Super Size Me

MY BLOG IS MY SOAPBOX

So the question that always rings in my ears is this: "If fast food is bad for you and plastic bottles/bags are bad for the environment and cigarettes & alcohol are addictive & bad for you, then why are people still allowed to sell them?  Why aren't they illegal?"  You wanna know why?  Our government's economy, and therefore our economy, would completely crumble without these establishments.  Our government could not survive without the taxes that are paid from these businesses.  Our economy couldn't survive without the jobs provided from these businesses.

I was so frustrated while watching "Super Size Me".  Lawsuits over the fact that you didn't tell your kids NO and let them eat at McDonald's (or suing McDonald's for making your kid fat).  The movie talks about how unhealthy the food is and therefore America is completely unhealthy because of it.  America, as a whole, is unhealthy because we've been taught to "do what feels good and what makes us happy regardless of the consequences".  We have not been taught to have self-control and take responsibility for our actions.

As I signed in to write this post, my friend, Elizabeth, had just put this on her blog: "Freedom is irresistible but the by-product of freedom tends to be detestable".  That is such a huge statement!  There is so much meat to it.  My husband and I have always had the mentality that there is freedom in boundaries.  Would you take your child to play on a playground that is right by the road that was not surrounded by a fence or wall?  No.  Because you know that there is safety for your child inside the boundary.  It's the same with anything else in life.  If children aren't taught to live inside certain boundaries, they will grow up not knowing when to stop; which is lack of self-control and self-discipline. Back to the statement from my friend: when people are given too many freedoms, the majority of the time they won't know where to stop and the end result becomes known as "rock bottom" or rehab and so on.

All of that above to say, WHERE DOES THE PERSON'S SELF-CONTROL COME INTO THE PICTURE?  Yes, McDonald's sells unhealthy food.  But I also have the CHOICE to go in there or not.

My other argument is this.  If healthy food was as inexpensive as fast food, I'd be more inclined to eat it all of the time.  In the movie, he talks about how fast food restaurants have lobbyists that lobby for fast food restaurants' rights.  It does not, however, talk about anybody lobbying to make healthy, organic food (the kind that his vegan wife cooks) as inexpensive as fast food, with more availability to the middle & lower class.

I'm so tired of people blaming the ones "making" people unhealthy when they aren't blaming Whole Foods for making a grocery bill 5 times more expensive than my bill at Kroger.  Or blaming the fast food restaurants and not saying that America is obese because our unofficial motto is "do what feels good and what makes you happy".

I don't mind people making documentaries.  But let's cover all sides, people.  Let's ask the healthy grocery stores why they are so expensive AS WELL as challenge fast food restaurants' health standards.  Let's talk about how fast food restaurants are recording big profits but so is the government; as well as it being a source of income for many Americans.  Let's talk about how I daily make the choice to eat what I want, within the budget that I have.  I don't eat fast food for every meal but I don't eat organic for every meal, either.

It's one of my soap boxes.  I don't apologize for it.