It's Not McDonald's Fault

I say a news story today about a woman who is suing McDonald's because they put toys in Happy Meals. Monet Parham says that her kids ask to eat at McDonald's so that they can get the toys. She feels that McDonald's is getting into her children's heads and influencing what they want to eat. To that I say, No Kidding.

It is no different than what supermarkets do by putting foods targeted towards kids on the lower shelves where they are more visible to them. How is this different from Cereal makers putting toys inside cereal boxes? It is called marketing, and whether you agree with it or not, McDonald's and the Cereal makers are not the ones feeding our children these food. The last time I checked, my wife and I decided what we feed our children.

Ms. Parham complains that she has to say no to her children for so many other things that it is too hard to say no to them when they ask for Happy Meals. Too bad. Part of beginning a parent is doing things that we do not want to do. One of those is saying no to our children if they ask to do something harmful to themselves. Frequently eating McDonald's food can be detrimental to the health of a child.

When we do go to McDonald's, which really is not often, we only get the girls a Happy Meal if it is a toy worth having. Most of them are junk and join the other garbage in the trash within a short time.   But, this Ms. Parham needs to stop blaming McDonald's and look in the Mirror. It is her job to help her children make nutritious choices - not McDonald's or any other fast food restaurants. She needs to set the ground rules at home; not her children. Sometimes being a parent means being the "bad guy." So, take accountability for raising your children and stop blaming everyone else.

Friends' Opinions

It would terrible if we lived in a world where all of our friends hid their true feelings from us. We all have friends who would not say something negative to us even if they were being dangled over a shark-filled pool. On the other hand, we have friends who will give us their opinions whether we want them to or not. Both friends are equally important to our personally growth, and I am glad that I have both kinds.

I have had a Facebook account for two years. Some of the statuses that I have posted during this time have been greeted with less than positive feedback from my friends.  I appreciate that they have called-me out on what I have said. Hearing differing opinions is the only way I am ever going to learn anything, and I do not care how old you are, you are never too old to learn something. My Dad, the man I admire most in this world, is in his 60s, and I know, without a doubt, that he would be one of the first to admit that he is still learning.

That is why I get bummed out when people, for whom I have a great deal of respect, get bent out of shape when their friends disagree with them on sites like Facebook. It is as if they feel they should be able to voice their opinions on a public forum and expect only to get responses from those friends that agree with them. That is not the way it works, and nor should it be.

No matter how carefully you select your friends on something like Facebook, chances are that you will connect with someone who disagrees with you from time to time. That is a great thing. That means you have a diverse friend-base AND people who are willing to share their opinions with you much like you are sharing your opinions with them. Take those differing opinions and learn something. I am not saying that you have to agree with them, but at least give your friends the same opportunity that they have given to you. I think that we owe this to our friends.

Inconsistent?

A friend of mine and reader of this blog told me that he feels I am inconsistent. Specifically, when I talk about eating healthy in one blog and then talk about eating Pizza and Wings in another. He feels that these opposing views paint a fuzzy picture. I totally get what he is driving at, and can see where he might think that. So, please allow me to clear the air.

I make no qualms in saying that I LOVE Pizza and Wings. I also love Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, and Burger King. You know what else? I know that if I were to eat this stuff all of the time I would be severely limiting my time here on earth. I limit my intake of this type of food to one or sometimes two meals a week. Everything in moderation my friend.

I can sit down an eat and entire bag of Snyder's of Berlin BBQ Potato Chips in one night. But, I do not put myself into a situation to allow that to happen. We buy those heavenly chips maybe once of month. There are certain foods that once I get my mitts on them – forget about it. I turn into an Alaskan Brown Bear who is gobbling up all of that delicious Alaskan salmon. You will lose an arm if you get in my way. Consider yourself warned.

There is no reason I should not enjoy that kind of food from time to time. I know how terrible it is for me; but sometimes it just tastes good. I do not deprive myself of it completely, and nor should you if you enjoy it. Just be smart about it. If you like full fat ice cream and you know you will eat the whole half gallon in one sitting, buy just a pint every month or two as a treat. Then do not grab the whole pint, put some in a bowl and limit yourself. Ask a friend or loved one to hold you accountable. 

So, dear friend, think me not inconsistent. I just know what my limits are and try to stick to them. Plus, I cannot help that the “bad” food is the food that I love the most. As my favorite Spinach-eater so eloquently put: “I yam what I yam, and that's all what I yam.”

Get to the Point

I have a problem. Sometimes I like to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. Somebody asks me a question and I just talk. I answer the question, but I give a lot of extraneous details that half the time are not that important. Now, as a Technical Writer that is a bad thing to have happen in my work. But, I think, perhaps, because I am a Technical Writer, it is part of the reason that it happens.

