O snap...tastee cakes

Now I will be the first to say that I LOVE Little Debbie cakes. Cream filled, coconut topped, chocolate covered, marshmallow filled, ooey gooey caramel, fudgy, high cholesterol, hydrogenated fats, fake sugar, and inevitably cancer filled little cakes warm my soul. No, I'm not 300 pounds and I do not eat my emotions. I just appreciate the time and effort that I do not have to put forth into making an individually wrapped, essentially perfect made for me little bundle of goodness snack cake. While that is my point of view, others see this differently. Most people see the consumption of snack cakes as a doorway to childhood and adult obesity. What is America's obsession with obesity and it's presumptious accusations against schools, food businesses, and the government? Why does all this blame fall upon anyone and everything else except for the true culprits, the individual adults and the parents?

As a result of increasing childhood obesity, many public schools in NC have taken out vending machines that include many filler snacks and sugary sodas. I don't understand how this is a viable solution conducive to decreasing obesity. A child follows the eating habits of his parents. If the child can't get those filler snacks at school, he'll probably eat it at home and/or bring it to school. Childhood obesity starts in the home and that's also where it has to stop. If anything, I think the absence of those machines bruises the relationships between schools and large companies in the sense that those large corporations such as Pepsi or Coca-Cola sponsor many much needed school-community organizations. Schools in general have enough on their plate as a result of bills such as no child left behind and other hierarchical related problems. Is it really the role of schools to play mom and dad?

As for adult obesity, it is easy to understand that no one is forced into eating fast food five times a day, seven days a week, but does a higher power such as the government have a very small hand in obesity? Of course it does, but that doesn't mean we don't have free will. To be continued...



For the record my favorite snack cakes are the snowballs and cosmic brownies. O delicious sprinkles and fudge...