Back to Life, Back to Reality

Today I got a very sweet IM. My cousin, ever a kind and loving person, rather brotherly, in a nice way, told me that it makes him angry when he sees my Former Fatty tag line. His argument is that I was never fat. I'm comfortable attributing this out rage to two things. First, he is a rather fantastic individual, as I said. Second, fat is considered a hurtful word in our society. I could go into a tangent about how frustrating it is that we all automatically thing of fat as a hurtful slur along with a number of other words that should probably be looked at as simple adjectives. When it comes to it, fat is a description, at least for me. Sure I've probably used it in a hurtful way in my life but certainly not recently.

In fact, I think part of the problem people who are trying to lose weight are confronted with is that weight loss is taboo. Well, unless you've already lost weight and then everyone wants to know the entire story and exactly what you did. Which only proves the problem. We, as a society, seem to lack a concept of reality when it comes to eating habits and nutrition. Jamie Oliver showed us that kids can't identify tomatoes (google for that sad video but don't say I didn't warn you); There are hundreds of speed diets out there; PhenFen was popular. The list goes on of how clear it is that the main thing lacking in our diets is reality.

Unfortunately, some organizations aren't helping. One example is an organization called Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is suing the government for ignoring their suggested vegetarian food pyramid. I've ranted about the challenges the USDA food pyramid presents so I'm not defending the government, by any means. I'm frustrated because after studying PCRM it appears to be a vegan and vegetarian advocacy group. (Their pyramid is also incredibly vague.) I couldn't find a list of their members or donors and upon reading their IRS form 990 they clearly engage in direct lobbying and direct mail marketing. I'm not saying I think their evil, I'm just saying I'm dubious.

Reality is incredible difficult when it hits home (your waist line) in so many ways. Our physicians aren't helping, to be sure. I once had a GI doctor tell me I really needed to lose weight before I was 25 or else it would only get harder. This particular doctor told me this with a straight face and 6 pack in the form of a beer gut.

Reality: can't live with it, can't avoid it?

Peeing is cool.

So, about that slipping up. I know I said I don't care for resolutions and I don't, still, but that whole thing about learning obvious lessons? Still bad at it. I am getting better at the not beating myself up though.

I said I would alternate between a 250 and 500 calorie deficit per week. I've been finding the 500 mark hard to handle but the 250 has been much easier. In fact, the last few days I've managed 350. I worked hard to resist snacking after dinner but then enjoyed being hungry at breakfast. (A feeling I missed over the holidays.) I even weighed myself this morning. Which, given how I'd been feeling about the number I expected, was rather daring. Also, it wasn't as bad as I expected! Hurray for not the worst!

There was an article today's Food Section about D.C. chefs who have lost weight. Which, yay. I mean, one can hope that this would mean restaurants will start thinking about portions (of butter). One in particular said, "I fuel my body on breakfast and lunch and work it off. Dinner is supplemental, just enough to get through to the next day." Totally brilliant! Dinner is so dangerous. It is easily one of my top 2 mine fields. The other one is the office kitchen. I swear, things I would never eat in real life enter my mouth when I enter the office kitchen. There was another chef who said he started dieting because he hadn't peed in the three days. Kudos to him for a return to kidney and liver function!

New Year's Eve = Lame, New Year Focus = Le Sigh

Now that I have sufficiently complained about New Year's Eve, the truth is: I love this time of year. Everyone is talking about what to eat and the reality of eating. The gym is packed and people actually do the workouts in my spinning classes.

Just moments after I posted yesterday I got an email from The Daily Beast ranking diets in terms of effectiveness. Well, actually the title says they rank diets and you can click to look at their rankings but there is also an article where they quote a nutritionist who reminds you that diets are not effective unless you consider them lifestyle changes (and then they aren't diets at all). Once you click on the ranking pages, however, all bets are off. The first one is essentially a liquid diet. I can barely muster interest in soup as an appetizer. The idea of drinking my meals would definitely be a diet for me, since it wouldn't even last a single meal.

Ellen Tarlin at Slate got in on the act this year when she decided to try some experimental eating, starting with stick to the USDA Food Pyramid. Tarlin is only a few days in and is not shocked to be struggling with some of the requirements, something I've said before. On top of having to measure your food, it is pretty hard to follow the food pyramid. She also mentions that she has done Atkins and Weight Watchers and knows that every time she has tried a new plan she finds that she feels good at the start but quickly, "the hunger sets in". Which, sister I hear you, this is why I constantly change my own plan. Adapting is hard.

