Life* á la mode

A mother in Manhattan takes a stand against junk food in schools and goes a little overboard with her methods. IMHO, I’m all for healthier food being served in schools.  A healthy lifestyle is one that should be adopted from the moment a child can understand logic.  That french fries are tasty but too much of it can be bad for you. Same goes for candy, sodas…

My parents were good about limiting junk food when we were little.  If we wanted to eat some Doritos, we’d grab a small portion of what we wanted and that was it. There was no such thing as sitting in front of the tv with the entire bag on our laps.  Point is, they allowed us to have junk food.  We could have sodas once in a while but not all the time.  That instilled a habit in us where we wouldn’t consume an entire can of pringles in one sitting.

Places like McDonald’s and KFC were more occasional and more of a fun, Saturday activity we would do. Most meals were homecooked.  I was fortunate enough to grow up in a country where school canteens were like hawker centers and not a lunch line where vats of food were premade and served in bulk.  You could order a bowl of noodles that came with meat and vegetables and the vendor would make it for you as you stood there. Or some rice with meat or veggie dishes on the side. You had a real meal. I do remember though that there was a tiny uproar when the school decided that deep fried chicken wings were no longer an option, and only the non deep fried kind could be sold.

Oh.. and once a year, on Children’s Day, the school would have McDonald’s serve us each a quarter pounder or a filet o’fish. No fries. It was a treat. And that’s just it – junk food, American/Western food, it was always a treat and not part of our diet.  I was lucky that way.

It’s so much harder here to for kids to get fresh food in cafeterias. It’s so much harder to get food that hasn’t been processed to where it barely LOOKS like what it’s supposed to be. Unless you pack your own lunch, it’s almost impossible to eat healthy when your options are at the mercy of a tight food budget.  I completely understand why the woman in the article is working so hard to  make sure her children are eating healthy. But there are limits, there are boundaries and there are nicer, less abrasive ways to make a point. And it’s one thing to limit your own kids’ eating habits but to push it so rudely on other people? I personally don’t support that.

I feel sorry for her kids. I can’t imagine they have many friends. Sure they’re probably the healthiest ones in their school… but even I know when you’re that little (and I’m by no means condoning this attitude) having friends is way more of a priority than counting the fat or sugar content in food.

Taurus, you find it impossible to operate in confusion, and you need peace and quiet in order to think. You know important events are going to take place for you this week, and you want to deal with those situations in an orderly fashion. However, on Monday issues with a young person in your life will upend your composure. It’s possible you’ll need to deal with an elderly relative or in-law whose behavior resembles that of a toddler, so keep that in mind this week. Be careful of your movements on Wednesday, and don’t get distracted while driving.