cheesecake Factory, etc).  Choose to never frequent McDonald's again.

Choose to pack lunches to take to work and school.  Choose to learn to cook.

Choose to tell our government "leaders" that we will not stand by idly and allow them to sell out to big agri-business so that they can keep poisoning our children with crap food because they got the low bid on school lunches.

Choose to create a new normal where real food, real meals cooked and savored at home are the norm, not the exception.

One of the reasons I've put on some weight is because I started opting into the accepted food norms - eating cookies and sandwiches from the trays brought into the office instead of sticking to my healthy real foods brought from home.

Now - I'm choosing to opt out again.  I'm worth it.  Aren't you?





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