Politicians are also taking a dip in the food pool having recently passed a new 'food safety bill'. I put that in quotes because I'm still not totally clear on how safe it will make our food. I've heard that the FDA inspects anything from 1 to 5 percent of the food supply and this new law will increase that number. My issue is that I'm not entirely convinced that increasing that percentage will actually keep us safer. Supposedly one of the goals is to prevent tainted food rather than the current system where the FDA simply reacts to tainted food issues. Also, it sounds like the law wont be very well funded.

Would it not be easier to decrease our consumption of over processed foods? Sure, technology has brought us the opportunity to shop for items made in other countries, but must it include food processed over seas? Our food could include at least fewer items grown or processed on the other side of the world even if we aren't eliminating them. I've heard arguments about how recently recalled organic beef proves that imported food isn't more or less safe. I'm not clear on how organic and local got confused with each other but the reason I like my local butcher is not because his lamb or pork is organic but because I can look the man in the eye or visit his farm and know his practices aren't going to give me food poisoning. When it comes down to it, regardless of organic-ness (shut up, that is a word), the further your food travels the more likely it is to pick up microbes and make you sick. If you took a trip from home to the other side of the world you'd probably have to take multiple planes, trains or automobiles which makes you more likely to pick up germs.

I'm just going to continue to relish this time of year where my news sources are actually talking about one of my favorite topics. Come February every is likely to go back to talking about the weather.

Bah Humbug

Oh, the new year, you old . . . yea whatever.

For some reason I'm not all that excitable about 2011. I'm generally pleased with life. In 2010 I got married, that was awesome, still is awesome. Let's see . . . um, 'bought' another used car? Yea, perhaps the lack of milestones? Again, generally pleased. To be clear, I'm not hating on 2011, per se, more hating on the New Year's Eve concept.

The thing is, I just don't get the excitement about a new year. I was under the impression that the reason new years were celebrated was because back in the day people were excited to have survived another year? Although, I thought that was what Thanksgiving had been all about. Not to mention that real Thanksgiving was apparently in March, or something?

It is possible that my other reason for a total lack of excitement is that I can't get behind resolutions. Anything that relates to improving your life because the year changed clearly sets a person up for failure. If you really want to improve your life or yourself it should have nothing to do with the date. It seems advisable to try to commit yourself to, um, yourself ,everyday, not just on January 1st.

Or maybe my fear of weighing myself after the holidays has something to do with it. But who could say, really?

Deficits Of Many Types

I'm not the only one in love with Michael Pollan. I am also not the only one who likes to hate on soy. I'm also also not the only one who struggles. This is me admitting to struggling. I'm also kind of a cliche. I got married and slipped up. I've got about 15 pounds to lose. 10 of them are from the last 6 months, 5 are pounds I wanted to lose previously and still haven't. My clothes still fit, but I'm not happy.

Every time I reassess the way I handle eating in my life I'm fully aware of the fact that something wasn't working. Sometimes it is as easy as renewing a promise to myself. Sometimes I have to put on my big girl shoes and recalculate my calories entirely. My old system was totally not working. So I reread the article about calorie calculation and decided to actually follow the part about adding in your work out calories instead of eating them as they come. Basically, I wasn't following the calculation their way, I was making up my own way. Now I'm doing it their way. So far I'm feeling pretty good. I'm only weighing myself on Wednesday mornings though so it is hard to be sure how I did this weekend (read: three nights out).

I'm also taking a page from the DUH-book. Well, two pages. The first is that I'm trying to do this veeerrrrry sllllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwly. A 500 calorie deficit is a pound loss a week. I'm alternative between 500 calories and 250. The theory is that the slower you lose it the harder it is to put back on. Reasons for this are many but often vary by person. For me it is that I want to really, actually, totally learn these good habits and stop the back slide that occasionally hits me.

The second is much bigger. This one is pretty major and I'm sure you'll be incredibly shocked. It is that I need to calm the hell down. I just reread a post from this time last year. And boy do I stink at learning obvious lessons. Stop beating myself up, stop caring about things I can't change, start enjoying fun activities (even some that don't involve consuming). Deep breath. I should also probably get around to stopping beating myself up about beating myself up. I bet I'll get around to that one in the new year...

