My Nanny State

A little over ten years ago my older son was born. Like most new parents, Marc and I were completely clueless. Since we both work, hiring a nanny seemed logical. After a series of interviews we foolishly decided to go with the smartest and sharpest of the applicant pool. Every morning smarty-pants would come into work; before she would touch or acknowledge the baby she’d make herself tea and oatmeal. I’m not a timid person but this woman was running the show. I’m embarrassed to say I put up with this insanity for six months until I started to get a clue. I sent an email out to everyone I knew looking for a new nanny and somehow hit the babysitter jackpot.

This go around, our son was there to help us. L* came into our apartment for her interview and he crawled over to her and sat in her lap. This stranger instinctively hugged and kissed him as she’s done for the past nine plus years. Friends of ours have switched babysitters as their children got older but L is a part of our family. Aside from being patient and loving, L is a fantastic cook; my boys love plantains, ackee, saltfish and curry thanks to her. And because I’m such a pain in the ass particular L has learned some things from me as well. She knows that the produce for the house has to be organic, beef grass-fed, water filtered and in glass bottles…and the list goes on. Did I mention L was patient?

I’m going somewhere with all of this. Yesterday, I left the office early to pick up the boys on their last day of school. I came into the apartment, to drop my computer ,and was greeted by this

not my definition of "joy"

My heart started to race, I may as well have been staring at an explosive device “L are you eating McDonalds?” “Yes, just once in a while Lauren, that’s all.” I couldn’t believe the enemy was in my house. “L you really shouldn’t eat it, it’s total junk and you’re so careful about what you eat. Plus, we have a whole fridge of good stuff.” I decided to stop there but 10 minutes later couldn’t help myself  and said, “seriously, McDonalds?” In her kind way she said, “Lauren, you’re making me feel guilty.” In my snarky way I replied, “that’s fine, you should.” Then I thought about it some more. My kids are at school, she feeds them really well, aside from concern or repulsion do I have a say in what she chooses to eat? I don’t think I do but she has horrendous reflux. Hypothetically, if she eats foods that aggravate it and has to miss work, is it my business then? It can get a little complicated but if this was the first time in 10 years, I’m hoping my kids will be in college before it happens again.

What is your take on this? Do employers have a say in what employees eat? Or can you say what isn’t allowed in your home or office? Would it be different if she had it in front of the children?

*even though she eats McDonalds I’ll still protect her privacy.

Oprah Oh No

When Oprah talks people listen. They have listened for a quarter of a century. Oprah can make books bestsellers, can create careers for the experts she features and pretty much has the Midas marketing touch. The New York Times recently described people clamoring for the few unbooked spots on her show this season, her final “Farewell Season". I am an Oprah fan; my DVR is crowded with the shows I record daily. Any viewer can sense the ante has been upped this year. Audience members are going to Australia and driving home Volkswagens. Even celebrities seem to be stopping by for one last chance to talk to O and promote their work. Yet in all of this excitement, something we expect from Oprah has been disregarded. It seems Oprah has already said farewell to health.

Over the years, we’re watched Oprah run a marathon, venture into veganism and get into a whole lot oh hot water when she questioned the safety of our beef. Viewers have related to Oprah because despite the chef and the trainer when it came to weight and food, Oprah was one of us. Oprah can go camping on her show but who really thinks she is doing that when the cameras aren’t rolling? And while I loved my first Jetta (and was sad when I crashed it), I don’t think O is driving one.  Weight and food is different, Oprah’s weight fluctuates and so we really feel she means what she’s saying when she talks about it.

Last week Oprah’s favorite things aired. Unfortunately this is product placement at its best. For companies and audience members this was the final and "ultimate" favorite things and the gifts were major. There were diamonds and I pads, cashmere and cruises and there was food…if you would call it that. Oprah, with millions or billions watching, eagerly praised pails of popcorn, she commended croissants and mentioned to moms that this certain mac and cheese was the perfect family dinner on a busy night.  While I am all for the special splurge, I felt I was watching an opportunity pass. Oprah could have thrown in her favorite fruit delivery, post workout snack, she could have said something to the effect of  “we all know you can’t eat mac and cheese every day” nothing.

