Another 11 year old diagnosed with pre-diabetes.
This kind of news just pisses me off.
What have we done to our kids?
All the pop, fast food, chips, mac & cheese, that is supposed to pass for dinner.
School lunches suck. They always have. And its not the school’s job to make sure that your kids get the nutrition they need. Its your job.
OK, here it comes…”My kids won’t eat vegetables.”
I’m calling BS.
I used to have hoards of kids hanging out at my house. For a while, there were plenty of junks snacks for them to eat. One day I put out a big bowl of broccoli and a bowl of Catalina dressing for dipping. One girl walked by it and said, “What is that?”
“Broccoli”
“Ewww”
Low and behold, a little while later, all of it was gone.
They ate broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, apples, grapes.
I had another mother tell me that her daughter would not eat anything green. Not eve oregano on a pizza.
I told her to put a bowl of broccoli on the table every night without comment, and let them see you eating it. I ran into her a couple months later and she told me that her kids love broccoli.
I always volunteer for our association fund raising dinners as a server. They always have me serving salad. Imagine that…
So this kid holds his plate up, and just as I’m about to put the salad on his plate – his mom comes and shoves it away saying, “He doesn’t like salad.”
Gimme a break! He was willing to at least try it, and he might like it. Their tastes change as they get older.
We went to a buffet with another family one time. The 2 youngest kids were terrors. Guess what they ate? Pizza, mac & cheese and french fries. The mom said it wasn’t worth fighting with them about. That is all they will eat.
Seriously?
Severe behavior problems, poor grades, and a lifetime of illness isn’t worth fighting with them about? Not to mention, if they were eating nutritious foods, you wouldn’t be having these problems in the first place.
And what about your health?
All I hear all the time is how people want to lose weight. But they don’t want to change the way they eat.
You may remember a few years ago, we had a friend of the family die of a massive stroke at age 47. Yes, she had the cocktail – diabetes, high blood pressure, obese…
Our life expectancy is decreasing. This is the first generation where they are not expected to live as long as their parents.
We have to stop this runaway train. You have to cook real food.
No more boxes of fake mixes, no more micro meals, no more pop – fast food only on rare occasions.
OK, here comes the next one…
“It’s too expensive.”
Really?
A bag of potato chips is $4.99. And organic box of spinach or lettuce is $3.99, often on sale for $2.99.
Dinner for 4 at America’s favorite fast food joints is like $25 – $30. I can put out an amazing dinner for that much money.
OK, here comes the next one…
“I don’t have time.”
You could serve steak, baked potato and salad and have it on the table in 15 minutes for that much money. (remembering that a healthy serving of steak is 6 ounces, not 16)
You have a whole database of recipes that take less than a half hour to get on the table. And its totally free.
OK, last one…
“I don’t feel like it.”
Of course you don’t. You’re not getting any nutrients. You probably have all sorts of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Add to that, not enough sleep and little exercise. You probably don’t feel like doing much of anything.
Try getting some nutrients for a couple of weeks and see how much better life feels.
I hope you take this rant as tough love.
My mother died at age 53 from many of these same excuses.
I hate hearing about cancers, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, neuropathy, joint pain and all the other chronic pains and conditions. It’s just crazy!
Please, please, please – do something about it before its too late.