I’m sitting in the cafeteria of my local hospital waiting for the start time of our Overeaters Anonymous meeting.* What better thing to do than write a bit?
I was rolling down the snack isle of the local supermarket this past week. I needed raisins for my homemade apple sauce. I didn’t find them. It seems they needed the space for more real treats like these:
You too can be a princess if you eat these. Please write if it worked for you.
But wait, there’s more!
Stuff for girls and boys. Disney and Mattel. I wonder if Disney now owns Mattel? I checked. Nope, but they sure seem to be in the joint marketing business.
I’ve written many times that I am neutral about other people’s food. I am not neutral about how food is marketed, no matter who it is marketed too but kids in particular. Being a parent today is hard enough and it’s just not fair that a haggard parent has to deal with some tired kid begging (read: screaming) for Toy Story candy snacks. Adding pureed apple does not make them fruit any more than squeezing sugar cane makes it’s juice fruit juice.
These are not the first and they won’t be the last. I’m just amazed at home many of, essentially the same item they have packaged here. It’s a veritable blitzkrieg of candy marketing and it’s not even Halloween. It has the feel of desperation. But why would Kellogg, maker of these product be desperate? Did they purchase apple futures only to see the apple market collapse and now they need to find a why to squeeze some money from an unwanted inventory? Are they testing these ideas here in the Northeast with plans for global domination once the winners are sorted?
I didn’t get pictures of all these identical products but there are listed on the Kellogg website.
I wonder if you could sell dried apple chips in the shape of super heroes and princesses? Maybe that would cost too much. Dried apples certainly cost more than HFCS and sugar.
Didn’t Kellogg’s start out advocating healthy lifestyles? Maybe that was the other Kellogg brother.
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* Well, I started this as noted but finished it days later.
6 users commented in " Made with REAL Fruit! "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThe original Mr. Kellogg was a bit loony, so I think perhaps marketing fruit juice-oid gummies (which are generally 10% or less fruit juice and 90% corn syrup derivatives, a gelling product, and food colors not found in nature).
They can’t market to Gen X and Gen Y–we’re cynics, for the most part. Kids love the shiny, which is why most families end up with broken toys scattered askew around like French noblemen after Agincourt by January first.
I am sorry to randomly barge in on blogs, but I googled OA and blogs and came up with this (these) pages.
I recently started attending OA but am confused as to what the difference between abstinence and a food plan are? If I follow my food plan, doesn’t that make me abstinent? Thank You in advance for any replies.
Hi April,
Welcome to OA and to my blog and thanks for commenting. Please understand, I speak for Steve and not OA as a whole.
Ah…the age old question: What is the difference between abstinence and a food plan? In OA, abstinence is actually defined in our policy manual. The definition is often subject to revision but seldom revised(by which I mean, people want to change it but can’t get enough members to agree to make the change). Abstinence is defined as:
I don’t really know what a compulsive food behavior is and that was just added in May of 2009 so, for now, I ignore that. So how do I, a compulsive overeater in recovery measure my abstinence if not against some sort of food plan? Well, my food plan does define my abstinence. Some food plans are very rigid like three weighed and measured meals a day, no flour or sugar, without exception, even when eating out. Other food plans are very loose, like, 3 meals and 3 snacks at day with not seconds. No limits to the types of food eaten. We are compulsive eaters. We’re not all the same though we often have a great deal in common. Mine own plan is 3 weighed and measured meals a day. No sugar. No highly refined flours. Moderate meals when eating out. Special consideration for unusual circumstances planned in advance with my sponsor(like waking at 3 in the morning to take an 8 hour drive on a day that will end at 10 in the evening. That gets me a second breakfast. In 7 years, I’ve done that 2-3 times).
If I can get through a day without taking a compulsive bite, I’m abstinent. Nobody else can tell me I am or I am not abstinent, though I do work with a sponsor and their guidance means an awful lot.
So, to answer your question, yes. If you are sticking to your food plan, you are abstinent. The bigger question is this: If you varied from your food plan, is it a break OR a response to a legitimate, non-compulsive need? That’s one to take up with your sponsor.
I hope that helped April and, good luck!
Thanks Steve, that was very helpful.
I should have asked at my meeting last week but I got tongue tied. (I had come in late to the meeting and a member approached me and let me know that it was distracting, and to try not to do that again. After that, I felt unwelcomed and clammed up.
Someone came up to you and talked to you about being late? I find that remarkable. Here, where I live, often half the people attending meetings show up late. If I might suggest, say a pray for that member and remember that meetings are for food addicts in various phases of recovery AND also, remember that long term abstinence is not the same as recovery. There are plenty of abstinent compulsive eaters in OA who exhibit little emotional or spiritual recovery. Sort of like a “dry drunk”.
That said, do try to get to meetings on time. I am reminded that routinely coming late to meetings is a form of self-centeredness. In my 7 years of attending meetings, I doubt I’ve been late to more then 5 meetings. Maybe not even that many. Of course, being on-time has always been a bit of a fetish with me. Better to be late than not attend.
Hi Steve,
Yes, a member came up to me during the break and told me she was distracted because I came in late. I, like you, am usually on time. I was late because I had gotten lost on my way to the new meeting, 3 towns away from where I live. I had changed meetings because my anonymity was broke at the original meeting I attended. I am a teacher and was mortified when one of the Mom’s from school came up and started talking to me about our meeting, in front of another co-worker who does not attend OA.
Having my anonymity broken at one meeting, and having someone “speak” to me at another, has me in a state of confusion. Is OA not for me? Or do I just need to look at a few more meetings? I live in Maine, and we don’t have that many meetings to chose from.
Again, Steve, thanks for your advice.
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