"Andy" > wrote in message ...
> "Julie Bove" > wrote:
>
>>
>> "Andy" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> "Julie Bove" > wrote:
>>>
>>>> I do not think fast food in and of itself is a bad thing. Yes, some
>>>> fast food places do not offer any healthy options at all. McDonalds
>>>> and Burger King do offer raw apples in various forms. And Wendy's
>>>> has mandarin oranges. They also have side salads. Perhaps not
>>>> organic fare,. but they are options. Perhaps not a meal either, but
>>>> at least they are enough to tide you over until you can get to some
>>>> real food.
>>>
>>>
>>> Julie,
>>>
>>> The applesauce offering is never advertised on TV, so the two sausage
>>> egg biscuits for $3 becomes "real" food to the mindless fast food
>>> public.
>>
>> That could be. I only ever had breakfast at McDonald's once. I can't
>> remember where we were. We were making a cross country move and had
>> overslept. There was a McDonald's next door to our motel. Yes,
>> motel. We were out in the boonies somewhere. I remember getting some
>> bacon. Just bacon.
>>
>> No matter where I dine, I tend not to order things off the menu as is.
>> I merely look at the menu to see what they offer and then I piece a
>> meal together from that.
>
>
> Julie,
>
> I wasn't finding fault with you whatsoever. Just the day in/day out
> parents without a fast food care in the world for them and their
> children.

I didn't think that you were. Angela was not allowed any fast food for the
first few years of her life. She also didn't know what the ice cream truck
was. She just thought it was a truck that played music.

Then her dad had his appendix out when she was not quite three. Would you
believe the Alameda (CA) hospital didn't have a cafeteria? Yep! They did
have a room with some machines in it and we did buy a yucky sandwich out of
it once. But they never refilled it.

Since we were at the hospital pretty much all day for several days while he
recuperated, we needed to find food. I did bring food with us for lunch.
But bringing food for dinner as well was pushing it. The closest food place
was McDonalds. So I did take her there once or twice. She didn't seem too
thrilled with the food.

Then when we moved to NY, she started taking dance classes at noon on
Saturdays. She was always starving when we got out of there. She
discovered that the other girls went to McDonalds afterwards. So she begged
to go there. I then realized that I couldn't keep it from her forever, but
I could teach her to eat responsibly.

We usually got the food at the drive through. We each got kid's meals, one
with apples and one with fries. We shared the apples and fries. Always a
plain small burger. To these I added lettuce, tomato and onion that I had
at home. And we either split a salad or we had other raw veggies from home.
In those days the salads were served in tall cups with a rounded lid. Those
salads also contained baby Swiss Chard. I don't think they do any more.
The baby Swiss Chard was her favorite. She would grab my salad, pick out
all of her favorite bits and put them in the lid. That would be her
portion.

Sometimes in the winter we would eat there and she would go to the play
area. She was not allowed to play until she had eaten her salad. I taught
her to eat it with no dressing. Just lemon, if it was available.

Now that she is 12, she has learned to like some dressings. This is
something I could never do. I love crunchy raw vegetables, but I can't
stand dressing on them.

Anyway... People used to laugh at us because there was a kid eating salad.
They acted like it was something strange. I was brought up eating salad.
We had it at every meal and even at restaurants, my parents ordered us
salads. They usually didn't come with the kid's meals, if there were kid's
meals. Not all restaurants have kid's meals.

Of course now that she is 12, I have more trouble getting her to eat
vegetables. My parents never had that problem with me. I always liked
them. My brother was the problem child there. And now as an adult he still
hates vegetables.

Angela loves salad bars though. She will eat the things that she serves
herself. And she loves a salad that she got at Costco as a sample. It is
just bagged salad with canned chicken on top and some sesame dressing. She
adds black olives to hers though.