Everyone is entitled to a mistake; even Oprah isn’t perfect. I kept my DVR taping and continued to loyally watch O’s shows.  Yesterday, Oprah hosted Nicole Kidman and her country music husband Keith Urban. It wasn’t the best show. It was a little bit of a mish mosh as Oprah was really talking up her upcoming Australia visit.  Oprah chatted with Keith about rehab, to Nicole about motherhood (let’s not forget “Nic” has 2 teenage children, she was a mother before Sunday Rose), she gave away one last ticket on the Australia trip and then it happened.

Oprah was talking about the great food in Sydney and she selected the apex of Aussie cuisine none other than... McDonalds. Yes, in an embarrassing nod to one of her Sydney sponsors she presented Australia’s Mc Donalds as different from the United States versions. They then cued waiters to bring her audience McDonalds wraps and smoothies (I wrote about these smoothies in case you’re curious). Plus, there’s more! Every person on the Australia trip got a gift card. God forbid Americans leave their fast food habits at home; they can now eat McDonalds for free down under. Oprah took a bite of her wrap and it was all I could do not to cry on my comforter.

The season isn’t over. I’m holding out hope that Michael Pollan will come back or maybe Dr Weil.  Oprah always seems to have a soft spot for kids perhaps Jamie Oliver will be on pushing parents to cook more. Hey, I’m not too shabby. I can put on a pretty dress and tell Oprah about my favorite food and fitness finds too.  I just hope Oprah doesn’t forget about the other “O” in this country obesity and that she hasn’t said farewell to health.
Did you watch either of these shows? Do you O has missed the boat or am I overreacting? Who would you like to see Oprah have on to redirect this junk food train?

McDonalds Smoothies not lovin' it

On Friday, I revealed some of my smoothie secrets. After I wrote the post, I saw an ad for McDonalds New Real Fruit smoothies. My initial thought was that one shouldn’t need to use the word “real” before fruit unless you are McDonalds. My next thought was that all smoothies aren’t created equal and the cup full of nutrition I had blogged about was many, many golden arches away from these suspiciously pink “real fruit” drinks. Before jumping to conclusions or rather to support the conclusions I had already made I did a little digging.

One multiple McDonalds franchise owner reported he was “selling the dickens out of the new smoothies.” And sales were so brisk in certain parts of the country that McDonalds cancelled a free giveaway of the beverages. After all, why give away what you can get good money for, right? Hearing that the beverages were selling well only secured my suspicions. As we know, in this country sweet sells. So just how sweet are these smoothies? A small, Wild Berry Smoothie has 44 grams of sugar. A cup of blackberries or strawberries has 7 to 8 grams which makes the 44 grams seem very “wild” indeed. If 44 grams doesn’t mean anything to you that’s 11 teaspoons of sugar, over ¼ cup, equivalent to 6 popsicles, 10 grams more than the same size frappaccino, it’s a ton. Hmn, how come there’s more sugar in a 16oz smoothie than in 7 cups of fruit? Well, because there’s sugar added to the “real” fruit purees and “real” fruit juices and a lot of it.

Is there anything good about these smoothies, any nutrition with that sugar? To be honest, there are 3 grams of fiber in the small smoothies. A cup of blackberries has 7 grams of fiber but 3 is something. And if this fiber came from the fruit I would be happy but there’s cellulose powder and xanthan gum listed in the ingredients both of which could comprise these 3 grams.

There is some confusion over these smoothies. Message boards alluded to the fact that Innocent Drinks (another name I’m not thrilled with) provided the ingredients to McDonalds. Innocent drinks advertise that there is nothing artificial about their beverages and make a lot of healthy claims. It seems, I could be wrong, that in the U.S. Innocent Drinks are not the source of McDonalds smoothies. In any case, sugar is “natural” as is fruit juice and I just don’t think it needs to be present in diabetic-coma inducing amounts. So I dug, I researched, I even entered the “fruitiverse” on McDonalds website and I’m not convinced. I like the universe and homemade smoothies better.
Have you tried these? I’d love to hear from someone who has. What do you think is the most disturbing part of this? The language in the ad suggesting “real fruit”? The amount of sugar in a seemingly healthy menu item? The cancellation of the free give away?