Food Revolution?

Jamie Oliver is an inspiration. Never heard of him? Seriously, look him up. He practices the simplest of ideas, that makes sense, yet he gets SO much resistance! I can't believe it's so difficult to talk to the board members of the LAISD about the food that they market as "healthy" to our children. Makes you wonder what indeed they are hiding huh?

One scene last night in particular hit home. Jamie was helping and educating a single father, with two growing sons (14 & 10) on how to eat better. They estimated that they ate fast food about 8-9 times per week, as a standard. Calculate that cost would you? Fast food for three, 9 times a week at an average of $31 per meal. That's a whopping $279 a week, just on fast food. That's also only three days of food, when you think about it! This hit home because just last night my husband and I were mulling over the art of cooking. Matthew said that he doesn't know how to cook (after I told him that he's not supposed to use almost a whole bottle of stone ground mustard to make Dijon chicken...). I asked him what he would do if he were a single father, providing for his children. He looked at me with this blank stare and said..."I don't know". This father definitely was NOT alone.

Jamie then proceeded to get in the car with this family and go through their local fast food drive-thru restaurant. He asked them to order what they normally would. When the family got their food however, the food didn't stop coming. Jamie had set up to load the families car with one weeks full, two weeks full, three weeks full and eventually one months full of fast food. By the end the children were covered, and the food was even on the hood of the car. Disgusting. These children s faces were that of bewilderment. The father started to cry. It was truly a sight. Jamie told them that he wants fast food to be a treat, not the standard.

That got me thinking. I haven't been to a fast food drive-thru restaurant in almost a year (I've even banned McDonalds longer than that), with one exception. Chick-fil-a. Thats the only fast food allowance we have. I then think back to my old life. My 450 pound life. I went through a fast food lane at least 2 times a day. Sometimes 3. How did I afford that? Wait, I didn't....I had credit trouble, health trouble and life trouble...Food was the domino effect for everything that was going wrong in my life, but I couldn't stop. The worst security blanket one could ever have.

I look at my struggles...and it is a daily struggle my friends. I look at my life now. I'm not 100% happy. I'm not at my goal weight, even though I have come so far I have so much more to go. I'm working out 5 days a week (sometimes twice in one day) and not seeing the results that I want, but the biggest accomplishment (I've just realized) is that i'm NOT giving up. I falter, I cry and I lean on my wonderful supportive husband, but I don't give up.The old me? The old me would have sat in her room, with the lights off, TV on and a bag of cookies in hand while the tears stream down my face. The new me however tries to put aside those thoughts. The new me tries to ignore the stares of the people who likely look at me and say "why doesn't she do something". The new me tries to remember that they don't know how far I've come, and instead of being angry, I look at them and smile. (Try smiling at people when they stare at you, it confuses them.)

So today, I'm treating myself to a new pair of workout shoes and a farmers market. What are you doing today to be a part of the "food revolution"?