The Wrong Message
from Michelle Obama and other food Nazis!

Demonizing fast food and other menu items is as wrong as it is foolish and ineffective. I had a friend who operated a chain of roast beef sandwich shops. He once laughed when he heard a TV commercial demonizing the hamburger and urging people to "think outside the bun." The hamburger has frequently shown to be America's favorite sandwich. He questioned what can be gained by attacking the favorite? Resentment from all who hear?

That is the ineffective part. The wrong part of demonizing fast food is that it serves no useful purpose. There is nothing inherently unhealthy about beef, buns, lettuce, pickle or mustard. Or even French Fries. The problem is overeating!

So, the food Nazis attack restaurants for oversizing portions! Wrong again. What is wrong with giving customers more for their money? Just don't eat it all!

My wife and I go into a burger place, order one hamburger and one order of fries. We split both the burger and the fries. We satisfy our hunger and neither are overweight.

There are only two correct rules for diet. First, learn to enjoy all kinds of foods. The more variety in your diet, the healthier your diet. Second, eat to satisfy your stomach... not your palate! Sure, I could eat a quart of ice cream at one sitting. My palate would love it. The rest of my body would not. And the surprising part is that once you form the habit of eating for your stomach, your palate learns to go along and is satisfied with the smaller portions. Let your brain, not your taste buds, tell you how much to eat

I believe that menu variety must be taught early. Parents of small children should learn from depression-era parents who, constricted by poverty, served the family no wide choice of menu items. They served what they had - what they could afford - and the choices were "take it or leave it". Hunger taught the children to "take it", and they learned to enjoy all those different things mom cooked.

There was an old song that sang of "cornbread and buttermilk and good old turnip greens." Yes, that was the menu at many a dinner I enjoyed as a kid on the farm. Especially if the turnip greens were cooked with a little piece of ham hock, or even salt pork.

Two things parents should know. Tastes do differ and some children will never learn to like certain foods, no matter how much you like those foods. Encourage them. Do not force. And, remember that children are easily influenced by the comments of others. I once sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with a large family group. Several kinds of salad dressing were placed on the table. The container of blue cheese dressing was almost empty and I wanted it. So did a couple of small boys who wanted it because there was so little. I reasoned that they had probably never eaten blue cheese and had no idea how it tasted, but I encouraged them to take it... It's good, I informed, made with sour goat's milk! That's all it took. They wouldn't touch it.

Serve your children a variety of food and talk about how good it all tastes. Control portions. Don't serve their food in such a way that they can fill their stomachs with mashed potatoes and never touch the vegetables or meat.

As an adult, ignore Michelle and the other food Nazis. Eat whatever you like. Remember your last meal and have something different for the next. Not had a salad today? Be sure to have one for dinner. During hard times, we used to say "Take all you want - eat all you take." Learn to say "Take anything you like - eat less of everything."