How do I get a healthy meal

By Brent Fairbanks

On 4/3/2011

I have been watching Jamie Oliver's show (the chef for healthy food) on television. He has been pushing the Los Angeles school district to eliminate artificially sweetened milk from the schools. He has been facing a rather curious bit of opposition from the head honcho over at the schools.

Note: I just love it when we see high paid school officials desperately trying to hold on to a bad decision. It reminds me of how the schools would tell me how to improve and were confounded that I didn't want to use good judgement. The schools are filled with very intelligent students that learn EXACTLY what they are taught. They, the students, learn things like making bad decisions and refusing to change. Back to the article.

Since Mr. Oliver was banned from the schools he went out to restaurants trying to improve the "health quality" of the menu items. The owners of the restaurant would argue that the customers would not be willing to pay for the "healthy" alternative. Customers would be questioned about the food and would choose the taste of the healthy food but would balk at the new healthy price. This was supposed to be proof positive that healthy meals will not sell.

This attitude of the business owner was a bit surprising to me because my wife and I decided to go out for lunch the other day. I wanted a relatively healthy meal and I didn't want to drive very far to get this meal. We ended up driving for half an hour before I gave up and decided to go home and make a sandwich. I couldn't find a place in Southern California where I was able to find a meal worthy of consumption at ANY price. Yes, I know there are the "healthy items" at most restaurants. They are low fat, low calorie meals; that doesn't mean they are healthy! Many items have enough salt in them to replenish the oceans of the world.

The moral of the story here is that the consumer needs to speak up and let the business know that you are interested in eating healthy. You need to let them know that you are willing to even pay a bit more for higher quality calories. If enough of us do this simple step and keep doing it the food preparers will have to listen. If they don't we just shop elsewhere.

If you like the sound of this the you'll love my 'weight loss myths' book.

Thanks for listening, leave me a comment.
Brent

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