You want me to eat WHAT exactly?

Pin It

By now you've probably heard that the USDA has come out with yet another visual aid to help you figure out how much you're supposed to eat of each food group. This is an attempt to demystify the famous pyramid, supposedly.

Hmmm, thinking about it now, maybe the pyramid was why I felt this incredible desire to hunt down triangular plates to put on my wedding registry (which my husband promptly vetoed at first mention...).
I took trip over to the recently refurbished "MyPlate" website to check things out. I had never really been before so went exploring. First off, the updates are not ready for kids and preschoolers. that was frustrating, since that's what I was most interested in. I would have thought that these would be the first pages to be reworked, but hey, I'm not in government, what do I know?

Then I saw a special page just for me, yay! "Pregnant/Breastfeeding". So off I go, and to my surprise there is even a little linky "Breastfeeding - Weight Loss" Yay! Maybe something that might actually motivate me to get out of the rut and drop some baby weight. Not so much. Essentially, simply by breastfeeding and staying under so many calories I should be losing weight. Well, I do and I do and I'm not...there goes that theory! 

Oh, they do tell me that I can cut out all my "extras", they're probably (as in they are) right in theory, but these are what keep me awake after 2 hours of sleep for nights on end, or rewards for not killing my 2 year-old any given day. They help me retain my sanity. I know, excuses, excuses, right? Yep. My weight obviously doesn't bother me enough to sacrifice, so we'll just move on.

I tracked back to the lovely interactive "Daily Plan for Moms" I thought maybe that might help give me an idea of what I might be overindulging in besides my extras. Well...not so much. It's really just more of the same, so many ounces of this, so many cups of that. Ummm, ok.

After a little more searching I finally found a page that did tell me about how much was an ounce or a cup without having to go buy expensive scales and measuring accouterments. Great!

I'll be honest though, it still didn't help. Maybe for some people the new look will be a great inspiration. But for me and people like me, it's really just more government money thrown at something that they think they should be responsible for, but can't really do anything about.

I am the one who decides what I eat and how much. Me. And it doesn't matter what's in it, or whether I know or don't know that it is going straight to my hips and other places. I eat it because it sounds good or tastes good. Statistics kind of proved that when nothing significantly changed after fast food restaurants were mandated to post nutrition information. I have to decide that what I look like in pictures bothers me too much, or I'm tired of being out of shape and out of breath running after the kids in order to make a change. Me. My decision.

The government can't change my mind for me, and I'm a little insulted that they think they can. It's not as if the info isn't out there, it's not even as if people haven't heard it. It's that people don't care what the government thinks. If you ask dieters or other healthy life-style peeps, I highly doubt that you will find someone who will honestly tell you "I live this way because the government says it's best for me." They do it for personal reasons, if I'm going to make a change it's going to be by me anf for me.

So, to the USDA and our First Lady, if you are going to insist on sticking your nose in my life, try and make it count. I live in an era of information at my fingertips and I don't need more facts poured into my visual field. I'm telling you a "Your Life, Your Choice" campaign would be a lot more effective.

Show me images of families playing with their kids or accomplishing physical feats and tie it to an imaged of a tasty looking balanced meal, then show me someone who is obese and watching sadly as their kids run around without them. Just a suggestion.

Speak to my emotions, my head stopped listening a long time ago.

Follow me on Facebook or Twitter so you don't miss out on any of the Milk Bubbles that just might make your day that much more special!