The consumption of food is costing us billions of dollars every year. I don’t mean the cost of the food. I mean the results of consuming too much food for our own good. Over half the world is overweight. Over one third of world is a lot over weight. I am not going to use the o word, in describing how much a person is overweight. In my view, any amount of weight over your ideal weight, can cause a problem. This is different than being pregnant, where you can be a little bit overweight. This should not lull you to sleep, thinking that this is probably ok for your health, because it is not. Spend an entire day carry around a 10 bag of potatoes, and see how you feel at the end of the day. This is how your body feels, after it carries your ten pounds of excess fat around, for the last so many years. This blog is not about how to lose those 10 pounds or more, but to try and find out how the world go so fat. How did we get to this state. This is a problem that is on the rise. More people die from complications of being over weight than smoking. The cost of treating weight related diseases is estimated to be 147 billion dollars a year. Each individual has to take responsibility for their own condition, but let’s look at some big picture elements, that have a lot to do with it, and what if anything we can do about it.
The beginning of the fast food chains, has done has as much as any industry, to cause people to eat more. The fast food industry has taken a lot of criticism, over the years, for not offering as many healthy choices as they should. Because of this criticism, fast food has improved in quality and variety. However, fast food still entices you, in many clever ways, to eat more than you should. From catchy names like the Big Mac, The Whopper, The Whaler, MAKE IT A MEAL FOR ONLY $1.50 MORE and SUPERSIZE IT, DUMB ASS. Not only do they entice you with catchy slogans, but the more you eat, the less you pay per unit. A single Burger at Wendy’s is 4.49, but put another patty on, for just a buck, and make it a triple for just another dollar. It goes on and on, and every chain is like this. Should there be a law against this. If that’s what it takes, to keep this from happening, yes, I am all for it. There should be at least a suggestion, like on alcohol commercials, to eat responsible, because we all don’t want to pay for those 5 stents you’ll get in 5 years. You should not have to pay more, but you should not get a discount, because your appetite is like the offensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The entire food industry is like this. That’s the whole purpose to buying clubs like Sam’s and Costco’s, in that they want you to buy in bulk and save money. Unfortunately, I think this makes you eat in bulk also. This kind of thinking. in my view, must come to an end. The idea of the bigger you buy, the less it will cost. It is not doing us any good. By the same token, all you can eat food bars, should come to an end. Again, they just contribute to a problem that is escalating at an unbelievable rate. I know that none of these things are going to happen, but it would be interesting if they did, just to see if they helped this costly problem of American and world health.
Everyone is responsible for their own health and well being, but it does not help when people are bombarded with the above nonsense. Can we learn a lesson from all this? We can all get into the mode of moderation. With some moderate consumption habits and some moderate exercise added to our daily regime I think most of us can get back to a more healthful condition of our body. Even though I wrote that any amount of being over weight is not good for your body, any amount of weight loss is good for your body. Enjoy your food, but only eat one patty of ground meat, and eliminate the word large or big from your vocabulary, anytime you are going to order food. Unless you have a big family buy small and eat small. In the long run you will make you and the world a better place. Now excuse me, as I take my 54 tater tots out of the oven.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 