June 8, 2007

I'm back & still mad as hell and not going to take it anymore


It's been 3 weeks since my last post. I have been focusing on rightsizing my little world, instead of America.

I continue to read, see and hear America, though. More and more Americans are waking up, right now, to the portion poison haze hanging over all the eateries.

Two angry moms in Connecticut are demanding cafeterias serve the rightsize to our kids.

Students in Texas are asking Americans to make nourishment -- not gluttony -- a priority of eating once again.

T.G.I. Friday's and Cheesecake Factory
are cutting prices along with meal size, so each dish is a few dollars cheaper than the larger entrées.

It has started. It has reached the tipping point.

Like Crocs and Webkinz and Facebook and presidential candidates, a tsunami of momentum is inundating the country.

You now can't open the NY Times and not see a story about obesity and food portions.

You can't listen to PBS and not hear a story about diets and fat people.

You can't turn on The Today Show and not view a story about eating the right foods to prevent disease.

You can't click on MSNBC.com and not see a health report on how government is looking at food.

But is this just the issue of the minute?

Or is this a health crisis like smoking, automobile accidents or cancer?

I don't know.

What I do know is, I'm back and still mad as hell. We need to change America today for our kids' tomorrows.

Yesterday, JD in comments encouraged me to continue the fight. I will.

Time magazine said:
What will it take to build on these ideas such as these, to extend brilliant local and pilot programs to more people? Alice Waters' one-word answer to this question struck me as the most honest: Money. And that's where the grassroots pressure comes in. The food industry will go where its customers lead them. Government ultimately has to heed the voters. "A million mad moms" — is a phrase that echoes in my ears. There is a role for the media — my colleagues, those at ABC, and elsewhere — to educate moms and dads. Perhaps if we stop playing up the dietary confusion message and emphasize what works in fighting obesity, more folks will get mad, understand what's at stake, and demand the kind of programs and changes we've heard about at this conference. Then we can finally reach and pass the "tipping point" on obesity.
I'm not a million moms. I'm just one dad.

But I'm trying to get a million moms mad...understand what's at stake...and demand the kinds of changes necessary to change America.

Join me in this crusade. Onward soldiers!

No comments: