recipe "rehabs" miss the big picture

I have worked my way through about 30 magazines I bought at the used Bookstore for my recoup time. (Oy, still recouping. Tonsillectomy pain lasts a LONG time...)Anyway, I can't really eat, so the last ones left are Rachel Ray's Every Day. No fun looking at foodie mags when you can't eat... I was sad to read the "Save my Son's Egg Sandwich" recipe in the Reader Rescue segment this morning."My teen starts his day with this filling fast-food meal- but its fat, calories and sodium are off the charts!" Writes a concerned mom... (Current breakfast wrap: Calories 760, fat 49 grams, 1700 m sodium...)The "rescue" uses a small whole wheat tortilla, and each one has less then one egg (4 eggs and 4 egg whites to make 6 burritos) each has 1/6 of a sausage link, 1/2 slice of turkey bacon, 2/3 ounce of low fat cheese, so it has 330 calories, 14 grams of fat, 30 carbs and 689 mg sodium.Oh Rachel, (editors...) I feel sorry for this poor kid and his mom. Perhaps he chose the more filling breakfast because he actually NEEDS the darn calories! Ever heard of a growth spurt? Maybe he doesn't get lunch until five hours later and the fat actually helps him make it through calculus with a blood sugar level that could sustain rational thought.  Less calories and fat is not always better! In theory breakfast is roughly a third of his intake, the "most important meal of the day," and he's getting 330 calories? Teen boys need roughly between 2,000 and 3,000 calories a day, possibly more if they are active.EPIC fail as far as I'm concerned. There is no acknowledgment of this kid's energy needs, or encouraging habits like sitting at the table and eating together, or at least eating at a table. When you eat on the run, it is harder to tune in to internal signals and one is more likely to eat more or less than one needs.  I'm actually going to write a letter about this one...In general I don't mind some menu make-over sections. I find that some recipes with lots of cream and butter taste too rich for me, and I actually prefer them a little on the liter side, but, most often there is no middle ground. It's either 2 cups of whole cream, or a cup of evaporated skim milk and a little flour, or whatever the trick is. Oh, and if Gramma's butter cookies are that damn good, then leave her legacy alone and sit down and enjoy a butter cookie or two, or six if you make them once a year, and reminisce about your childhood visits, sledding and coming in to warm cookies and cocoa if you were so lucky... If we lose site of flavor, appetite, the special things food can make us feel, and even our most basic energy needs, we are lost. And, are we not largely lost when it comes to food in America??