Repulsed

Did anyone else watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night? I did!

Before i go into my thoughts on the show and my opinion i want to say something.

I am from West Virginia. I live in Charleston which is about an hour more or less from Huntington. I was born and raised in this beautiful state. I have talked here before about how i love my state. I think we are highly undervalued as a state in general and i think the overall opinion of our state as a whole is completely distorted.

Often when mentioned in casual conversation in other states we are refered to as hillbillies, rednecks, illiterate. We are not thought to be smart or reputable people. We are talked down to and often shown or dipicted as white trash. A lot of people out west do not even realize we are a state unto ourselves.

This in and of itself is hurtful. We have several popular and formidable colleges. We have produced many intelligent people including actors, actresses, athletes, lawyers, doctors, and politicians. Yes we are proud people and yes we are "country". Most of us were raised to live off the land or use our natural resources to our aide. My borther hunts as do most of my male counsins. I have my own opinions on guns but that is another topic. I eat deer meat, squirel and rabbit (although the later 2 are not high on my list). I have swam in creeks and slept under the stars.

Yes we have a very high illiteracy rate, yes we have a high obesity rate, yes our state has a high teen pregnancy rate, yes we are at the bottom of the poverty level. All these thigns are true. But with truth comes knowledge and even if most of us are not college educated we are high in life lessons. We are willing to learn and willing to do what we must to survive.

I said all of that so i could say this:

I am repulsed, offended, and highly upset at the way some of these people recieved and treated Jamie Oliver. He came here to help us with a problem that doesnt just effect us but the whole US and we treated him unkind. I humbly appologize for the way a few seem to have represent our state. It seems that is the way it always is. I appreciate ont he other hand how others opened him with open arms and allowed him to come into their lives and share his wealth of knowledge. And although he may never read this, i want to say thank you to Jamie himself for waging this war on obesity. Our and our childrens lives depend on what this one man can teach us.

Now on to the show and Jamie's whole purpose of the Food Revolution.

I think this man has opened the eyes of what i hope will be America. I know i cried as i watched what they were feeding our kids. As a mother to young children i was sick. Phabian will begin kindergarten in a few months and i know now that i will be packing his lunches.

Pizza for breakfast, followed by chicken nuggets for lunch. Nothing but processed food and nothing fresh but white bread rolls and a few fruits. I am just as gulity as the next mom of doing the drive thru thing what is probably to often. On the other hand i also cook a lot of meals from scratch. We grill a lot, we bake a lot, and our stove is in constant use. I try to buy health snacks such as fresh fruit and veggies as much as possible but often i find myself going for the convient stuff just as often.

It scares me that i myself am taking year off of my childrens lives by the simple things that i feed them. As parent we often vow that we would never do anything to harm our kids but we never think about what we are putting into there bodies as harming them.

I plan to follow along on this journey Jamie Oliver has started. I signed the petition for better food in our children's schools and i encourage you to go to the website, read, and sign as well. Make them rethink what they are feeding out kids and their guidelines for what health food is.

I hope to start cooking better meals and opting for more fresh and less processed. It is a journey but i do not want to harm my kids anymore with the trash i feed them. I want me and my children and my husband to be healthy and live long lives. And if that means spending a little more money on food and less on recreation than so be it we will find the money somewhere.

I hope yo all are doing well and i promise my next post will have lots more cute cuddle kids and a lot less raving mad lunatic hehe.