Wait ... What?!

Of course, you know what day it is!!!

"... Yeaaaaaahhhhhh ..." I fed that camel, by the way. For real.

I don't think that's ever going to get old for me.
So, the other day, I was in the gas station paying for gas (and, likely, a Diet Coke) when Pit Crew #2 kept talking about getting stuff. Now, both of my kids do that when we're in a convenience store because they know, way more often than not, we're not getting anything. So, along the way, they decided that it would be awesome to just keep asking when they know the answer is no. And, if they're not asking, they're doing some running commentary about how delicious this, that and the other thing look. To be honest, it tends to make me giggle because I know they're usually joking. I do think PC#3 has figured out that for about every 10 different trips to the gas station that he lets me know the donuts look fabulous, I'll probably buy him one.

But, he's not the one who was with me on this particular day, so when I kept hearing PC#2 talk about the monster protein bites in the cooler ...

... I knew two things. At least, I thought I knew two things.

The first, which I was actually right about, is that she was kidding and knew I wasn't going to buy them. The second thought in my head was, "Nice try on calling cookie dough balls 'protein' bites."

The second thought I had is where I was wrong. She kept going on and on about the monster protein bites all the way until we got back in the car. You know, those cookie dough balls. She kept talking about them -- sometimes seeming to mock them -- stressing the protein part. And, that's when it clicked. I turned to her and said, "Wait. You're serious that those were called protein bites?" She was all, "Um, yeah! They really were!" (I think she was a bit surprised by it herself.) I looked at her and said, "Oh! I thought you were just Daffy Ducking* me!"

* In the Loony Tunes episode, "The Stud, the Nerd, the Average Joe and the Saint," Daffy Duck starts working out with Speedy Gonzales to get himself in shape to run a marathon. Besides being wildly out of shape, he has the expected knowledge of nutrition. Here, he explains to Speedy that he supplements his diet with 'protein bars' throughout the day:

Well, PC#2 was not Daffy Ducking me in the least. I returned to the store a few days later, and I saw the ingredients on these Monster Protein Bites which included: quick oats; peanut butter; whey protein; honey ... I honestly can't remember what else. I don't recall seeing the candy bits listed in the ingredients, but I can't swear to that.

Once I got the information available, I was frustrated. (I was almost as frustrated as the day the sample lady at Sams, who was pushing the protein powder, kept telling me overandoverandover what a perfect meal replacement a protein shake would be for PC#3 who stood there in his basketball uniform at the ripe age of 10. As I did not see her nutrition and/or pediatric medical credentials, I ignored her level of expertise in the matter.) Anyway, these protein bites just struck me as one more quick-grab thing out there that can appear to be a good choice when, frankly, there's no real way of knowing when there's not even a nutrition label on the package. I mean, how many of these is a serving? How many calories are in a serving? How much protein powder is really in them? Was natural peanut butter (peanuts only) used or another that contains sugar? What's really in these?!

Have I ever let myself be lured in? You bet'cha. And, that's probably why I got frustrated seeing these. I've certainly eaten products that seemed to contain the 'right' things only to realize (or, should I say, ignore) I really didn't know information such as how much of the truly good stuff is in the product, how much of something that shouldn't be in there actually is (ie: sugar in some cases), how much constitutes a serving, and, I'm being honest, helping myself to more than what's likely the suggested serving size justified by the face that it was a better choice than, say, a candy bar ... 'been there?!

Are these particular 'protein bites' good or bad for you? I really have no opinion of that given there's not enough information provided to form one. As we work to teach our own kids better than we were taught about nutrition, it can be frustrating to often stop and explain that what's been labeled as good might or might not be as good as billed. But, we keep planting the seeds and hope we're being heard so they have a strong head start.

In the meantime, I have to say the aforementioned Loony Tunes episode is hysterical, so much so that it lives on our DVR. I don't mind living vicariously through Daffy Duck now and then!

See you after the morning run ...