UNSUPERSIZE ME

Should our government dictate how much we eat or drink?

Warning, if you are overweight and sensitive, you may not want to read this.

Should our governing entities limit the size of a cola an eating establishment serves us? As much as I hate government meddling in our private affairs or limiting our choices, I tend to agree with Mayor Bloomberg's anti-obesity proposal of forbidding the sale of giant sugar drinks. Someone has to do something to shock this nation back to reality as far as us stuffing ourselves into oblivion goes. Remember back when they began banning smoking in public places? That was mainly for the benefit of nonsmokers, but it triggered many smokers into realizing what they were doing to themselves. I was one of those smokers and I resisted too long. I smoked in restaurants long after they requested us not to. And when they made it a law, I began smoking outside at the entrance. I was more defiant back then than I am now.

Over eating and drinking is a health hazard

Three years after I became smoke free, and started eating healthy, the big C, cancer caught me. The body can only fight off so much abuse before nasty things begin to happen. Believe it or not, gluttony is far more detrimental to the body than is smoking or imbibing alcohol. Sugar is poison and we begin stuffing our kids with it at an early age. Sugar contributes to 35 million deaths a year worldwide, while 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol related causes. So, go ahead, take your kids down to the local burger joint and give them another sugar fix. I'm taking my down to the local bar.

One of these supper sized drinks and a super duper burger with a double order of fries is enough to feed a family of four. Some gluttons can down two or three of these orders at one setting and then gobble down a whole apple pie and wash that down with yet another gigantic drink. Then, they sit back, belch and proudly pat their overstuffed belly. Hell, I couldn't eat that much in a week even if I did eat those pink-slim burgers or partake of their sugar-poisoned carbonated drinks. Pick you drink HERE to see its sugar content. We won't talk about fat and calorie content. That's another story.

We tend to fool ourselves

Those who eat these supersized meals and then order a diet cola to ease their shame have not gained anything. Diet colas are just as harmful to the body as are sugar loaded ones. A while back when I began to wean myself off sugar, I started drinking diet colas. I bought them by the case Thinking they were not harmful, I drank more and more of them, I had one in my hand all day long then I learned the terrible truth. Check that site above and become enlightened. The cravings of our bodies are strong. I've been fighting my craving for sugar for several years. It ain't easy, folks., i.e., there just is not a safe sugar substitute out there. So, if you want to cut sugar from your diet, do it cold turkey as alcoholics do.

Every time I find something new, I learn it too is not good for the body. It's only switching from one poison to another. I'm determined to celebrate my 100th birth day, even if it kills me.

If Brazil can do it, why can't we?

Here is another interesting article on how your body reacts when you drink your favorite cola. President Vargas banned Cola from Brazil. Good for him! I think Brazil is a very progressive country. They out do us in many areas.

The other day I observed a gigantic blob of a woman lumber from a pink slime burger house carrying two grocery-sized bags filled to overflowing, followed by two smaller versions of her carrying more bags. All three huffed as they waddled by like a family of ducks. I remember debating with myself whether one of the woman's thighs would weigh one or two times what I weighed. It's beyond my comprehension just how people get the way they are. Do the not know that food is the cause of their condition? The U.S. leads the world in our percentage of overweight and obese people. Alabama takes first place prize.

Eating establishments are a proud bunch

I remember back in the mid to late fifties one of those burger joints advertised on their signs that they had sold over 1 million burgers. I wonder if they still keep track of that. We cannot blame them for being proud of their success, even though they are killing us with their slop. We can only blame ourselves.

Should the government jump in and save us from ourselves? In this case, It's not so much about ourselves as it is everyone else. Those of us who pay taxes that pay for the medical bills of those who insist on being gluttonous and end up being carried to hospitals on flat bed trucks after being extracted from their special reinforced beds by a crane. We have to pay their bills because they do not have the ability to pay. Some insist their gluttonous abuse of themselves is a disease and they demand their rights as handicapped people where they can park next to the entrance of their favorite burger joint. Heaven forbid they get any exercise.

Call me insensitive, but I believe they should accept responsibility for becoming what they are and should not have any more rights than anyone else. We send drug users and pot smokers to prison for abusing themselves, and we force alcoholics to attend meetings.

Besides, it's no different than banning smoking in bars and restaurants or other non-smoking places. That reminds me. My 70 year-old baby sister finally quit smoking a couple months ago. She told me yesterday, she walked around her block and it felt good that she didn't get winded. Of course, I couldn't resist reminding her this is what I have been telling her for the past 35 years. I don't think she liked that. In fact, I know she didn't. In either case, I'm happy she stopped. Now if I could only wean her off sugar and fat.

What I'm attempting to get across is our bad habits most always affect others. Sometimes, those in power have to step in and force us to change our ways for the betterment of all concerned.

Does anyone regret our meddlesome government forcing smallpox vaccinations upon us? I know I know. In one hand, our government forces our schoolchildren to eat appalling lunches at inappropriate times. Now they want to regulate what we eat and drink at eating establishments.

Well, as for school lunches, this involves big companies and big money paid to the campaign funds of our electives. We all know how that works. Our representatives just do not represent us. When they do, they screw it up. I believe this happens because their forethoughts are always on what is more beneficial to them and those who contribute large sums to their campaigns. We have to do something about this. However, Roam wasn't built in an election year.

Sugar should be controlled like tobacco and alcohol. Make it expensive forcing us to make other options like smoking pot instead of cigarettes. Was that a good analogy? There are other substitutes for sugar. However, I hear some claiming these sugar substitutes are harmful to us. People just will not stop diddling around with substances and coming up with new views on how they are detrimental to our health. All I can say is let them keep on keeping on. Can anyone tell me why no-sugar-added food cost twice as much?

How To Sell Death

I just came across this on the internet. How To Sell Death is a book on how the tobacco industry advertises their product in order to stay in business. They realize the young generation is their future customers and their ads are slyly targeting this group. Does anyone remember candy cigarettes? Pink slime burger companies draws in their customers by targeting the younger generation. The only difference is, the fast food industry is far from going under, in fact, it is thriving mainly, because of their advertising audience. Have you ever seen one of their ads that did not portray happy smiling children? They are selling death, too.

Fast food joints are becoming, or have become, a way of life. They are becoming as popular around the world as they are here. In some places, you come across several of them in as many blocks. Soon we will have a worldwide epidemic of overweight and obese people. Maybe another country will take our first position as having the largest percentage of fat people. After all, we are world leaders. Eventually, we will wake up minus the smell of sizzling pink-slime burgers and the fizzling sound of sugar-poisoned drinks. Glory halleluiah, we has seen the light.

If you haven't seen it before, watch this Supersize Me video.

Talk about supersizing, once again I managed to turn a 500 word article into 1,500 words .

Thanks and have a pleasant day. Ray