DAILY DIARY – DEBUNK THE JUNK, APRIL 12, 2004

 “I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I lost two weeks.” – Joe E. Lewis<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

 

Day 12:  So what do the food nannies and trial lawyers propose?  That we eat only the things they approve of?  Day 12 started at an odd hour when I had to leave home around <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />2:30 AM to travel to New York City.  I figured with my schedule that day I wouldn’t have an opportunity to eat till late afternoon so enjoyed a Sausage McGriddle and some OJ for breakfast.  I was right, it wasn’t until after 3:00 PM that I had an opportunity to dine again, but I wasn’t overly distressed or hungry because of it.  Thinking ahead and planning the meals really helps a lot, and there is enough variety that I haven’t had to repeat too much—except the Fish Filet sandwich, which is the only seafood available at least at this time of year in this region.

One of the arguments made against McDonalds is that the food is always the same and bland, edging out cultural dishes and variety as the fast food giant pops up all over the world.  I highly doubt, however, that people are going to stop cooking their own meals in favor of a total “fast food diet”.  Dining on the finest epicurean delights will always be a part of the human experience and sometimes those food items will be “bad” for you.  So what?  An occasional tasty tidbit is not a sin.  Fortunately, I have found over the years that there are always new items being tested and/or added to the menu at McDonalds so options have changed over the years.

From now on I plan to stop thinking of food as “good” or “bad.”   Food is food, plain and simple.  Food is not inherently evil, our only “problem” as it were is that we have been very successful as a species in learning how to create easily accessible food sources.  We should revel in our variety of food and take advantage of it, but not to the point of making ourselves unhealthy, and I believe that the majority of people actually do a very good job of maintaining their health despite a few extra pounds.  So why are we all running around feeling guilty about everything we put in our mouths?  Why do we allow the media to “mess with our heads” trumpeting some food threat one day then essentially retracting it the next?  Why do we allow the federal government to try and pigeonhole all of us by creating the Body Mass Index BMI?   

According to the BMI chart, at 178 and 5’3 ½” I was morbidly obese, and that was only a few pounds ago.  I think the feds should get out of the “one size fits all” business and accept the fact that people are unique and try to create “average” people is a dangerous road to travel.  So first order of business, tear up the BMI chart and stop trying to be “normal” or “average”, reality check, there is no such thing so let’s not go there.     

The media only has as much power over our decisions and lives as we want to give it.  I’m not saying we need to abolish the media, I’m just saying that we need to set our standards higher and demand better, more informed reporting absent the junk science and alarmist attitude which seems to drive our current information flow.  Remember, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.