Undernourished Is Not Just A River In Egypt

The news is full of stories about obesity and diabetes along with what experts thinks causes our country to be so incredibly unhealthy from over-consumption of grain to foods shipped thousands of miles. It is far more rare to hear stories about the alternative - unless it is about starving children in Africa. Believe it or not a national morning show will tell you exactly the alternative if you infer just a bit from the limited information: Kelly Ripa has a stress fracture in her hip. She did not chalk the bone issue up to eating habits or bodily stress but she does talk about exercise a lot and she is incredibly thin.

I will admit to a certain amount of orthorexia in my own life but Kelly, dear, life is too short to starve yourself and break your hip. What does she put in those Electrolux refrigerators? How about some leafy greens if she can't get behind dairy.

Labels Are Marketing Too

If you are eating a food that requires you to be reminded of its origin, perhaps you have a problem.

When it comes to fries*, I hope Americans are smart enough to see through a claim such as, "Having the skin on is a way to remind people that fries come from potatoes . . . ". Did these people miss the Jamie Oliver show earlier this year? That show also had issues but even the commercials made it abundantly clear that kids in this country have no idea where food comes from. Feed your kid a freaking potato already. Going to a fast food joint to pick up fries can't be faster than putting a potato in the microwave**.

* I am not suggesting you should not eat fries, only that they have a place in life and that place does not include being a side at every single meal.

** I admit they are tastier and healthier in the oven.

You Are Weak

But don't worry. You can't help it.

I'm considering posting video of workouts. Perhaps one in which I learn to actually do push ups. Because, really, I can't. I know you're so shocked.

Also, I'm a cliche. I got married and then got chubbier. My new plan is three cardio workouts and two lifting workouts per week. So far, lifting is killing me. Returning to the squat rack makes me annoyed with myself. This is mostly because I kick myself for ever giving it up. Yea, I failed to mention that I gave up my lifting habits. Color me not shocked that I stopped lifting and got heavier. Lesson learned, thanks.

I Did Not Lose My Soap Box. The Ag Committee Tried to Steal It.

Food choices are not made in a vacuum. As much as you want to convince yourself that you make your choices based on your opinion, you're just, um, wrong. Sorry but marketing works. That is why there are a plethora of companies out there making billions. Also, you're limited to your geographic area. Some people don't have grocery stores. Some people wait for ages and finally get a decent one. Even at the high end store next to my apartment building there is very limited produce that I actually want to buy. This is why I spend all my money at the farmer's market even in the dead of winter when my fingers are nearly blue once I return home. If you didn't have enough evidence that my husband and I are nutters remind me to tell you about how we walked to the Dupont farmer's market during snow-pocalypse last year.

I digress. The point is we're all affected by things like packaging, the lay out of a store or the food pyramid. We're also affected by things not related to using our brain. This is true even if you think you're a smart consumer who is aware of the food pyramid versus the shiny packaging of those delicious but deadly Doritos. However, we're all affected by life's challenges - like limited time, crying children or even just your boss who is kind of a baby and keeps you late at work. These are the little things that we can't control, things that cause us to arrive home late on a night where you intended to make a healthy meal. It is true that these challenges are entirely manageable. The problems come when the quick choices aren't good choices. If I arrive home and I am already starved it requires every ounce of energy to eat a piece of fruit while trying to cook something decent. I often falter and end up at the grocery store or even a restaurant on the way home. The greater issue is not just what I see on the shelves when I get to the store or what is on the menu at the restaurant. The issue is that corporations and even our own government make it harder for us to see better choices on those shelves. I'm not suggesting that certain people should or should not be elected. I'm not suggesting, but in fact shaking you through the computer to realize, is that it is time for you to get off your duff and demand that the people you elect help you make better choices. If you don't think government affects you, think critically next time you are starving and think perhaps the family cat might be delicious.

Things You Missed Me Being Annoyed About and/or Fascinated By for the Past Few Months

1) Some fitness celebrities know almost nothing about fitness. I have more fitness certifications than she does. I also eat meals that include actual food and don't yell at people in the gym. I'm willing to take bets on which of us is more mentally healthy.



2) This video is kind of long so I forgive you for not watching it but his most interesting comments are peppered about the middle of the thing. Also, food chemistry is crazy. I almost failed actual chemistry in high school, so perhaps my evaluation is not that useful.



3) Recipes are awesome and real people who try them out are awesome and when those awesome real people tell you about their style and habits in the kitchen you listen. Put THAT on the list of things I'll teach my kids.



