Michelle Obama: America's Moms Are 'Confused and Bewildered,' 'Defeated' by Grocery Shopping

Oh brother. Talk about condescending. First Michelle says that young people are all knucklehads, and now American moms are too freak'n stupid to be able to shop for their families. Maybe the moms where YOU come from are too stupid to know how to grocery shop, Michelle, but the moms in my neighborhood do just fine without your instructions. Get out of my shopping cart!

Michelle Obama: America's Moms Are 'Confused and Bewildered,' 'Defeated' by Grocery Shopping

n pitching new, improved nutrition labels at the White House on Thursday, first lady Michelle Obama tried to identify with women who do the grocery shopping for their families. Her message was aimed at mothers who want to buy healthy food and depend on labels to help them do that:

"So there you stood, alone in some aisle in a store, the clock ticking away at the precious little time remaining to complete your weekly grocery shopping, and all you could do was scratch your head, confused and bewildered, and wonder, is there too much sugar in this product? Is 50 percent of the daily allowance of riboflavin a good thing or a bad thing? And how on Earth could this teeny little package contain five whole servings?

"This stream of questions and worries running through your head when all you really wanted to know was, should I be eating this or not? Is this good for my kids or not? And if it is healthy, how much of it should I be eating? But unless you had a thesaurus, a calculator, a microscope, or a degree in nutrition, you were out of luck. So you felt defeated, and you just gave up and went back to buying the same stuff you always buy.

Video of her speaking is at the link.

Yea, if you care then in all likelihood the right (healthy) things will end up in your cart. If your cart is full of crap then it probably isn't something you're concerning yourself with too much.

The only confusion I have is how to stretch a shrinking dollar to cover an inflating cost of living. Try buying whole foods with the same budget you had a couple years ago when all the food does is get more expensive.

reply to post by FlyersFan


An idiot and her puppet husband giving advice LOL. If you want healthy food, you buy the stuff without labels from your local farmer that grows without "help" from Monsanto or Bayer, etc. You drive out of the city if you have to, because that extra 20 bucks in gas will probably give you an extra 20 years of being able to live without renal failure or Alzheimers. Or better still, start a co-op of like minded people, have one person go out and pick up supplies from the farms and split the costs if you live in the city.

Cheers - Dave

ketsuko
The only confusion I have is how to stretch a shrinking dollar to cover an inflating cost of living. Try buying whole foods with the same budget you had a couple years ago when all the food does is get more expensive.

Exactly. Maybe she'd get the gist of the cost V health issues if the First Family had to live on a normal (read: tight) American food budget.

How dare she, shes probably forgotten what a food shop/store looks like, shes got minions, with no budget problems to shop and cook for her. Mrs oval-office-idiot is proving to as brain dead as mr oval office idiot, heres a suggestion for her , for 1 month she should have to live on a limited budget, and cook for family. Like him.....full of ideas=full of shhhhhhh, you know where im going with this one!!
BVH

Could she be any more obvious?

Women [and also men] have been grocery shopping since there have been grocery stores.
It's not rocket science.
People were able to feed nutritious meals before food labels
I mean, damn, how did our mothers and grandmothers do it

As if many read those labels anyway.
As if those labels tell the truth.

Methinks it's more likely there is an agenda: tell folks they can't figure things out for themselves....and at some point, they will start to have misgivings about themselves and start to believe they are not capable.

CNS what FOX didn't have and article on this yet? Looks like what she was saying went over many of the peoples heads in this thread. How many of you understand everything on the labels on the products you buy. Do you know what chemicals they put in the food because not everyone is a chemist. She proposed new labels that everyone can understand because many of them can be confusing for the average shopper. People on ATS always complains about the chemicals in food but let her suggest a label that the people can understand and people whine about it. So much for deny ignorance.

I don't think she was implying that American mom's are stupid or was she condescending. She was describing a hypothetical situation in which it can be difficult and time consuming to decide whether or not particular foods are healthy just by their nutrition labels.

I'm an executive chef and it is my job to cater to the needs of our clients. For example, I am feeding 200 people tonight. A few of them have Celiac disease (gluten free) and 5 diabetics. I have to pay close attention to what I feed them and had to look at the nutritional labels on the food I am serving to ensure their needs are met properly. If you don't know what to look for on the labels, how do you know if it's healthy or can eat it at all if you have special needs?

