Talk about 'hot' topics -

I've read any number of comments in various online websites today commenting upon Michele Obama's meal choice, and here's the one that appeared in our own newspapers this morning:

www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cf...  

Of course, Mrs. Obama has the right to eat whatever she chooses whenever she wants, so that is not an issue.  Whether or not what she eats can be termed 'healthy' isn't an issue, either, I suppose, given that something like 99% of Americans regularly indulge in burgers and fries and Happy Meals - whatever they are - etc., etc.

The nutritionists saying that her choice is healthy does give pause, though.  Can this be something that should be said in a nation raising a generation of fatties?  Where more than half the population are not only overweight, but quickly becoming obese?

But, never mind that issue, either.  People eat what they want regardless of whether any authority figure tells them not to.  It's human nature.

What I found troubling was Mrs. Obama's offhand, thoughtless remark that she wouldn't want to live a life in which she couldn't have burgers and fries.    
 
Reading that, I could only think about the millions and millions of people all over the globe, living in absolute poverty in places like Calcutta, sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Asia, where just getting barely enough food to sustain life is a major task for a family.  And where the majority of people do not have the means or the opportunity to get burgers and fries any time they wish.

Surprising, isn't it, how just one careless comment like that can cause a person to completely lose respect for someone?

I take it differently.  Afterall, Ms. Obama's audience is the american public, not people starving in North Korea or Somalia who can't get food easily.  Her audience is increasingly large waist-banded american public. 

What she is saying is that you can be fit and have a commitment to eating and living healthy and still enjoy your favorite foods on occasion.  Be it burger and fries or Guiness Stout, you can still enjoy those things as long as you do it in moderation. 

Jul 13, 2011 -- 11:10PM, Erey wrote:

I take it differently.  Afterall, Ms. Obama's audience is the american public, not people starving in North Korea or Somalia who can't get food easily.  Her audience is increasingly large waist-banded american public. 

What she is saying is that you can be fit and have a commitment to eating and living healthy and still enjoy your favorite foods on occasion.  Be it burger and fries or Guiness Stout, you can still enjoy those things as long as you do it in moderation. 

Banner evening, Erey

You and I agree !!!! :)

Erey -

Just curious, but what do you consider to be 'moderation' in diet?  I once asked a doctor what eating something like, say, steak would be considered eating in modernation, and he said that it would be a piece of meat about the size of a deck of cards that you ate two or three times a week.

And that would not be fatty meat.  A burger (which is fatty meat) would be about that size, I suppose, but you would be eating it with the bun, of course, and maybe cheese or something else, which would increase the calories.  (Since I don't eat such foods, I'm just guessing, because I really know what this all entails.)

Then, if you're talking about moderate meat-eating, using the above definition, then you could eat burgers several times a week with no ill effects.  But this also means that you're not eating anymore than that as far as meat is concerned.  In other words, if you had the burger for lunch, then, strictly speaking, you're not allowed more meat the rest of that day. 

But, I seriously doubt that anybody who had the burger for lunch skips the steak or the pork chops or whatever for supper.  And some people have either a burger or a luncheon meat sandwich or a restaurant meal of chicken or other meat almost every day for lunch, and then a regular Western style supper of meat, potatoes, and two veggies.

Which is why, in the real world, that phrase 'in moderation' is meaningless.

Jul 13, 2011 -- 11:10PM, Erey wrote:

I take it differently.  Afterall, Ms. Obama's audience is the american public, not people starving in North Korea or Somalia who can't get food easily.  Her audience is increasingly large waist-banded american public. 

What she is saying is that you can be fit and have a commitment to eating and living healthy and still enjoy your favorite foods on occasion.  Be it burger and fries or Guiness Stout, you can still enjoy those things as long as you do it in moderation. 

Thank you!

Irene.