Last week, I was sitting in my office when I overheard one of my coworkers saying something that struck me.
"I wish we had more healthy places to eat here in town."
Bingo.
Don't get me wrong, I love my fast food sometimes. A Mama burger from A&W, or a Big Mac meal from McDonalds and yes I always upsize the fries but even it out with a water to drink (like that really helps).
And I love Blizzards from Dairy Queen and popcorn chicken from KFC but quite frankly, it grows tiresome after awhile.
I'll admit that I'm usually a healthy eater and an avid runner, so maybe this affects me more but wouldn't it be nice if your decision to skip cooking dinner and get take-out didn't automatically mean a choice between grease, grease or, hey, more grease!
Yes, I know you can have healthier choices at places like McDonalds but let's get real. If I'm craving McDonalds for dinner, I'm not getting a dinky little snack wrap.
Come ON Humboldt, get with it. Bring on the Pita Pit! Or Wok Box! Or any stir-fry place, pita place, veggie place, healthier-eating place, Please-I-love-my-kids-I-don't-want-to-die-at-35- place.
Just driving down Highway 5 here in Humboldt, it's no wonder Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates of obesity in the country. And the rural areas are even worse than the province's cities, one of the reasons being that there aren't as many options for healthier fast food.
When Braedon and I moved out here in May, one of his friends, a former resident of the Saskatchewan boonies, half-jokingly said "I bet I can name all the fast food places you guys have in Humboldt."
"Go for it," Braedon said.
"A&W for sure,"
"Yep."
"Probably a KFC, absolutely a McDonalds and a Pizza Hut," he added.
"You forgot Dairy Queen," Braedon retorted.
But he nailed it on the nose.
How predictable and sad is it that literally every rural Saskatchewan town (obviously within a certain population, sorry Plunkett!) has the exact same fast food chains? Not a glimmer of a pita even on the horizon.
Yes, we have Subway. And yes, depending on which sub you get and if you don't go off the rails with the southwest chipotle sauce, they're healthy.
But do you want to be Jared, the Subway spokesman, eating subs day in and day out as your only healthy eating option when you don't feel like cooking dinner?
Even Jared got sick of cold cuts and ballooned back a bit.
So finally, Humboldt adds another restaurant to the mix and what is it?
A Boston Pizza.
Awesome for hockey games and of course pizza (and watch as Fridays in Humboldt suddenly pick up thanks to the restaurant's famous fish bowls full of alcohol on special that night. Get a good fake I.D. underage drinkers).
Love the restaurant but again, not exactly the healthiest option.
Ok, so before I go off sounding like some seed-eating, wheat-dress wearing health freak, I just mean that I'd like to see some healthier places IN ADDITION to the ones we've already got here in Humboldt.
I'm not giving up my beloved Big Macs just yet.
CM
