Something funny (but really sad)

i'm sitting here watching tv right now and a taco bell commercial just came on. they are actually promoting something called fourthmeal late at night. just thinkng about that and other things like "do what tastes right," i dunno.. u just really see what's wrong with our culture.

  And some people wonder why america has an obesity problem??? as a culture we are spending more and more time in sedentary lifestyles watching way too much tv (I am definantly guilty of this) and what do they promote on tv? Overeating, unhealthy eating, eating eating eating. It's practically programed into our heads from childhood that we're supposed to eat all that junk food, and if that isn't bad enough, they're adding 'meals' to our eating day!!  Definantly makes me want to shut the tv off and go outside and play!!               

Do what tastes right, eh? We have become so impulsive as a group, haven't we? I will eat some taco bell once in a blue moon, but for the most part, I have so much lost my preference for the drive thru flavor.  Just wait til you get into eating right, it will actually happen! When we go on vacation I used to look forward to eating out lots more, but not any more. By the time we get home, i can't wait to have good veggies and fruits.

Ditto.....I just wish I had more luck at keeping fruits and vegetables fresh longer.

I've taken to going to the grocery store once a week and just buying the stuff I need for that week.  That way I don't have alot of stuff going bad in the fridge.

I also portion it out when I buy it and save in Tupperware jobbies. Actually, I portion out 300 calorie meals, all to be nuked at my convenience. I have found, however, lettuce just dies too damn fast. So I don't buy it much. Plus, anything you put on it to make it taste like food costs too many calories. Rather eat a 40 calorie can of green beans!

I know, I didn't think that much about it when they first came out with that campaign because I have never been bad to eat an extra meal, I just way overeat at the ones I had.  BUT the more I got to thinking about that I realized that mostly it is targeted at our kids and teenagers. If this nation is ever going to "cure" the obesity problem, resturants are going to have to take some responsibility.  If you go and you think well this is a portion because that's what they serve me you eat WAY too much.  I would prefer them to cut down the portion sizes and charge less (unlikely, huh) for meals.  Then if you order a side salad, you get this ti-tiny little thing, ironic?  But if they served smaller portions, patrons would feel cheated because we have become accustomed to our "Super sized" lifestyle.

I have to disagree a bit.  If we are going to solve the problem, people have to learn to take personal responsibility.  It's not difficult to learn what a proper portion size is and you don't have to eat everything put in front of you.  I am responsible for getting as overweight as I am and I am responsible for correcting the problem, not restaurants, not my doctor, not weight loss surgery, nothing else, just me.

Personally I think one of the biggest problems we have in our society is our penchant for trying to put the responsibility or the blame on something else.

I believe it would be a lot easier to control the restaurants than it would be to control America as a single collective entity.  People have many different opinions and situations. Some will be highly reluctant to change their ways or learn about portions.  In a perfect world everyone would take responsibility for their eating habits and learn portion control.  That's just not going to happen but what could happen is the FDA put a mandate on portion control in restaurants. That's more likely to happen and then people would have no choice but to eat right when eating out. They can still of course overeat at home and I think that's where the other side comes into play. You're right we do have to take responsiblity and quit blaming it on everyone/thing else.  It is our fault that we go into those restaurants and eat their meals.  It's our fault when we overeat at home too.  I still hold to the opinion that restaurants and their marketing propaganda are partially to blame for America's obesity. If they didn't offer it and tell everyone it's okay to overeat then perhaps the overeating problem wouldn't be so far out of control.

I agree, it's my own damn fault, but we weren't taught how to decide what was the proper portion size from a child, and sadly neither are the children growing up now.  That is part of the problem.  But as the news has reported for the last couple of months, everything has grown to super size serving in the past twenty years, a child's size cheeseburger is equivalent to what a regular adult size serving was 20 years ago.  The plate sizes have also increased, so I have started using smaller plates in my home + with my change in eating habits, naturally it has impacted the way my family eats as well.  If you don't keep those culprit foods in the house then no one can snack on them. I think that resturants do have some responsibility to inform patrons of their nutrional value in their food as well as serving better size servings.  I don't place the blame totally on them, but campaigns such as Taco Bell's fourth meal targets our youth and perpuates the obesity epidemic in this country.  Okay, I'm through.....kinda posting like Chris this morning, huh?