I was away last week in Lake George with my family. Food was on my mind as I was finding it increasingly difficult to find anything really healthy at the local restaurants. The first night we were there we found a pizzeria and the kids shared 1 kids’ portion of spaghetti with meat sauce plus we ordered a medium pizza. The kids had a slice and Richard and I each had 2 slices. The table next to us ordered 4 extra large pepperoni pizzas with fries and Cokes for everyone. There were 2 grandparents, 2 parents and 3 kids. They were all obese even morbidly obese. I know there is an obesity problem in North America but I am always stunned when I cross the border and it hits me in the face.
After the pizzeria and the fun in the park afterward, I dropped the husband and kids off at the motel and headed for the 24 hour Super Walmart!! (can you believe?). I was searching for diapers and food to bring to the Six Flags park the following day. What I discovered in this wondrous place was a plethora of healthy foods to choose from. It wouldn’t be hard to teach people how to eat healthy with all the available choices. However, there a lot of unhealthy foods too.
I picked up a whole wheat loaf of bread, cheese, peanut butter, whole grain crackers, whole grain granola bars, turkey, bananas, apple, crudités, yogurt and cottage cheese. The next day I brought all of this food with me to the park with a couple of reusable water bottles. I managed to pay just the entrance fee and for the corny picture they take of you at the beginning and that was it! I bought NO food or drinks while at the park. We ate everything I brought.
At some point during the day I came across this sign. 
Ha! Healthy meal options my @$$. I went in to see what that meant and it didn’t mean much. Apparently, you are not allowed to bring food into the park. Nobody said anything to me or to this lovely family I came upon while walking around. I boldly went up to to them introduced myself. I commented about their healthy home packed lunch. They were eating peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread and water packed fruit.
Vicky, Elizabeth, Alexandra, Kevin
The next night I was dying for a salad and I knew the closest thing I would get in Lake George was a Caesar Salad (feh). Also, the kids were starting to get rambunctious in the restaurants so I figured Burger King was our best bet for that. The Burger King had a delicious healthy salad that wasn’t made from solely from iceberg lettuce. I know, I couldn’t believe it either. I ordered Richard the Tendergrill chicken because I thought it would be relatively decent but when I checked their website it turns out it was very nasty with 1100mg of sodium. When the girl at the counter told me I could replace French fries with apple fries I looked at her in horror. I thought she meant fried apple. But no, she meant peeled apples cut into a French fry shape! How come we don’t have that here? I did ditch the gross caramel crap it came with. I also got the kids plain hamburgers. Of course it’s a junkie meal (except for the salad) but it was the least offensive given all the choices. Once in a while it’s fine.
We hit the Price Chopper on another day and stocked up for Water Slide World. This place actually encourages you to bring a cooler with your food. Off topic, this was the best day. Water Slide World rocks and it was very relaxing and fun for us, as well as for the kids.
I wish I could do a Friday Finds series on all the great stuff we found in the supermarkets but everything got eaten up. Plattsburg……..here we come!
Montreal Nutrition 