This past weekend I was the designated parent to take Jay, my son, to his weekend classes. To help him with his Chinese studies, he attends extra classes. On Saturday, he has a group class with about ten other kids his age. And on Sunday, he has a one-on-one session. Both classes are two hours ling and end just before lunch. Normally SO, my wife, takes him, but this weekend she was busy with work, so it fell to me to be his chauffeur, or at least accompany him since we don’t have a car.
On Saturday as we left the school he asked if we could have McDonald’s for lunch. It’s a fairly typical routine. Since we walk past it to come home, we quite often have lunch there on the way. When we arrived though, it was too crowded and Jay decided we’d just eat at home.
Sunday came and when we past it, there weren’t as many people there. So we went in and had our lunch. No big deal, right?
The thing is, Jay is a little overweight. I’ve talked about it here, if you’re interested.
Anyway, the thing that bothered me is the way some people act. Yes, he’s a bit big. Yes, fast food isn’t that healthy. But do people really need to be so judgemental in the way they look at us, sitting there enjoying our food.
They don’t know what’s happening. They don’t know how often he eats it. And most of all, they have no idea why he’s the way he is.
The truth is, he has McDonald’s, or one of the other fast food options, no more than once or twice a week. His weight is because of the amount of rice he eats.
Yes, you read that right. SO and Jay are asian, and we live in an asian country, so most meals do have some rice. Particularly our dinners. And just to be clear, the idea that asians are skinny because they eat rice is a myth. You can put on weight just by eating rice, if you over do it.
And that, right there is Jay’s biggest problem. He only has small portions of meat and vegetables, but loves his rice. In fact he eats more rice with his meals than I do. And as much as most asian adults.
That’s the problem. We spoke to a nutritionist that he was sent to by his school (the government here is very proactive about catching weight problems before they become problems) and she confirmed that he needs to cut down on his serving size of rice. We have done that, and on her recommendation have also switched from white to brown rice.
So, what about the fast food? She didn’t see it as a problem. As long as it was only once or twice a week, and we don’t upsize (which we never do anyway), it should be fine. Our main focus should be on reducing his rice intake and increasing his vegetable intake.
This has been a bit of a problem. And even though he understands, he’s still resistant. Both in reducing rice and increasing vegetables. It’s something that we’re working on and will continue to do so.
For now I’m not worrying about him having the occasional fast food. I have considered carrying around a baseball bat to educate the judgemental so-and-sos who stare though.