A personal trainer rant by Callie Durbrow
I Need Your Opinion on This…Am I Wrong to Feel Angry?
I’m a little bit angry today. I saw something last night that made my heart ache just a little bit. Maybe it’s because of my profession as a personal trainer, I don’t know, so I need your thoughts.
See, last night I was in Target grabbing a few things for my upcoming trip to California. I’m going out there again for an amazing business seminar. This is a great way for me to refocus my business and meet up with some great trainer friends. Plus the weather out in Cali isn’t so bad 🙂
So I’m in Target getting all those little 4 ounce bottles and quart sized ziploc bags that are airplane approved. I hate checking a bag so I’m just packing everything in my carry-on. I also hate those people that bring a HUGE carry-on that barely fits. Kinda like Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents….
When I walked into Target the first thing that I saw was a really large woman in one of those motorized carts that you can sit in. Her son was walking next to her (he was probably like 7 or 8) and in the front basket of this cart she had donuts, candy and some kind of sugary juice or soda, I couldn’t really tell.
When I saw this, it made my blood boil and my heart ached for this little boy. Now maybe the mom had an injury or something, I don’t know. My first thought was that this poor little boy was being exposed to eating all this JUNK food and what an awful example of parenting this was. An extremely overweight woman just fueling her path to an early death with a cart full of sugar and crap.
As a person who values exercise, nutrition and healthy lifestyles, maybe this bothers me more than most people. Am I wrong? Should I feel angry with this situation or just let people make their own beds, so to speak?
Let me know your thoughts on this with a quick comment.
There is a reason why the US is the fattest country on the planet. Nutrition and exercise is a learned behavior. At some level, it’s also about education. I get super annoyed at those people that eat crap like that and then wonder why they are overweight. Be good to yourself and your kids and eat better!
The challenge I have when I see someone like that is to feel grateful that I am not that person, try to understand why they are in that situation and then try not to judge them. I truly believe that certain people have an addiction to sugar the same way someone is addicted to heroin. I would think this person is in a spiraling, out of control downward cycle in her life and she has chosen to cover her pain by using her drug of choice. Her drug use results in excessive fat which results in all of the other problems that come with a sick body. I hope she finds someone to lead her to the right path. We all have choices in our life, but an addict in the middle of her addiction leads a life of few choices.
Yes, that is very upsetting. It is the responsiblity of a parent(s) to care for her child especially when it comes to food. Children do not have the skills and resources to know what foods are appropriate in their diet. It’s harder to correct bad habbits than to learn the right way the first time, and that child could struggle for the rest of his life because of the bad habbits picked up from his mother. More importantly, health problems can set in at an early age, and it is a parent’s responsibility to keep her children safe, even from health problems to the best of her ability.
I love Sara’s response to this. Although I do have a similar reaction that Callie had whenever I see obese kids on motorized scooters instead of bicycles! While I am a big believer in personal responsibility, I also think that you have to take that stuff on a case-by-case basis. If the women does have a food addiction, it can be devastating. Unlike other addictions, you NEED to eat to survive, so what do you do? And if she is depressed on top of that…it’s a really hard hole to dig yourself out of. On the other hand, it is her responsibility to provide nutritious food and instill healthy habits in her child so he doesn’t meet a similar fate. No matter how you look at it, it’s a sad situation for all involved. Hopefully, these two have people in their lives that care enough to intervene before it’s too late!
You can be angry, but don’t necessarily be mad at the mom, there are several things you need to consider when you get mad when you see this: 1. She may not know better, healthy eating is a learned behavior and needs to be taught…she may never have had a teacher. 2. Socioeconomically, our society does not promote healthy eating unless you have money. When you have limited income, sometimes you are thinking, I can get a whole box of this food for a $1, but broccoli is $3/lb. Maybe she doesn’t feel like she can afford healthy food, which can be a vicious cycle that is hard to break. Especially if there hasn’t been enough education, either through school or at home to teach healthy eating habits early on. 3. Everything, from advertising to the lobbyists are promoting the consumption of foods and portion sizes that are unhealthy, and going back to the education piece, people need to be taught what is a healthy amount of food to eat since what they are being sold and told is almost always not what is really best for the consumer. So, feel bad for the kid, that is ok, but don’t get angry at his mom since you can’t possibly know where she is coming from. I don’t know if there is anything one person can do, but I think that we need to advocate for healthy school lunches, nutrition programs in our schools and maybe a crazy tax on junk food where the revenue is used to fund healthy eating programs. Just my two cents.
Good Morning Callile Their are two way of looking at people in the mechinical strollers that you see
in the malls and grocery store. one their is physical problem or just plain lazieness. The question
that plays on my mind is do i feel sorry for them or be angry.My personal thoughts is that no one
forced you to eat the bad food that is out there. If you want to live a long and healthy life you
have to take care of yourself. NO EXCUSES i am not saying these issues to be mean, in america
we are over worked under paid overstressed and by the end of the day we are too tired