Text 1817, 70 rader
Skriven 2005-04-24 12:03:12 av DAVE COBLE (1:123/140)
Ärende: The Diet Dilemma
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I walked by the vitamin and diet section of the store the other day and the
aisle was crammed with shopping carts and people examining all the
different bottles listed in alphabetical order from A to Zinc.

On the other side of the aisle were books on diets and health foods. Above
that was another whole shelf filled to the top with energy bars, diet
pills, and canned diet drinks. There were low calorie, sugar free, low fat,
no fat, and low carbohydrate diets. How does one choose between all of
these diets?

Since there seemed to be so many items for the low carbohydrate diet, I
asked a sales clerk about it and she told me it was the most popular diet
now and everybody was doing it. Her comment seemed strangely reminiscent of
the line my teenagers used to give me and usually I found that the
definition of 'everybody' had been drastically altered.

The clerk went on to tell me that all that is needed to be on the low
carbohydrate diet was just to not eat anything white. I laughed and said
that sounded pretty good to me since I have a box of food coloring in my
kitchen cabinet and chocolate cake isn’t white. She didn’t seem to
appreciate my humor and pointed out that chocolate desserts have white
flour and white sugar in them. She explained that mainly the low
carbohydrate diet consisted of protein such as meat and eggs. I think she
was pretty much describing a McMuffin with only the Mc and no Muffin. Does
this mean the fast food industry may soon come out with a low carbohydrate
menu? I have a feeling it may be known as the 'Grouchy meal'.

Next to the diet section was a shelf full of bottled water. I thought that
water was water and you had the choice of hot or cold but apparently not.
The shelves were loaded with all kinds of water. The bottles were labeled
spring, purified, mineral, sparkling, and even water with flavoring and
vitamins. It sure seems strange to pay the same price for a bottle of water
as for a soft drink. It appears that we are paying twice for water since
most people pay for water that comes to their homes unless they happen to
have a well.

I suppose bottled water has now replaced the old canteen but unless a
person doesn’t have good water at home, why do we buy it in bottles when it
comes right from the faucet into our homes and often complete with a
filtering system? How do we know some guy isn’t in his backyard filling
those plastic bottles we buy on the shelf with water from his garden hose?

I suppose we buy bottled water and diet food because of time and
convenience. This way, we save time so that we can have more time to devote
to getting stressed out so we can spend more money on vitamins that
alleviate stress.

It is an interesting fact that statistics show the amount of money spent by
Americans annually on weight-reduction products and services, including
diet foods, products and programs is $33 billion dollars. That should tell
us something.

I couldn’t help but wonder just what my grandmother would have had to say
about things like this. Her motto was, 'All things in moderation'.

When it came to water back then, my grandmother only had two choices: Deep
well or cistern. Diet and exercise were just a part of daily life and
nobody thought much about it because they didn’t sit around much with a
garden to care for, food to preserve, and lots of chores to do. The
children all had chores to do and played games outside for exercise.

There’s no doubt about it, my grandmother’s lifestyle was much better than
the way we live these days. I think I’ll follow her example and work in the
garden this spring but first I think I’ll just finish this high protein
energy bar and my bottle of spring water.

By Pamela Perry Blaine
© March, 2004
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