Food For Thought

Food For Thought

I have not eaten any fast food from the big chains in.......10 to 15 years. My kids were never given Happy Meals as dinner, nor were they "drive through" kids. I eat healthy, yet struggle everyday with weight related health issues. The obesity problem is more systemic than a fast food ban. It's a lifestyle thing that is impossible to change. We, in suburbia where the obesity rates are high, have to drive to buy groceries, to clothe ourselves, to do banking, mail parcels, go to the doctor. How crammed is the parking lot at the gym; the park? If we could bring back the neighborhood green grocer, the pharmacy, the savings and loan.....if the movie theater was the prominent focus point of our downtown, we might walk more. If were had the space to grow a baseline crop of non GMO staples, fertilized by free range chickens, pollinated by honeybees not affected by those lush, green, over-fertilized and manicured pesticide patches we so love in suburbia. If our jobs did not require us to commute long miles and hours every day, if our schools were all within walking distance......We love our cars, we love our suburban homes, we need that commute to chase that lifestyle. We can't ever change this. We have taken up too much space on our planet to accommodate all of the wonderful people who live here. So I guess what we need to do is ban cars. Ban malls. Ban planned parks and recreation. Ban sprawling suburban homes, ban school complexes and ban long commutes. Hmmm...looks like we need a "do over."