American Pie: All You Can Eat - But Not Food Of Course
"All in all, it’s one thing when a government has to protect its educated citizenry from self-destructive habits like smoking, drug use and reckless driving, but it’s a sad state of affairs when taxpayer money has to be spent to ensure people feed themselves responsibly,'' says John Merchant who is appalled by an increasing dependence in the USA on quick fix energy boosters raqther than well-balanced nutritional meals.
For more of John's tell-it-as-it-is columns on life in America please click on
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If you read American magazines, four topics dominate most of the mainstream media – sex, food, weight loss and “personalities.” It’s difficult to pick up any one of these publications without finding page after page of recipes, exercise programs and weight loss tips. If you don’t know by now that the only way to lose weight reliably and permanently is by eating less and exercising more, then you’re probably 18 years old or younger.
But human nature being what it is, people are always looking for a quick fix or a short cut. This has spawned a huge industry, offering salvation in a can. There are energy boosters, dietary supplements, mood elevators and relaxing potions. All of which are designed to persuade you that you don’t need the chore of cooking a well-balanced, nutritional meal, or to exercise, to restore your body to the sylph-like proportions of youth, even if you were never sylph-like.
Part of the psychological pressure these manufacturers bring to bear on their market is that, in their opinion, you simply don’t have time in this modern world to spend cooking and exercising. This, of course is nonsense, given the amount of time people are prepared to devote to none healthful pastimes such as watching sports and TV, and shopping.
But the TV and radio commercials, and the magazine ads, press the idea that jumping out of the shower and grabbing a health drink while you dress for work, gives you increased time to work, so you can earn more money to spend on, what else, energy and supplementary diet drinks. At lunchtime you simply unwrap a “power bar,” and you’re off and running for the afternoon, with none of that “post lunch drowsiness.” Such a deal!
Come evening, while you’re on your way to your second job, chug-a-lug an energy booster and you’re good to go. All this slurping ignores repeated government warnings that some of these concoctions are actually harmful. The energy boosters often contain excessive amount of caffeine, and the mood elevators contain alcohol.
If the constituents don’t actually harm you, at the very least they ignore the fact that the human digestive system is designed to obtain what your body needs by breaking down solids and fibrous material. If you’re a healthy person, an excessive proportion of fluids, and an absence of solids in your diet will result in your stomach and intestines being underworked, and when muscles aren’t exercised they atrophy.
A man I know, who is in his seventies and lives alone, was hospitalized after he exhibited signs of confusion and loss of memory. After lengthy testing, it was determined that his condition was due to malnutrition. He had apparently been living on diet supplement drinks and apples, because he was unwilling to cook for himself. One year later he is fully recovered, and now has a cook who comes in one day a week and prepares meals for the next seven days.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for food safety, regulates dietary supplements under a different set of parameters than those covering "conventional" foods and drug products (prescription and over-the-counter). Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, the dietary supplement manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a product is safe before it is marketed. The FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market.
On Dec. 15, 2010, the (FDA) took new steps aimed at keeping consumers safe from harmful products that are marketed as dietary supplements, and that contain undeclared or deceptively labeled ingredients. FDA has found that these products are often promoted for weight loss, sexual enhancement, and bodybuilding.
All in all, it’s one thing when a government has to protect its educated citizenry from self-destructive habits like smoking, drug use and reckless driving, but it’s a sad state of affairs when taxpayer money has to be spent to ensure people feed themselves responsibly. Across American society, there seems to be a Lemming-like rush to be the first over the cliff, and I wonder what that signifies.
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