I have to be so concise in what I say in a manual for work that sometimes when people ask me a question I feel the need to expound upon a point. I have a lot of great ideas to share with the world, and I think it is an inherent need of mine to elaborate on those ideas for the first person to start up a conversation with me. The other contributing factor could be the fact that I am in a house with three women. It is hard to get a word in sometimes. I love the women in my life; but geeze maweeze, sometimes I just want to be heard.

Alas, I cannot blame my children, my wife, or my profession for my verbosity. If I blamed them for my faults, why, I would be no better than the growing contingent of folks in America that do not accept responsibility for their own actions. My family and job are not the reasons that I ramble. I ramble on, because, as I said, I like share my ideas. It is just that sometimes I have to remember that the other person(s) in the conversation may not be as into what I am saying. As soon as I forget that, I lose them.

It is at those times, and probably most times, that I need to get to the point. The person who compliments my shirt does not need to know the exact circumstances under which said shirt was purchased. It is okay to just say thank you and move on in the conversation. It is more than okay to get to the point.

What I Learned from Air Hockey

I witnessed an amazing comeback in an Air Hockey game. A friend of my was down 5 to 0, and she came back and won 9 to 8. It was a colossal collapse by her opponent. I think he scored at least 4 or 5 goals on himself, and I know exactly how. He over extended himself. When Ms. Victorious would take a shot, Mr. Collapse would try to meet the puck head-on to create a ricochet shot that would be hard to stop. Well, Mr. Collapse would just miss the puck, and he would be stretched out across the table – totally out of position to protect his goal. In his haste to get back to stop the puck from scoring, he would knock it in. He was infuriated. It was ugly to watch.

Mr. Collapse illustrated an excellent point though. In today's society we are all so rush, rush trying to get everything done at once because we have so much on our calendars. We try to stop the puck and redirect it before we should. We over extend ourselves, and if we are not careful, we may suffer a catastrophic failure too.

My wife and I have had something do just about every night since Labor Day. We have been running around like lunatics. Now, we are very organized people, and we have a family calendar on which everything is written. We know who is coming and who is going and when. Everything has run smoothly so far. But, I am worn down and, I know my wife has to be getting worn down too. She is on the PTA, she goes to the gym three nights a week, she is on the Board at my daughter's preschool, she writes a very good blog (Molly's Lunchbox) for which she has to do prep-work, she is my proof-reader, and she does all of this is on top of being a full-time Mom.

We both know that we need to be careful how far we stretch ourselves. If we do not take a break, even for one evening, other parts of our lives are going to be affected. In my case, my work could suffer. I have too much to do in the next 6 weeks and not a whole of time in which to do it. I will prevail though. I know my limits, and I know my priorities. As soon as I am doing writing this post, I will make lunch for tomorrow, and then hit the sack. Tonight is going to be an early night this tired little guy. I need to hit the ground running tomorrow.

I realize, with the help of my wife, when I am about to over extend myself in my personal life. This helps me to stop and evaluate my professional life too. I am fortunate to have such a wonderful support system. I just wish I could apply this methodology when I am playing air hockey. Yes, it is true, that I am the Mr. Collapse I spoke about above. It was I who was up 5 to 0 only to squander away my lead and finally lose 9 to 8. I can guarantee you that my wife will NOT tell me when I am over extending myself the next time we play Air Hockey – She enjoys whooping on me too much.

(In case you were wondering, it was not my wife who beat me in this particular game. She is far too good at Air Hockey to fall behind 5 to 0.)

You Cannot Change That

People are the way they are and there is not a whole lot you can do to change them. In fact, I would venture to say that you or I cannot change anyone. It is up to that person to change. A very wise man once told me this. Of course, I did not listen to this advice.

I have had relationships that were far from perfect, and I thought that I could make that relationship work if only I could change one little thing here or there. Guess what? Those relationships did not last. Luckily, I have changed my thoughts on that subject and I now understand life a lot better. I do not understand everything; but, I have made some strides. From where I am now in my life, I can see two things wrong with me thinking I could change someone. One, it is egotistical of me to think I can change somebody. Two, who I am to tell someone they need to change?

It is a whole different story if a friend or loved one comes to you with an issue they are having or something that they would like to change in their life. Then, I believe you owe it to that person to give them whatever help you can to ensure that are able to make that change.

“The Biggest Loser” started tonight; so let us use weight loss as an example. If you have a friend who is grossly obese to the point where you fear for their life, you can talk until you are blue in the face about how unhealthy you think they are,. You can tell them that you think they should change the way they eat and start exercising. The key is, this is what YOU think, and maybe the doctors would agree. Perhaps the friend appeases you and nods in agreement. None of that matters though unless something inside them clicks and makes them want to change. It does not matter what you or I think. What matters is what THEIR actions. The same is true for alcoholics and drug addicts. I know these are extreme examples; but I think you get the point.

