Sports celebs as liars, a seven-year-old girl on a diet, the quinoa question and hockey rules. There was a lot of good stuff that caught my attention this week.
1. I can’t really write a blog about what grabbed my attention without mentioning Lance Armstrong and Manti Te’o. There was a lot of reporting, interviews and table talk about both. As a former athlete myself and a Notre Dame college football fan, nothing in the world of sports surprises me anymore. From a parent’s perspective, I was disappointed for my kids who looked up to both men. Then I found this article in Forbes which asks the question I’ve had: why do we allow these men to be role models? Didn’t we learn our lesson with Tiger? The author of the article quotes Charles Barkley, former NBA player, who firmly believes that ‘athletes are not the figures that children should be emulating. He feels that it is parents who have the obligation and responsibility to be role models. He believes players have a duty to give peak performance on the court, and that is it.’ This might be an excuse for athletes to deny the responsibility that comes with fame and success. But I will say that after watching so many of the mighty fall lately, I’m going with Charles’ theory. But there’s still Rory…
2. And in the world of moms judging other moms, a new book called The Heavy: A Mother, A Daughter, A Diet by Dara-Lynn Weiss has just been released and is getting a lot of attention. It’s the true story about a mom (known as ‘Diet Mom’) who put her obese seven-year-old daughter, Bea, on a diet. She thought it was important to make this story public even though the reaction to her initial article in Vogue last year was very harsh. The publicity will no doubt result in healthy book sales. The question is whether or not it will result in a healthy outcome for Bea. Tralee Pearce covered this story well in a Globe and Mail interview asking some pointed questions we all want answers to—why did you need to write a book about this? My favourite mom quote from Dara-Lynn is a very simple one: ‘I didn’t want to say, ‘No, here’s a banana.” To which I have to ask, what’s so tough about saying, ‘no, have a banana?’ I think I’ve said that exact phrase a million times. But I’m not judging.
3. And while the rest of us are so busy being perfect, eating bananas and making quinoa salad, there’s another storm brewing. The new ethical dilemma in town is called The Quinoa Question: is the North American high demand for this super grain taking food away from the farmers who grow and eat it in Bolivia and Peru? Doug Saunders of the Globe and Mail makes a compelling argument which alleviates any foodie guilt you may have been feeling lately. Quite simply, the quinoa boom is good for farmers and the economy in the Andes. They might eat less quinoa but they might be able to eat chicken and other food groups instead—ones they couldn’t afford before.
4. Now that we’re absolved from our guilt, I have to mention that we have some great quinoa recipes on EatSavvy but what intrigued me more this week was the Spaghetti with Shrimp Scampi 15-minute meal that we published last Saturday on EatSavvy. It was very popular with our readers and I think that’s because it promises to be quick and easy but looks like a resto meal. And who doesn’t love shrimp?
5. Finally, I leave you with this. It’s called a hockey sign but I think any parent with a child in any sport will appreciate it. Enjoy!
Tagged under: from the editor's desk
Category: entertainment
