Comments on: Canada’s Wonderland

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:43:54 +0000

You’re such an amazing father. I’ve followed BME for the last 10yrs and I’ve always made it a point to read your blogs over the years and then since you’ve come here, I still do so. Keep doing what you’re doing, you’re a true inspiration to me and so many others and any child would be lucky to have a man like you as their father.

By: R

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:24:24 +0000

Ha, Caitlin, in high school we learned how to make nutritious cream horns. The recipe for this goes, if you were wondering, “buy cream. Buy pastry horn. Somehow amalgamate the two”. I shouldn’t laugh, really – this provided a solid foundation for Lesson Two: Nutritious Apple Puffs. (“Buy apple sauce. Buy Pastry”. I think you see where this is going…)

By: starbadger

starbadger — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:48:23 +0000

The first rule of Zombieland: Cardio. When the zombie outbreak first hit, the first to go, for obvious reasons… were the fatties.

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lighten up people

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:13:34 +0000

I’m glad you commented Em, what you’re saying rings very true. I wasn’t obese or unhealthy as a kid but I was heavier than average for back then (but lighter than today’s average!), and after a few negative comments at the right point in my life, a great deal of scar tissue was formed that kept me from enjoying activities where my body would be exposed. It took getting lipo to give me the confidence to start going to the gym, and that was one of the best decisions I ever made (and having that foundation of health, even though I can’t exercise any more in the same way, has gone a long way to protecting me right now).

By: Em

Em — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:39:09 +0000

I’m kind of saddened by your comment, Monte. As someone who is overweight, by a “double blessing” of genetic defect and second generation eating disorder, it is precisely the (positive) role models and people who “accepted me as I was” that I a thankful for today for as healthy, active and intellectual a person as I am. The negative influences, those scene queens, nagging fat haters, evil exes and, fuck, most of Japan while helping me lose a lot of weight forced me out of shame and self loathing to do so in a horribly unhealthy fashion, one that’s had very bad repercussions on my personal health over the years.

I don’t think kids should be obese, and it’s sad for me to see that. But I saw a study recently that rang true. In it, researchers found fat/obese kids were less likely to participate in sports because they felt ashamed of their bodies. I feel very thankful I had role models who were obese and excercised with me and team mates growing up who were kind. Jesus.

Not really the comment I wanted to make. The sad thing is in Japan seeing an obese person was a rare thing and nowadays my train to work is slowly growing full of them. I really do think it’s a fast food diet, and I think more than feminism women in the work place and not as free labor in the kitchen has a lot to do with it. And all my home ec. class ever taught me to make: orange sherbert smoothies (with orange concentrate and sugar), cinnamon rolls (with pilsbury dough, sugar, butter and cinnamon).

By: Ania

Ania — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:38:40 +0000

Obesity catches up quickly over here, too and we used to be, allegedly, the thinnest nation in EU. But it’s so easy to fall into a trap of bad food and even worse habits – lack of time to cook and work out, fatigue after long days at work etc.
I’m all for eating lots but I’m also all for making sure to get enough physical activity;
to quote Bill Bowerman, ‘to all who complain that they can’t aafford the fifteen or twenty minutes a day, I echo the words of Arthur Lydiard: ‘you cannot afford not to take the time!’

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:06:32 +0000

I’m a smoker, and I go to great lengths to avoid all other human contact while in the midst of indulging my habit, so I don’t feel too bad. I was once in the back of a parking lot, and this old woman yelled at me for smoking while pregnant. I wasn’t pregnant, not even close.. I’m just fat because I wasn’t taught the value of food as a child. This is all very depressing.

By: LotN

LotN — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:33:51 +0000

I think “lack of time” is the accepted excuse. Many working women with families are certainly pressed for time when it comes to cooking. People don’t seem to accept that it doesn’t take all that long to fix up a plate of food (and even less time the next night if you make a large amount and have leftovers). The fast food chains have done a fine job of convincing people that they’re the answer to the lack-of-time issues.

