November 27, 2010
Lately, an anger has been burning inside me.
A slow boiling, deep seeded anger.
Building since I started Simply for Life.
What about?
Food.
Everywhere I turn, food.
Dropping off and picking up Em from school, I am assaulted with the deceptively tantalizing smells of McDonalds and Tim Hortons.
Watching car after car after car pull into the drive thrus and parking lots in anticipation of their egg and bacon or egg and sausage filled breakfast sandwiches, their muffins and donuts, their breakfast pastries, hot drinks as simple as coffee or as complex as lattes with added flavourings topped with whipped cream and chocolate drizzles.
Leaving the high school for the university, I pass by Burger King.
Same morning line up at the drive thru.
An overwhelming smell of broiled meat infuses the morning air.
Inticing me to change direction and partake of their post dawn fare.
I don't even like Burger King.
Television commecials, food.
Coming home, looking forward to just being in my house, in my pjs, perhaps even watching a television program, I am assaulted with commercials advertising their taste tempting, eye catching, mouth watering merchandise.
Boston Pizza telling me give cooking the finger. Pizza Hut with cheesy bites surrounding the crust, or their buy one get another for $5.00. Dairy Queen with the headless mouth suggesting that I should consume endless blizzards, other ice creamy treats, or their chicken finger meal, complete with (and I never understood this) toast. Pizza Delight with their spaghetti and meatballs, alfredos, mouth watering pizzas. KFC with their marriage saving combos that provide spicy to her and orginal to him. McDonalds with their perfectly shaped Big Macs and gorgeously piled french fries. A&W and their manager-employee dialogue about their gratifying sirloin burgers, Wendy's with their fries and frosties, Quiznos and Subway with carb crazy creations, Taco Bell with its Mexican munchies (I have to admit TB makes me want to hurl). Restaurants not in Fredericton, like Red Lobster and Arby's teasing us with our tidbits, Olive Gardens, that mecca of insane Italian delicacies shouldn't even be allowed on grace our channels if we have not access to them.
Cable has further provided images of enticing goods from restaurants and fast food chains we don't even have in Canada.
At least as far as I know.
TGIFridays, IHOP, Chili's, Applebys, Boston Market, Chi-Chi's, Popeye's, Outback Steakhouse, Chuck E. Cheese, Friendly's, Hardee's, Papa John's. . .
How is this okay????
It's not just restaurants, either.
Kraft Dinner, Kraft cheese, McCain pizzas and french fries, Hamburger Helper (which also makes me feel nauseous) Campbell's soups complete with recipes for chicken broccoli casseroles, Breyer's ice cream, Lean Cuisine's, chicken, eggs, coffee, muffins, potato chips, chocolate bars, PC Christmas desserts. . .
Entertainment programs, food.
Emily has a new favourite program.
Brought to her by OLN.
Man v. Food.
A horrific and yet simultaneously mesmerizing 30 minutes of one man's foodstuff odessey across America (I am seeing a pattern here).
In every city he visits landmark restaurants.
Philly cheese steaks, hot wings, 116 ounce milkshakes, Sicilian pizzas, peanut butter pies, fish fry sandwiches, sandwiches with fries, onion rings, macaroni and cheese and pastrami; sandwiches with piles of cheese, turkey, ham, beef, coleslaw; triple meat beef sandwiches dipped in beef broth, burgers with more layers than a 100 year old tree, french fries of every size, shape and permutation, Hawaiian delicacies that include pork and fried eggs. . .
The list goes on, and on, and on, and on.
I had to stop watching it.
Everytime I did I had overwhelming cravings for sugar, salt, carbs and fat.
While I struggled with being nauseous and disgusted at the same time.
And outraged at how much food people in the western world consume, while people on the other side of the world are starving to death.
Programs for the purpose of entertaining people while they watch obese people lose weight.
The Biggest Loser for example.
Don't even get me started.
And more outraged because I feel I have been conned. Dupped. Frauded.
How can people lose weight, eat healthy when everywhere. we. turn. there we are assaulted, bombared, barraged, beseiged, harassed, hounded, pestered to eat foods we just should not be eating.
Foods that look so good. Taste so good.
But are so, so bad for you.
I can see a connection between food and men I've dated in the past.
How can people lose weight, eat healthy when McDonald's costs less than the ingredients for a veggie stirfry?
How can people lose weight, eat healthy when a chocolate bar costs less than an apple?
These thoughts have been inflitrating my consciousness, first gently, now incessently.
As a sociologist, I have some theories about how come obesity is now a politcal issue, and obese people are the new group of marginalized, discriminated people.
But I need a little more time to think things through.
While trying to dodge the overwhelming messages like a football player trying to cross the goal line.
Title Lyric: I'm Getting Fat by Furnaceface.
"How can people lose weight, eat healthy when McDonald's costs less than the ingredients for a veggie stirfry?
ReplyDeleteHow can people lose weight, eat healthy when a chocolate bar costs less than an apple?"
I was shocked when I noticed this 4 years ago. That was when I realized I would not lose significant weight any time soon... unless I won the lottery or something. People back home are surprised every time I tell them these things. You also forgot to mention that Coca Cola/Pepsi/ any other kind of bottled pop is also cheaper than bottled flat water or sparkling water!
Sabrina, you're right. What's wrong in a world where I see young mothers filling their carts with soda because it's cheaper than milk.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish I had of realized this 4 years earlier!