Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I am the Devil or Bad Mommy

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I am the Devil…at least I felt that way after putting two stomach aching children to bed. Against my better judgment, I took my children to Burger King and well, I nearly killed them. Okay, it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but they have never responded in this manner after eating fast food.

As we were driving home, my daughter started telling me to never take her there again because the food smelled. I thought for sure she was kidding and decided to play along with her. She continued to talk and I gave her an occasional acknowledgement while listening to what I was sure would be recanted the next time we drove by Burger King and she wanted to go there. My oldest chimed in about how he didn’t like his food either.

By the time I put them to bed, they both were uncomfortable and feeling sick. McDonald’s, Burger King, etc. (fast food) has been crossed off their list of treats. I actually stopped participating in a playgroup because they had too many play dates at Burger King. I preferred my children meet and play at a park in the fresh air rather than jump around on an enclosed, feet smelling, play gym? Often, I felt bad about saying "no," when they asked for fast food and dreaded driving by one for fear of them asking.

One day, I had an epiphany. I’m the mommy! The reason I don’t like fast food is because it isn’t healthy eating. I love McDonald’s French fries, but feel bloated and sick after eating them and food shouldn't make you feel that way. Sometimes we’re caught without lunch and food on the go is convenient and necessary. Hungry people are grumpy and sometimes a little mean. Add tired too and you tend to make bad decisions.

I want to feel good after eating my food and I want my children to make good food choices. Fast food taste good and I don’t want them to get swayed by flavor before they really know what they are eating. It’s hard to stop eating something you’ve loved for years even after realizing how dangerous it is for you. I struggle now with a really bad sweet tooth. Recently, I was too tired to cook and I drove about 40 minutes round trip (sometimes living in the country ain’t so easy because everything closes a little too early) to satisfy a sugar fix. The cookies were disappointing and I experienced a miserable night.

Since I’m the mommy, our “fast food” choices now come from the likes of Whole Foods and Subway. I’m so happy Subway apologized for their gaffe because I love their sandwiches. My better judgment rules and we will not be eating fast food anytime soon.

Note: Everyone was fine in the morning. I ate some of the same food they had, so I don't believe it was food poisoning. Hopefully, it was just discriminating taste.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so true you know. My kids love fast food unfortunately and I hate the way I feel after I eat it. We try not to go out to fast food at all, but once in a while we do. I hope your kids feel better in the morning!!

dreamingBIGdreams said...

i agree.
we avoid those type of fast foods all together.
we'll do chick fil a, subway, quiznos, etc.
no mcdonald's, burger king!

:)jamie

Jen said...

We never eat fast food either so the very very few times I have let them have it, they think it is the best thing ever. I guess your kids want be asking for it any time soon.

Tammi said...

Yeah, we don't eat fast food often at all because it makes us all feel gross afterwards. It can be convenient but it's not worth it.

I hope your kids feel better!