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:02:28 +0000

I think that the problem with food is that a lot of people just don’t know how to cook. When I was in junior high school and took one year of home economics, the only thing we were taught to cook was Lipton’s chicken noodle soup (not cup-a-soup) in the microwave. Seriously. We were not taught any useful skills at all, not how to use knives or knead bread or measure flour. It’s very little surprise that people gravitate towards convenience foods, have you ever made lasagne from scratch? That’s time consuming and messy, and if you’ve only eaten frozen ones, that’s what tastes ‘right’ to you anyway. I do a lot of cooking around here but I confess to using more frozen and convenience foods than I like. I mean, really, I look at a beautiful cake online and think, I’d love to make that, then I look at the list of ingredients and start feeling uneasy. What if I mess it up? What if no one eats it? That’s when I reach for cake mix and call it good.

Well. And cake mix IS good, gosh darnit!

Anyway, point being that whole foods went out of style a long time ago and that’s when this obesity epidemic came along. I think things might slowly be changing back-lots of people demand organic and local produce these days.

I wonder if the feminist movement somehow inadvertently caused this to happen, in that home ec classes were suddenly seen as oppressive to women…

By: starbadger

starbadger — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:15:28 +0000

https://www.foodincmovie.com/

By: Zandelion

Zandelion — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 05:03:05 +0000

You should come out to the Civil Liberties Day of Action tomorrow!!

Sat – 1pm Queen’s Park
https://rabble.ca/whatsup/day-action-civil-liberties

By: MONTE

MONTE — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 03:51:39 +0000

these days we’re raised to accept people who are obese and support them as well, to “accept them for who they are” and anything different is politically incorrect. obese people have more and more role models these days than ever. it’s become an environment of acceptance and support, even for youth. these days more and more parents are giving their children what ever they want, good or bad for them, without think about the consequences. and once the child is fat they feel even worse taking things they love (the food that is making them fat) away from them).

and isn’t allowing this women to smoke in front of children in public just putting acceptance in childrens faces as well?

By: bonnie

bonnie — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:44:11 +0000

Twwly, what part of upstate NY were you in? The Wegman’s markets around here have a HUGE selection of produce, a lot of it from local farmers. I think the problem with obese children speaks to parental lack of education about nutrition, and more, exposure to BPA’s are shown to cause childhood obesity.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:17:06 +0000

I am always disgusted when I see a person smoking while pushing a stroller, let alone while interacting with children or while pregnant.
I still find myself shocked each time. There is always going to be a few ill-educated people who do unadvisable things. There are, however, so many people who still feel no shame or guilt over exposing their children to vast quantities of poisonous smoke. How is this possible? How can you be faced with the realities of second hand smoke and still expose children?

By: peteD3

peteD3 — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:05:25 +0000

be careful what you wish for!
policing smoking, diet, etc. are BS to me. id rather they stick to the speeders! haha

By: Twwly

Twwly — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:03:47 +0000

Smoking pregnant women? Shannon, you didn’t tell me you guys visited Kincardine! Glory be.

We visited upstate NY this spring and I was shocked at the obese children. And what was for sale in the grocery stores, or lack of produce therein. No concept of nutrition, pretty much across the board. My lean, vegetable eating children were a complete anomaly.

By: Dreya

Dreya — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:00:02 +0000

Glad to see you posting a little more often :). It is sad to see so many children with adult diseases because of poor diet.

By: DON

DON — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:48:54 +0000

I was interested to read the comments in your first paragraph, because as a result of the heavy-handed policing of the G20 in London last year, footage was posted on YouTube, nearly 300 complaints were made to the Police Complaints Commission some of which are still being investigated and at least one officer stood trial for assault.

By: Warren

Warren — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:31:03 +0000

the police definitely have an odd concept of what to police and what not to police.

Everyone is constantly being hounded about driving and talking on cellphones. Yet I’ve seen numerous police doing just that.

honestly, i also gotta admit, i’ll be a happy camper when the rate of smokers drops significantly. Being a former smoker myself, I can nearly suffocate when walking down the street behind or near someone who smokes. I can only imagine how kids suffer with their lungs,etc.

By: kate

kate — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:33:39 +0000

some of the best memories of my life involve riding roller coasters with my dad as a child.

i ‘love’ how that women is sitting in her kid’s stroller to rest as she smokes. too good.