The same holds true for the little things as well, such as someone who is chronically late. No matter how much you batter that person, they will continue to be late until they make the choice to change. In fact, they may be purposefully late just to get under your skin. I have known people who have told a chronically late person that a party is scheduled to start 30 minutes before the actual start time just so Mr. Tardy will only be 30 minutes late instead of an hour late. You know what happens? That trick works once, and then Mr. Tardy is late for the next party. Plus, he is ticked at you for lying to them.

We can give people all of the information they want, but it is up to them to use it. Just like it is up to us to change ourselves if there is something we know we could do better. Change is a good thing. It is how we grow and become better human beings. Embrace change, but only if that change is necessary.

Oh yeah, the wise man I mentioned above was my Dad. I have since learned how truly wise he his, and I never outright ignore his advice. He always has some kernel of wisdom to share. You see, I changed. I realized that I do not know it all. That one is hard for people to accept. But, I am better for it, and so are the people are around me.

I Think My Wife is Trying to Hurt Me

I told you on Sunday how my wife held me accountable and strongly suggested that I exercise that evening, and like the dutiful husband that I am, I complied. Then, I worked out again Tuesday, Wednesday, and had plans to do so tonight (with out any coaxing from Shannon). So, I asked my wife if she wanted to do the “30 Day Shred” with me tonight. Shannon agreed adding the suggestion that we follow that up with “The Biggest Loser: The Workout – Weight Loss Yoga.” How could I say no to that?

The “30 Day Shred” is difficult by itself. “The Biggest Loser: The Workout – Weight Loss Yoga” is difficult by itself too. (Yes, Virginia, Yoga can give you a good workout.) When you combine these two workouts, well, it is downright hard. In fact, I am not sure if it is really me writing this post or my subconscious.

If you read my post “Held Accountable,” (which I know for a fact I was awake during composition of said piece) you know that I really like the “30 Day Shred.” Let me tell you, I love the “Weight Loss Yoga.” It really works your core (belly and mid and lower back) and also the rest of your body. The DVD is cool because you can customize your workout from the DVD menu. You can select a Warmup, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and a Cool Down.

When doing the “Weight Loss Yoga,” I highly recommend adding the Warmup and Cool Down to whatever level(s) you choose. My wife and I look forward to the Cool Down the most, and that is not because the workout is over. That Cool Down makes all of the hard work we just put in feel so good. We are so relaxed after exercising that we have hard time moving; we just want to sit and enjoy the moment.

Also, the Cool Down is the reason that I know my wife really is NOT trying to hurt me. Shannon knows how good I feel after doing both of the exercise routines; but, I feel especially good both physically and mentally after the Yoga. If you decide to give Yoga a try either using the Biggest Loser DVD, another Yoga DVD, or a live class, I think you will be happy with the results. I know I am.

Held Accountable

I have a confession to make. Even though I feel really good after I exercise, I have a hard time getting motivated to do it. Fortunately, I have my wife, Shannon, around to keep me accountable and to remind me of the pledge I made in last Wednesday's post, “Goodbye Diet Vacation.”

Tonight's workout was a good one for a couple of reasons. First, my wife and I worked out together, and for me, anytime that I can spend time with my wife is time well spent. (No, I am not just saying that because she reads my blog.) Second, we had a really good workout.

In our quest for achieving a healthy lifestyle, Shannon and I have purchased a few DVDs and Wii games so that we can workout at home. One of my favorite purchases is Jillian Michaels' “30 Day Shred.” It is a hard workout which makes it all the better, and it only takes about 30 minutes. Jillian says on the DVD that it is only a 20 minute workout, but that is not entirely true.

You start off with a 2 minute warm-up, then you go to three 6 minute circuits, and end with a 2 minute cool down. Yes, I know that only adds up to 22 minutes. (I am not that bad at math.) By the time you get set up, load and start the DVD, exercise, and cleanup, the time adds up to about 30 minutes. It is 30 minutes well spent.

Apart from the DVD, you only need hand weights and a mat. You really only need the mat if you are exercising on a hard surface. We have hard wood floors; so, I need a mat. If you do not have hand weights and do not want to buy them right away, you can use two cans of soup, or gallon milk jugs. I would advise using the milk jugs after all the milk is gone. That could get stinky. You can fill them up with water or sand to a maximum weight of about 8.35 lbs when using water and between 10.7 lbs and 16.71 lbs for the sand. Either would be more than enough weight. I would start with 3 lbs. Laugh at me all you want, but I want you to post a comment after you have tried the workout to tell me if you are still laughing.

I love the “30 Day Shred” even if I tend curse Jillian when she has us perform certain exercises. I also love the fact that my wife holds me accountable, and that she and I exercise together. I will tell you the honest truth that I had no intention of exercising tonight until she told me that I needed to do it. She can be very persuasive when she wants to be.