One last rant

Happy Thanksgiving to all those Americans out there! Billy just commented last night that he wished our Thanksgiving was at the same time as the US's. I think because he would really like a 4 day week-end right about now, and what a treat to watch great football (Lions VS Miami - GO JOEY!) on a Thursday afternoon. Needless to say, Billy is going to try to park his butt and watch the game somewhere this afternoon. It seems that our Thanksgiving was forever ago! Time flies, but it was October 9th and it seems like months... I could use some turkey....

So anyway, here is my last rant for a while. After shopping in Tennessee, and with American Thanksgiving here, I am really getting in the mood for Christmas, and want to stay happy and positive.

This rant is about fast food in the States. (Okay, not the whole 50 of them, just a little slice in Crossville Tennessee...)

Crossville has a population of about 10,000, but it is pretty much the only town in the centre of a big, although rural, county. Crossville has every fast food outlet you can imagine, and with a location on I-40, it boasts an additional McD's, Taco Bell, Dairy Queen, and Cancun Mexican Restautant, (I didn't know that Cancun was known for good food...). In the town itself, is everything from Rally's to BK to Long John Silver's, Krystal, Pizza Hut, Hardees - you name it!

Let's compare that with Kingsville, Ontario. It has a population of about 7,000 with a greater area population of 20,000. Now, (obvious disclaimer...) Kingsville is located fairly close to a city, so it may not need to have all the amenities that an isolated town needs... Kingsville has a Subway, (I think....) Naples, (local chain pizza) McD's, and a Tim Hortons. That's about it, please forgive me if I've missing something.

In Crossville from 8-9am, the Dairy Queen, McD's, BK, (everything that is open essentially) has a drive through line up of at least 15 cars. For one thing, get out of your car! You're idling, killing the environment, (not to mention that there is no regulations post purchase of car emissions in the US....) Park the car, waddle your fat butt inside, be polite to the counter help, say hi to your neighbor, and walk away with your ridiculously fattening, sugar loaded morning meal.

I am truly stunned and in awe of how packed these fast food chains are in the mornings. Now of course, some people are just getting coffee, (coffee there is not like it is here.. here it is a religion, a way of life, a social outlet...) but many of these people are feeding themselves and their kids this everyday. Shocking! Gross! Did you read my post yesterday where I talked about childhood obesity rates?

So let's check out Kingsville. The Tim's Drive thru is packed. Out to the road. No parking in the lot. (K-ville seriously needs another Tim's.) I choose to avoid Tims in K-ville because it is so busy. I can definitely say that most people are getting just coffee. Yes the occasional box of doughnuts, bagel, and now the - wanna be McMuffin - Breakfast Sandwich. In contrast, next door is the McD's. Hardly a car line. No cars in the lot. It looks closed.

Why the difference? Well I think it's because we know what good coffee tastes like. (I usually grind my own, and only have Tim's rarely...) As Canadians, we are generally healthier and don't want pure sugar and fat for breakfast. We take the time to make our kid's some breakfast, (really now, how hard is cereal? - the cereal available in the States is a whole other rant which I will not get into now...) We are not obsessed with convenience, and fast food is still viewed as 'eating out' and not done daily, or even weekly.

Now of course, (another obvious disclaimer) there are people that eat at the drive thru everyday around here. There are morbidly obese people here that feel the need to 'treat' themselves to some fast food. I also realize that perhaps in a healthy city like Denver, or Seattle people behave more like they do here. I am just talking in generals here. Billy says that I eat more fast food than just about anyone he knows. Maybe that's true. Maybe I and the mom in Tennessee have something in common.

I think that we should just look at ourselves, and how we interact with the world. Do you depend on fast food? Is is because it tastes so good, or because you are out and about and truly need to eat something fast? Have you also tried every diet in the world and nothing has worked? Is there a relationship here? Are your kids crying and driving you crazy because they want the latest toy in the kids' meal? They have all the others! They need this one to finish their collection! Can't you say no to your kids? Aren't you the one who decides what is good for them? Who do you blame? Have you ever looked at yourself?

Rant done. Truly sorry if I offended anyone. Please remember that I am overweight myself, I eat fast food. I also know who I am. I don't blame this or that for my time issues or weight problems. I am the way I am because of who I am and the choices that I make everyday, good or bad.