4) Folks in the food-iverse are all crazed about Alton's Browns comments about Man vs. Food. The rest of the interview is way more interesting. Put 'born again Christian' on the list of many things I didn't know about Alton Brown.



5) After being told that some of my friends actually read this I have returned. Again. I have a poor track record so you can choose to believe me or not. Though, I hope you'll comment if you really do read because I can't see you through this box!

Moving Quick Today, Try to Keep Up

Moving quick is also known as I-am-all-over-the-place-just-let-me-go-about-my-business. At work today I couldn’t sit still so I had to run errands. As in, I spent my lunch hour (lunch-20-minutes) on errands because my desk chair seemed to be throwing me out the door. I blame this on international travel. I have a lot of things to do and none of them get done when I sit in chairs! And yes, you’re probably right, this is a habit that helps with weight loss. Thanks, Mom, for the jittery habit.

I find bridal beauty tips kind of hilarious. And not just because I read the photo credit at the end of slide three as Little Blue Men. The tips imply that you should take really good care of yourself when you’re about to have 600 photos of yourself that span about 10 hours of your life but it also implies that you don’t really need to worry about drinking water when you’re single or after you’re married. In case you were wondering there were about 600 photos at my wedding between 2 pm and midnight. That is one photo per minute. Sure, not all of them are of me but I have never felt so documented. Kind of weird.

In honor of ridiculous lists I’m going to make one of my own. Be you bride or baby daddy, below is a list of ways to keep yourself looking trim and great (if you think I'm serious I have a bridge to sell you), for your reading pleasure.

1) Follow the food pyramid religiously.

Your day should include: One three ounce serving of whole grain (example: piece of toast is around this weight and is about 150 calories); ‘More’ dark green veggies, orange veggies and dry beans and peas (I dunno about you but more is kind of relative and thus useless); A variety of fruit which can be fresh frozen canned or dried and you should go easy on fruit juice (again, How vague can you be government?); Fat from fish, nuts and vegetable oil while limiting solid fats like butter (Did you know butter has fewer calories than olive oil?); Low-fat or fat-free dairy (I have already gotten rowdy about how this is total crap); Low-fat, lean meat and poultry that is not fried and beans should be varied.

Do you feel like you know more about how to eat? No, I didn’t think so.

2) Don’t eat carbs, drink soda or enjoy yourself, ever.

Like toast? Eat some freaking toast. Just don’t eat an entire loaf of bread. Like soda? Have one with lunch. Just don’t drink two liters in an hour. Basically this stuff about not eating certain things and eating other things is completely ridiculous. People who are fit and have healthy habits are people who concern themselves with what they’ve eaten over an entire day, week or even month.

For example, after lunch today I ate a cookie the size of my butt. So my butt doesn’t look like two cookies I’ll eat lots of veggies for dinner. Moderation? Sure. Just don’t hate your life because you’re killing yourself over a soda or a bagel.

3) If you overeat one day, just cleanse the next day.

I’m not sure how some people do those cleanse plans. I know everyone has heard about how Beyonce does the cayenne pepper thing but holy moly on a stick I would freak out. Granted, I struggle if I don’t eat every three hours or so but drinking cayenne pepper in lemon juice? I’d rather die.

The real problem with this kind of behavior is that you’re really just beating yourself up about your poor choices. Do you spend all your time lamenting about how you kissed the nerdy kid at the school dance in 5th grade? No? Well punishing yourself about eating pie last week is just about as useful. Eat something today that makes you feel good. If you screw that up, tomorrow is another day. Learn something from your choices, move on.

4) Don’t eat gluten, dairy, soy or whey.

This is similar to the second one except in #2 I’m more talking about your appreciation for life whereas this is more about this craze with avoiding things because you might possibly have a mild allergy. Look, Crohn’s disease is a real thing. Gluten allergies are real. Lactose intolerance is real. If you think you might possibly be allergic to something but you can’t really say why maybe its time to stop trying to convince yourself of some problem. It’s called a reality check.

The upshot:

Calm yourself. Stop beating yourself up. Stop freaking out about that donut or the extra large whole milk latte. Enjoy life. Take care of yourself.

Happy brides love themselves, fat or not. Unhappy brides can be unhappy for a million reasons which can have nothing to do with being fat or skinny.

Same goes for regular people.

