Thanks for sharing.Take Me Out To The Ball Game?
Written by karen on September 7, 2011 – -
Fast Food & Advertising at Sports Games
- by Karen Ranzi
Playing baseball, sports, and exercising are healthy activities, so why aren’t there equally healthy options available for the spectators at sports games?
I recently attended a professional baseball game at a large stadium. I hadn’t been to a game for many years and was horrified to see fast food offered at every stand. French fries, meat balls, pizza, cracker jacks, cotton candy, pretzels, soft drinks, beer, hamburgers, hot dogs and other fast foods were everywhere.
Strike One — French Fries: The New Cancer Sticks?
When I grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s I remember purchasing french fries which came in a small white pocket. Neither my friends nor myself made a whole meal of french fries. This day at the baseball game I saw people eating huge amounts of french fries served on a large plate.
A very important Swedish nutritional study, completed at the University of Stockholm, revealed when starches form a golden-brown crust, such as in french fries, after being heated at high temperatures, they undergo a chemical reaction forming a carcinogenic plastic known as acrylamide.
Strike Two — Where’s The Beef Fruit?
Wikipedia states, “Advertising campaigns for fast food restaurants have changed in their intent over time. Many modern campaigns stress the availability of healthy options after years of criticism for the harmful effects of a fast food diet. The rise in awareness of healthy eating and obesity has negatively impacted the business of these establishments, and their marketing campaigns have attempted to rectify this.” From what I was viewing while walking around the stadium, this did not seem to be a reality. There was no mention of any nutrient dense fruits or vegetables anywhere. The obesity rate in that one venue was alarmingly high.
Animal-based and processed and refined foods served at the stands were advertised numerous times on the large centrally located stadium screen. It was easy to see that the meat and dairy council as well as processed food distributors have a large monopoly over what gets sold at athletic games. You would want to think that good forms of exercise should coincide with the healthy foods that create healthy bodies. Fruit is known to enhance athletic capability and performance but it was nowhere to be seen.
Strike Three — Think of Target The Children!
Unfortunately for the children of today, most fast food chains target advertising at children and teenagers. This is where they make a large percentage of their money.
I still recall the many years of beef jerky, donut holes, and potato chips provided at my children’s weekly soccer and baseball games. There were the occasional orange slices but these weren’t viewed as the fun snacks. One time I brought a big bowl of fresh organic strawberries for the end of game snack and the children devoured them, but it didn’t lead to other parents bringing the same kind of healthful snack when it was their turn to bring something.
As the benefits of a raw food lifestyle become more widely recognized, the hope is that the general public will understand fruits and vegetables are the foods that provide energy, stamina and long term health.
What are your favourite raw fruit and vegetable snacks that fuel and re-energize your body and exercise? Leave us a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
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Tags: advertising at sporting events, carcinogen, children's health, fast food advertising, food and sports, french fries, obesity, raw food for health
Posted in Raw Food for Families, Raw Food Health | 8 Comments »
By shannonmarie (rawdorable) on Sep 8, 2011
My kids just love fruits and veggies in their natural state. I just clean and chop it, and sneak it in wherever we go. They also like to make their own trail mix.
BTW, that tweet about hugs and kisses was so sweet today
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Reply by Karen Ranzi on September 8th, 2011
So wonderful to hear your kids love fruits and veggies just the way they are! This lifestyle is the most simple and practical when raising children. Children who are continually confronted with animal products and processed and refined foods will think that’s the natural way to eat. It all really has to do with the parents. Congratulations on setting a great model!
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Reply by Carol on October 13th, 2011
I know this lifestyle is healthy, but actually, I find it extremely tiring to wash loads of fruit and veggies for the entire family. I soak and really wash our food in veggie wash. Frankly, it’s much faster to buy “non-live food” like donuts, cracker, etc. Anyone has a quick tip on making it easy? If you have 1 kid or just yourself, it’s easy. But with all the kids activities and driving and working full time, I am starting to be overloaded to try to be raw.
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Reply by Karen Ranzi on October 13th, 2011
Carol, Please see my long comment below. I certainly remember those days when I was homeschooling not only my kids but other children as well, and just needed quick food available. I hope my comment below will be helpful.
By Carol on Sep 15, 2011
I will be 67 on my birthday and my kids are long grown so I don’t get to bring snacks to these things anymore but today I attended a function to raise funds for alzheimers. There wasn’t a thing I could eat. Not fruit, nuts, veg.zilch. Nothing but baked muffins of every description, breads and such.Even the former mayor -who knows I run- said to me, “I suppose we got to have fruit and veg for you” Well……Yes!! But, at least he gets the idea. One can only hope. Keep up the good work. We will overcome
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Reply by Karen Ranzi on September 15th, 2011
Carol, Your example is so powerful. I believe that with this movement growing, over time people will start to make more change because of the powerful positive examples we’re setting. What the people at your event don’t understand is that alzheimer’s can be significantly reduced and even reversed through healthy natural diet and lifestyle. Keep on showing them that fruit, veggies, and running are what it takes to have you remaining healthy and young! You’re a fabulous example!
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By Carol on Oct 13, 2011
This is all great and we know all it, but I need help actually putting together a meal that will fill my kids during school day. if I give them just fruits and veggies, they will be really hungry and crave other kids lunch, like hot dogs and sandwiches. Can anybody provide 10 – 15 lunches for kids that are mostly raw, but kids will eat and not be hungry?
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Reply by Karen Ranzi on October 13th, 2011
Carol, You can also use more heavy foods like avocado, nuts and seeds. My kids are older now and not at home but when they were growing up they especially liked wraps filled with nut butter, guacamole, or nut or seed veggie pate. I would stuff vegetables and sprouts in their and change the julienned veggies each time. Once a week I would prepare a delicious nut butter or pate and use these during the week inside raw nori wraps, the inside of cabbage leaves, collard leaves, or the kids would take the nori or Romaine lettuce to school with the pate or nut butter and put their wrap together. If your kids refuse to eat this way because it looks different, then I would suggest getting a gluten-free dairy-free whole grain wrap such as the rice tortillas and stuffing them with lots of julienned veggies, lettuce and sprouts and add some raw hummus to taste. This is not any more complicated than preparing processed foods for lunch and only takes a few minutes to put together. My kids also filled up on fruit some days. They always had big smoothies in the morning. Now they do green smoothies. This is the best fast food diet there is: Very Simple, Just Grab an Apple or Banana! You will want to invest some time into this so your kids will have healthy futures. It’s not going to be very time consuming if you’ve already prepared some food over the weekend. There are many wonderful books out there to help you in your journey. My book is “Creating Healthy Children” and you can see it and the Table of Contents at http://superhealthychildren.com. Chapter 18 is all Kid-Tested Recipes!
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