Maniac Mondays

I feel badly that I missed last week's Things I love Thursdays, but remembered to post to my Maniac Monday list... Now what does that say about me?

Okay so what makes my blood boil that I want to express this week?  Food Advertising.

Yup.  Food Advertising.  It isn't bad enough that we are bombarded by hundreds of advertisements a day, but the sheer amount of food advertising is enough to make anyone physically ill if you really look at them.  As anyone who knows me knows, I am a lacto-ovum vegetarian.  This means I eat vegetables, eggs and some dairy, and honey.  And to be honest, the vast majority of my meals are vegan just because.  I am raising V lacto-ovum vegetarian as well and truly hope that she stays that way as she becomes old enough to make her own choices.  I am a vegetarian for numerous reasons; health, environmental and ethical.  I admit that I am overweight due to lack of exercise, but as I mentioned before, I'm working on that with my new interest in hula hooping, and I have a 13-month-old to keep up with.  So anyway...

Food advertising is almost always about meat products, and even worse fast food more times than not.  Think about it;  Jimmy Dean Sausages, KFC, BK, McD's, Wendy's, Sonic, then there are the "Pork, the other white meat," "Beef, it's what's for dinner" ads.  There are sandwiches made with two fried chicken cutlets, bacon and cheese, pizzas with more meat than crust, and thousand calorie drink options.  Even the most recent fruit advertisement glorified it's huge carbon footprint.  Have you seen the new Chiquita Banana commercial? How is it that we are supposed to eat better and have good family time while doing while we are surrounded by these over salted, fatty, sugary or pesticide laden GMO non-foods all the time?

I am fighting against my own habits and trying to reduce salt and sugar consumption so I can be a better role model for V.  I started the first step nine years ago when I stopped eating beef, pork and poultry, and then continued five years ago when I stopped eating fish and seafood.  Now I have reduced my table salt usage, stopped putting sugar on cereal, and tried adding flax and chia seeds to my meals to reduce hunger and clean out my system.  I have fed V entirely on breastmilk and real foods that we prepare, such as organic fruits and vegetables (locally sourced if possible), brown rice, organic wheat pasta and puffed grain cereal.  But what about when she can start choosing her own food?  Will the groundwork I have laid so carefully over the last year last in spite of the pervasive advertising and ease of horrible food choices?  Obviously I cannot answer that question for a few years.  In the mean time, I think I will use the DVR option as often as possible to avoid those terrible pieces of visual garbage.