December 22, 2009
Does Santa Need to Go on a Diet?
In case you haven’t noticed, obesity isn’t exactly in these days. We’ve banished trans-fats from many places, given serious thought to a tax on soda, and applauded the First Family for planting an organic vegetable garden. We’re reading books with titles like “Eat This, Not That” and “The Belly Fat Cure.” The popularity of a drastic stomach-shrinking procedure called gastric bypass, or bariatric surgery, is steadily increasing.
Courtesy Flickr use Fortyseven
There’s only one public figure who’s been routinely excused from our collective campaign against fat: Santa Claus. We mean it as a compliment when we say that his belly shakes “like a bowl full of jelly.”
Until now.
According to this recent Washington Post article, even some of Santa’s biggest fans have started to politely mutter that Mr. Claus should consider going on a diet.
Children love him and look up to him, the argument goes, so shouldn’t he set a healthier example? Should parents start telling their kids to leave out a Christmas Eve snack of celery sticks and sparkling water, instead of cookies and milk?
I guess it probably would be easier on the reindeer if the big guy lost a few pounds, but personally, I’m with the First Family on this one. As the President says at the end of the Washington Post article: “Santa eats what he wants.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments area below.
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There are so many things about Santa that children DON’T grow up trying to emulate (big white beard, living in the North Pole, head-to-toe red outfits, etc.), so I don’t think children think of Santa as someone who they want to be. Let “Santa” have his cookies. (We parents burn a few hundred calories wrapping the presents for him, anyway, so it all comes out even in the end.)
As Mrs. Claus said in the claymation Rudolph special: “Eat, Papa, eat! Nobody likes a skinny Santa.”
I agree with you and the other commenters! It’s nice to have someone in the country who is comfortable with being big. If Santa went on a diet, he might get grumpy and feel less generous!
I think Santa looks great just the way he is, and should be able to eat all the cookies and milk he wants. Nobody likes a skinny Santa.
I think we should be teaching our children how to cook and what is healthy so that they know. Changing Santa isn’t going to change their eating habits.