My much younger siblings come into town once a year for a California vacation. I spend part of the time doing their nutritional analysis and testing. I am proud of the progress that they each have made over the last few years considering they have been dealing with the social hazards of being a teenager or young adult. We go swimming, I cook healthy foods for them, and provide some treats that stay within the realms of reasonableness.
Then we decided to take a day trip to the happiest place on earth; I know that Disney does not have the best choices for the average American trying to stay on a healthy eating plan so I prepare. We ate a good breakfast and brought protein bars for snacking and tuna packets (simply add to a side garden salad!) knowing that the entrée choices will be less than desirable when we get to lunch time. But as I went to the snack bar with them I was FLOORED at the “lemonade” they were serving. Any one that knows me and Angie’s World knows that I am appalled at the injection of corn in our diets. With high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maltodextrin, and citric acid in everything from soda (no surprise) to salad dressing and crackers (always a surprise). But this latest discovery was disturbing. The lemonade had NO lemons in it…NONE, NADA!! It contained three ingredients that were all corn…Corn Syrup, Maltodextrin and citric acid!! In fact, the label touted it as a good thing in a big bubble that stated: Contains no fruit juice! (like it was a good thing!)
Now I know that lemonade can be full of sugar and not the best choice for hydration but at the very least it should have lemons in it and maybe some cane sugar but ALL CORN! This food staple has been subsidized to the point of poor quality even for our livestock to eat. This product (I don’t even want to classify it as produce anymore) makes our bodies store fat just like cattle that they are getting ready to slaughter and they want them as heavy as possible! Then I see people making the choice for lemonade probably thinking they are making a better choice than soda and I am sad for them. Sad that you have to have some knowledge in chemistry and biology to eat healthfully these days. In Disney’s defense, they do offer fruit stands where you can purchase apples, oranges, bottled water and a few other healthy things. I do wish they would become more proactive and
start offering some better choices in their prepared food selections. Perhaps offering organic choices and food with real grilled chicken (not processed chicken product). I would be willing to pay for such products and so would a lot of others that are gaining knowledge about their eating choices. Come on Mickey, even if you aren’t concerned about people’s health at least recognize this is a market that you could capture and that you would help people to purchase more of your products while in the park as opposed to having to haul our own around!
Perhaps Mickey can create his own food line that only is made from real food… Now, that would make it the happiest and healthiest place on earth!
hallelujah sista! as a mom to an (almost) 4 y.o. and an annual pass holder to the happiest place on earth…we visit mickey as frequently as we can (gotta get your $$’s worth, right?). it can sometimes take me as much as an hour to prep all the food and pack it to take with us for the day. crazy! however, if i didn’t do it, we would all be a slave to the GARBAGE that is served there…not to mention the extra mortgage payment you need to take out to afford food (or anything) there. but NO lemons in LEMONade is simply insane. board the crazy train mickey, cuz that’s simply nuts!
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