Even though I find her example to not be the "norm", I think it is a good idea to have better information on the labels and make it easier for a person to make the decisions that fit their needs best.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Oh brother you can think of the most trivial things to get offended by when it comes to the first family.
This is an issue why? Nutrition labels are not always clear and though I understand the labeling I have friends who are constantly asking what this or that means. Not everyone is nutritionally savvy but they desire to make good choices so easier labels are needed. But if the Obamas say it there must be some underhandedness in it .

Ya know if people can't read a GD food label.

That says more about the current state of education in this country than food labels.

Guess her hubby needs to throw a few more billions of dollars to try to make people 'smarter'.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


I'll tell you how our grandmother's and mothers did it. Badly. Tons of meat, butter on all the veggies,potatoes, rice, pasta, desserts every day. High cholesterol obesity and its getting worse not better. Generations ago there was not as much sugar consumption as there is today. There is sugar in everything these days. Why does mayo need sugar ? Eggs oil vinegar simple. When industry started adding sugar or corn syrup to everything obesity escalated. Not only do we need clearer labels we need an overhaul of what is in the foods. I do eat a lot of meat and fish and a lot of veggies. I avoid excess sugar and starches that turn to sugar when you digest them . I'm pretty savvy when it comes to nutrition as I've had a weight problem and low carb seems to agree with my metabolism. I studied the principles of low carb and nutrition in general and I've been doing this since my 20s. I. 56 now.

reply to post by ketsuko


That's another subject all together. We need another thread for your issue.

reply to post by AutumnWitch657


LOL

I'll tell you how our grandmother's and mothers did it.

That is what 'organic' is all about.

Organic is the way mom, and grandmas use to do it.

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


Local farmers don't grow cereal or crackers or bread, they don't offer meat direct from the farm that I know of. I guess we could fish but gee the water is polluted so farm raised fish are safer but you can't buy direct from them either. Your advice, easier said then done. Do you buy your food like that? Drive out to a farm?

reply to post by sheepslayer247


Well if she dare think to implement some kind of new policy to no longer have nicely broken down nutrition labels on packaging then I will go ballistic.

I do not want dumbed down nutrition labels that say things like; "this is good for you", I want to know how much riboflavin, iron, varying vitamins etc etc etc is in what I am purchasing.

I am not too stupid to read, and certainly not too stupid to trust what the government says is good or bad based on their word alone. I want to know exactly what I am buying.

She can shove her woman are too stupid to read a darn label where the sun does not reach.

reply to post by billyvonhelvete


I'm pretty sure she had to cook and shop before she was first lady and she will have to shop and cook again after they leave Washington.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Rocket science is sometimes easier than understanding and using these labels. After all rocket science isn't brain surgery. Lol

sheepslayer247
I don't think she was implying that American mom's are stupid or was she condescending. She was describing a hypothetical situation in which it can be difficult and time consuming to decide whether or not particular foods are healthy just by their nutrition labels.

I'm an executive chef and it is my job to cater to the needs of our clients. For example, I am feeding 200 people tonight. A few of them have Celiac disease (gluten free) and 5 diabetics. I have to pay close attention to what I feed them and had to look at the nutritional labels on the food I am serving to ensure their needs are met properly. If you don't know what to look for on the labels, how do you know if it's healthy or can eat it at all if you have special needs?

Even though I find her example to not be the "norm", I think it is a good idea to have better information on the labels and make it easier for a person to make the decisions that fit their needs best.

You are right it can be difficult to understand food labels. The only real controversy here is that this initiative does little to inform the consumer to what percentages of the product is dyes, fillers and whether or not contains genetically modified products. She wasn't being condescending in the least for years the food industry has manipulated nutritional data starting with serving size. What they consider a serving and what the public consider a serving are vastly different. If you're going to be outraged about something please at least be outraged by things with real substance not just because you don't like the person talking about it.

Dear Michelle Obama,
Are you really so dense as to believe women do not know how to shop for food? Just because you have isolated yourself from the real world does not mean the rest of us have the luxury of a staff of hundreds and an unlimited food budget. I dare you to go shop at Walmart ( you, not your staff) and stick to a budget of $125 for a week of food for a family of 4. Keep in mind you have to only buy your idea of healthy food. Just an FYI hint for you: Do not buy anything with soybean oil in it.And when you come back from shopping let us know how it went. Then maybe someone will take you seriously.

Sincerely,
US Taxpayer