Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Wed, Mar 10 2004
Eat A Doughnut: Go To Jail
I guess Congress will want to create laws to keep us from being fat, now that we have the news about obesity rivaling tobacco as a cause of preventable death. This problem is not going to be legislated away, and it's going to be an even tougher battle than the one with drug and alcohol abuse. We can live without drinking alcohol or smoking. We have to have food to live. We can't just give it up completely. We can outlaw cigarettes or whiskey, but not food.
I grew up in a family where food was hospitality, comfort, relaxation and anger management. If you came into our home you would be offered something to eat no less than a dozen times. And if you kept saying no, there were remarks made about it later. My father had run a butcher shop and neighborhood market in St. Louis during the Second World War, and he made sure no one went hungry. His father before him had made sure people got access to food during the Great Depression. No child left the store without at least a piece of penny candy. For my ancestors, and many others, food means more than a way to quiet hunger pangs. Food was, and is, a symbol of survival and love to many people. It's going to be tough to beat that with formal laws.
I run across more people on "diets" than I've ever seen before, and yet as a nation, we all seem to be losing the battle with weight. I don't think most of us hate carrots and celery. We just want to know there is "more", and in America, we've come to believe that excess is the answer to life's problems--more money, more college degrees, more more possessions, more sex, and more food. We eat when we're having fun with our friends, we eat when we're depressed, we eat when we're angry, we eat when we're lonely, we eat when we win the game and we eat when we lose the game. The thing that takes us to the event of heart attack or the stroke may be food, but the issues are a lot bigger than cheeseburgers and chocolate doughnuts. The government site (made with your tax dollars) addressing the weight issue is Small Step. If all it took was a small step, we wouldn't be battling the issue in the first place.
posted at: 06:28 | category: /Health and Fitness | link to this entry
I guess Congress will want to create laws to keep us from being fat, now that we have the news about obesity rivaling tobacco as a cause of preventable death. This problem is not going to be legislated away, and it's going to be an even tougher battle than the one with drug and alcohol abuse. We can live without drinking alcohol or smoking. We have to have food to live. We can't just give it up completely. We can outlaw cigarettes or whiskey, but not food.
I grew up in a family where food was hospitality, comfort, relaxation and anger management. If you came into our home you would be offered something to eat no less than a dozen times. And if you kept saying no, there were remarks made about it later. My father had run a butcher shop and neighborhood market in St. Louis during the Second World War, and he made sure no one went hungry. His father before him had made sure people got access to food during the Great Depression. No child left the store without at least a piece of penny candy. For my ancestors, and many others, food means more than a way to quiet hunger pangs. Food was, and is, a symbol of survival and love to many people. It's going to be tough to beat that with formal laws.
I run across more people on "diets" than I've ever seen before, and yet as a nation, we all seem to be losing the battle with weight. I don't think most of us hate carrots and celery. We just want to know there is "more", and in America, we've come to believe that excess is the answer to life's problems--more money, more college degrees, more more possessions, more sex, and more food. We eat when we're having fun with our friends, we eat when we're depressed, we eat when we're angry, we eat when we're lonely, we eat when we win the game and we eat when we lose the game. The thing that takes us to the event of heart attack or the stroke may be food, but the issues are a lot bigger than cheeseburgers and chocolate doughnuts. The government site (made with your tax dollars) addressing the weight issue is Small Step. If all it took was a small step, we wouldn't be battling the issue in the first place.
posted at: 06:28 | category: /Health and Fitness | link to this entry
