A "little" dessert?

Today I was riding in my car when a commercial started playing.  It was a Walmart commercial, which I don't know if I've heard on the radio before.  The commercial started off by talking about how Walmart can help a busy mom by having already prepared meals in their freezer section  (more to come about that at a later date).  The commercial then said- and you can grab dessert while you are in the freezer section because "a little dessert never hurt anyone."  Seriously???

While I feel there are many things wrong with processed foods, I'm not going to go off on that today.  My problem, today, is with the statement: "a little dessert never hurt anyone."  How many people buy a container of ice cream and eat the specified 1/4-1/2 cup serving size?  The only people I know who strictly abide by the serving size are people on weight watchers or other dieters.  So how does this  "not hurt anyone"?  Well let's see, when I was a nurse taking care of adults my back hurt constantly from the increasing size of my patients.  Obesity is a HUGE problem in this country, as has been reported in various media outlets.  Heart disease, diabetes, joint and back problems are just a few of the diseases connected to obesity frequently seen in hospitals around the country (I'm speaking strictly from experience, not from research I've done).  These problems seem to contradict the idea that "a little dessert never hurt anyone."

Now I am in NO way saying that I'm healthy, because I am JUST as guilty as anyone else when it comes to sweets and portion control.    However, when we hear a commercial telling us how they can make our lives easier, it catches our attention.   And then we hear something like "a little dessert never hurt anyone."  Come on, can we have something in our lives to help us out for real?  Something to encourage us to strive to be healthy?  Just last night, when I was watching some television  (because I'm lazy sometimes) there was commercial after commercial advertising for food during the supper hours.  These commercials were not for raw fruits and veggies, coupled with healthy fats--they were fried chicken and greasy hamburgers, topped with huge slabs of bacon.   Now, not only do I want that huge juicy hamburger after watching these ads, but if I'm going to be "bad" I might as well have dessert too, because that's what I really crave.

I don't want my daughter to have dessert be the norm.  I don't want her to think that all foods come out of a carton or bag of some kind.  I want her to realize how amazing a juicy nectarine is, or the way a pear melts in your mouth--not a frozen ice cream sandwich or frozen cake.  I want her to actually experience the taste of real strawberries, a homemade Popsicle made of yogurt and fresh strawberries.  These really won't hurt anybody, and take seconds to mix up, plop in a dixie cup, and throw in the freezer.

So, I may not have all the time in the world, and I may have cravings for all kinds of bad food, but it doesn't help when there are commercials telling me that it won't hurt to eat dessert.  How about a commercial that says "and you can stop by our frozen section and pick up a bag of unsweetened frozen blueberries for a cold, sweet and refreshing dessert."  Now that is really convenient and helpful for a working mom!


Come on Walmart, how about whole, raw, pesticide and chemical free food to help your family have more energy, better health and an overall longer life, because that really "never hurt anyone."

*Soon to come, how a working mom can avoid those premade processed frozen dinners that are oh-so-convientent.*