Maybe I Should Buy a Juicer

Some very nice friends of ours got us a soda maker for our wedding. There aren't many things I find more refreshing than what used to be called 'fizzy water' when I was a child. I'm planning to be somewhat adventurous too. Perhaps carbonated coffee? But sometime I just need a little seltzer and occasionally I like to add a splash of juice. Usually I only order this in restaurants because buying an entire container of juice would be silly, since I'd never finish it. The only juice that ends up in our fridge is generally of the orange variety and only when hubs (no longer fiance) has a cold.

So last night, I'm walking around the grocery store, as I am the great-granddaughter of a food distributor and it is in my genetics to enjoy these types of errands when I realize that I'm very, incredibly, insanely thirsty.

Seltzer!

Oh! I'm in the juice aisle. And then . . . my picky self arrived. I wasted at least 10 minutes of my life on the stupid juice aisle. "Juice?", you say, "Really?". To which I will respond, "HAVE YOU SEEN THE CRAP THEY PUT IN JUICE?". If you have ever seen the FRIENDS episode where Ross finds out Rachel is pregnant and that condoms aren't 100% effective, you've seen my level of rage. "THEY SHOULD PUT IT ON THE PACKAGE", he screams. "They do", she responds. Clearly, I need to relax about juice, but really, I had no idea the level to which the juice industry has fallen.

I'll let you finish rolling your eyes now.

That Is One Nutty Spaniard

Today is 'Act Like the Scale Doesn't Exist Day' in my world. So let's move away from yesterday's thoughts.

At around 24 minutes Jose Andres makes a fascinating point about third world countries and their ability to support their own food/hunger and how it relates to struggling economies. The rest of it is pretty good too.

Bridezillas Are Probably Better at Journaling

I up and got myself married, interwebs. For some reason getting married occupies every part of your universe for months beforehand and for sometime afterward (unless you hire a planner, or so I've heard). I have only seven thank you notes left. I will conquer them this weekend.

So my blogging fell by the wayside but so did my eating in some ways and next week I'm off to Greece to relax like crazy. If it is possible to be intense about relaxation, then that is my current emotional status. I am GOING TO BE RELAXING DAMMIT. I'm even kicking off the relaxing with a massage and pedicure on Sunday all thanks to my wonderful co-workers.

Calories, how you bloat me. Really, I just don't know how to analyze how it all fell apart in the last few months. I haven't gained 20 pounds or anything but I don't really deserve a reward for making good choices either. I'm trying a new system, suggested by a friend, from www.freedieting.com. I'm on the fence about its functionality, mostly because I've only been doing it for 1.5 weeks. And, honestly, I don't plan to journal in Greece. Well, not calorie journal. I might still do a food journal. Although, hard to say, what with all the intense relaxing I'll be doing.

Whilst I was missing from this space I discovered a new food read. Now, excuse me while I try to eat something without popping my pants button.

Hello!

Four months? Too long? Sorry about that.

While I get my act together on the returning to blog-land here is something to watch. Ellen Gustafson needs a Xanax and maybe a speech writer but she is also right.

Do You Bite Your Thumb At Me, Sir?

Yes, I do bite my thumb, sir, but I do not bite my thumb at you, sir.

Everyone needs a little Shakespeare in the afternoon.

So, I'm a food snob. I just need to accept this. I have gotten to the point where I wont even eat fruit if I suspect it was grown across the pond. I'd rather go hungry than eat something that will make me feel the bloat of processed sodium based foods. I've started leaving parties hungry. I never used to do that.

The greatest offenders:
5. Yogurt.

Dannon? Yoplait? I don't care what brand you slap on it all that stuff is gross. Even that Stoneyfield Farm stuff is creepy. Real yogurt is gloppy. That is the best adjective I can come up with. I will say it is just short of chunky. It needs honey or something in it to make it palatable. Really great yogurt is not creamy. Cream is creamy, yogurt is not.

4. Ketchup.

My hate for this is nearly shocking to my younger self. I used to eat it A LOT. I put it on eggs, burgers, really anything starchy. Now I prefer my eggs either fried or scrambled with local cheese and sausage inside and generous salt and pepper on top. Burgers are also better with local cheese and not much else. Sometimes not even a bun, I won't start on processed bread.

I sometimes still do eat some ketchup but largely I think the plastic bottled stuff tastes like metal. When you were a kid did you ever lick a bloody wound? That is what ketchup tastes like to me now.

