Aug. 20--DURHAM -- Here are some comments that participants in and planners of the Healthy Food-A-Thon made about trying to go 30 days without fast food and soda:
Trevor Hamlett, 15, Jordan High School rising sophomore, on family support: "My whole family did it with me, and that was such a great big help, because then if you get your family to do it, then you don't have to worry about somebody eating the fast food right in front of you. Because you know how tempting it can be when somebody has a hamburger and some fries and a soda in front of you and you can smell the smells and all that stuff."
Hamlett on trying to resist fast-food temptations: "We actually drove up to New York, and you know when you're on the highway there are billboards, there are road signs, and then even when you get there, to the hotel, there's commercials on TV. And an 11-hour drive can be difficult without eating fast food, so we had to adjust and bring snacks in a cooler and stuff like that, and we made a stop in Baltimore to avoid fast food. ... When I got to my aunt's house, they ate KFC, so I had to settle for a homemade sandwich."
Hamlett on his newfound cooking skills: "I feel that I'm definitely capable and talented enough to cook my own meals as long as I have the material there."
Quinton Dorsey, 16, Riverside High rising junior, on his mother's support: "She bought a lot of cookbooks for me and she's like, whatever recipe you want to make, I can get the stuff. And that's when I was telling her about local foods and [what] the difference is between local and stuff you get from wholesale grocery stores ... and try to get organic stuff for it, because it makes it taste better on top of that. And so she did that for me and I just got cooking, and my cooking skills got better and better."
Alejandro Aguilar, 17, Southern High rising junior, on how he felt about abstaining from fast food after his mother gave him some basic cooking lessons: "The Healthy Food-A-Thon wasn't really hard because I can cook."
Kaleb Rodgers, 15, Hillside High rising sophomore, on his younger sister's taunting him: "She'll just sit here in front of me and just -- just eat it in front of my face. She knows I don't like it and she knew I couldn't eat it so basically she was like -- she was just teasing me. That was kind of the hard part right there."
Jameisha Roach, 14, Brogden Middle rising eighth grader, on her attitude toward the Food-A-Thon after falling off the wagon thanks to some tempting chicken tenders: "The next time I do it, I'll go the whole 30 days."
Santos Flores, creator of the Healthy Food-A-Thon and one of about 20 adults affiliated with SEEDS and the Durham Inner-City Gardeners who abstained from fast food and soda, on how he feels avoiding Starbucks' sugar-laden caramel frappuccino has helped him: "I feel like my energy's much higher now. I don't go from high to low, I feel more steady."
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