The Fat Diaries: The Theme Park Diet
Well I’m back from vacation, and I’m “all funned out.” I think I could use a week of monotony– at least until my brain functions return.
We had a blast in Florida, despite freezing temperatures that broke the record for the coldest December since 1989. Bundled up in parkas and scarves and hats we met princesses, went on a boat-ride with pirates, and watched a holly-jolly Christmas-themed parade. We also did more walking than most postal service workers. A constant 5-day march was not only exhausting, it made me famished.
The park in question provided ample food for not exceedingly unfair prices. It was all typical park fare, mostly hot sandwiches and fries with a soda. It wasn’t very healthy, for us, but I didn’t really care at the time. Somehow I just couldn’t muster the stamina to make and carry a packed lunch in the park; peanut butter and jelly is not a personal favorite of mine in any case. I partook of burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches and fries and didn’t care about the calories. Besides, when it’s 28º outside, the last thing a person wants to eat is an ice cold salad. Thank God there was hot coffee.
I let the kids pick out what they liked to eat, letting them take the reins for a short while. I looked forward to half an hour without their tantrums about us parents dictating the schedule. The kids’ menus were pretty much the same as you saw anywhere: hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. My oldest played around with his options. My youngest chose mac and cheese every time. I don’t think I realized this at the time, and I wasn’t going to argue with her. After all, I didn’t think that chicken nuggets or hamburgers were any healthier. We were on vacation, and getting far more exercise than we usually got, so who cared if the boy was eating french-fries for two meals a day or the little girl was eating nothing but mac n’ cheese? Thus it was, that we got a nasty surprise when lil’ girl, who’d been potty-trained for almost 6 months, was starting to have messy accidents.
At first we thought it was sheer stubbornness on her side (which was not unheard of). I couldn't really blame her. The toilet seats for this tropical park were colder than ice-blocks (I was getting flashbacks of camping trips). However, when we started using facilities that were firmly enclosed in the warm indoors and the problem didn’t subside, we looked at her diet. This was the part where I started kicking myself for being so careless. I was so desirous to let the kids eat whatever and avoid meltdowns that I never looked at what they were eating.
My first impulse was to blame the park. How dare they only offer junk food! How dare they be so heedless to a growing child’s needs! It was then that I started to actually scrutinize the menus more carefully. Much to my surprise, there were healthy options everywhere I looked, but I’d never thought to look for them! The park let you substitute milk for juice and soda. Fries could be subbed out for grapes and carrots (even in the adult combos!). They had low-fat yogurt, grilled chicken wraps, veggie burgers, and vegetarian chili! I had just ordered the combos without even looking at my selections but now I had the power to make better choices. My kids didn’t miss the fries when they had grapes to chow down on and they had no problem with drinking milk, provided they were allowed to drink it through bendy straws.
I know some of you are thinking, “fruit and veggie swap-outs are nothing new, Monica. Where have you been since 2004?” Truth be told, I so seldom take my kids to burger joints that I’ve never had a problem with them getting french-fries. Normally, my kids eat fries only once or twice a month. Being still in this “it’s a rare treat what could it hurt?” mind-frame had made me careless while eating out for eight days in a row. I learned said lesson the hard way. And after a few days of grilled chicken, fruits, veggies, yogurt, and NO fries, lil’ girl’s tummy became right as rain again.
In fact, after four days of healthy living, I felt no qualms about treating us all to (small) pastries from the Norwegian pavilion. I highly recommend the skül bread. Lil’ girl was quite happy with a soft pretzel proving that sometimes her judgment surpasses mine.