3. Red Delicious Apples.

Not delicious. Local apples are the best thing that every happened to me. Fiance is tired of them. We've been eating them almost exclusively (save for a short pear season this year) since October. I could eat them four times a day forever and ever. Red delicious apples are mealy even when they're fresh. Even the smell of them makes me gag a little. It is sort of this cardboard aroma combined with what I'm sure worm guts smell like.

I could totally eat a local berry right now, don't get me wrong, but I am just fine with the fujis from Toigo.

2. Turkey bacon.

After college I lived on this stuff. I was so sure it was good for me. Then I read about how it is made. I won't even go into it, just google it if you dare.

Real bacon please, thanks.

1. Pizza.

I realize this is not a whole food but a group of other foods. It actually combines some of my snob-feelings of 1-4. Processed cheese, flavorless. processed tomato product, metal. Processed meat, pressed and not actual meat. The concept of chain pizza frightens me and frozen pizza is the biggest waste of money ever. Homemade pizza could not be easier.

There are few things I enjoy being snobby about more than saving money and eating well. Pizza wins.

All In A Day's Work

If you think you have a hard job, try being a butcher. If you're hungry and don't want to be, read about a guy who tried it for a while. The local food movement and the new conversation going on in the foodie community in general is all about how you should get closer to you food - how its grown and processed and how to prepare it. It has been suggested that one of the reasons people are getting more obese is because we don't take the time to prepare our food anymore. Basically, we've disconnected ourselves so much that we no longer value the food. Instead, we just shove it in the hole and run along.

Well I read the story about the guy who tried being a butcher. Then, I decided to put a wedding gift to use and grind my own buffalo. It is true that I used a home tool - one that connected to my standing mixer. So it isn't as if I used an industrial grinder that is probably more efficient. However, the smell is really unfortunate. It reminded me of the smell of my A.P. Anatomy class in high school when we dissected cats. Decaying flesh is really gross, in case you didn't know.

I would have taken pictures for you but my hands were really gross from the meat and also, I love you enough to spare you. I plan to eat the buffalo and I'm not giving up meat (although I'm eating significantly less of it lately) but I feel a lot closer to my food today - my sinuses, in fact, can't get the stench out.

Fried Things With Fried Things Inside. Also, cheese.

I love you Arianna Huffington. And not just because you're a Greek who married outside the clan.

Fiber + Sugar = Breakfast

I have no idea why it has taken me three weeks to blog. I have no viable excuse. Wedding planning does take up time but I've probably had time here and there to write. I will say that nothing has made me nutritionally angry recently.

Until last night. When I saw this:



Really? Fiber? Lets discuss the content:



Ingredient number one is sugar. Ingredient seven is hydrogenated oil. There are six coloring agents. The ingredients are obviously awful. But what gets me isn't actually the ingredients, yes they're horrible, but what really upset me was the advertisements for this product. At least they didn't have an actual doctor say that fiber 'makes your tummy happy'.

If you read this blog you might assume I hate cereal. I just think its a crime the way corporations are actively trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Americans when it comes to consumption.

Quality Over Quantity

I'm not going to use the F word or anything but I totally agree with the illegal-pizza-guy on the whole "family farm–killing, exploited illegal immigrant–built, fake cheese–laden, nutritionally void, race-to-the-bottom" food thing. And while he is discussing the value of his product I'd like to highlight the nutritionally void part. Michael Pollan says that you should eat as much junk food as you want as long as you make it yourself.

Again, the problem is the way we talk about the issue. Americans are obsessed with moving as quickly as we can for as cheaply as we can to the detriment of our health. Rather than spend time in the kitchen with our entire family we spend time rushing our family around from place to place and spend a minute with the microwave so our families can eat quickly before we shuttle them somewhere else.

I realize that as a childless adult I can't know all the details. Mothers work their tails off to keep their kids lives moving forward at all let alone making sure their kids eat perfectly all the time. Not that school lunch isn't also to blame for poor child nutrition. I wont discount the work of fathers either. But again, the problem is the way we talk about what we eat, how we eat and when we eat and the fact that we just accept the corporate line about this conversation. The illegal pizza guy highlights a problem that just furthers what I've said in the past. We have to stop supporting food that supports exploiting our farms and our people, even if they are illegal immigrants.

I've never understood Americans who don't live their life in a way that allows their values to shine right through their actions. And, no it isn't possible only because I live in a dual income household and it isn't always easy but damned if I'm going to be one of those people who will shove whatever comes past my nose into my mouth just because. And I agree, if you're willing to let your values stop at the oven door, you deserve your nutritionally void food.