Soup to Nuts

The word is out that the “obesity epidemic” is not subsiding.  There were just as many overweight people last year as there were earlier in the decade.  It’s not getting worse, but it’s not getting any better either.  This is not a problem government can solve.  It’s a personal discipline issue.

The thing about discipline is that it takes work.  The programs are usually easy to understand but hard to follow.  It’s not easy to eat right or find the time to exercise, so when shortcuts come along, we find them attractive.  Why do hard work when an easier answer is at hand?  Give me a pill or a powder or a rubber suit or even surgery instead.  Just read the latest diet book to find the magic answer.  Purveyors of these easy answers serve up solutions with hype and celebrity endorsements, then rake in the money.

One faulty assumption about healthy eating is that organic or all-natural foods are better for you than regular, run-of-the-mill and, by the way, less expensive items.  At the grocery store we see many organic or all-natural alternatives in every aisle.  People spend their hard-earned money on these products to feel like they are doing the best for their families.  As I have warned in the past, it ain’t necessarily so.

That’s why this article caught my attention.  It lists (in the writer’s opinion) the six unhealthiest soups in America along with healthier alternatives.  Note that three of the six soups have somewhere in their name the word “organic” or “natural.”

The point is that discipline is discipline.  We are not going to wish our society back to a healthy size.  There are no magic answers except doing the work.  Shortcuts don’t work to get you thinner.  Some soups are good and some are not so good, and the nuts are the people who read the brand names and assume that organic or natural automatically makes it better.  (Remember, nicotine is also natural.)

By the way, I can’t take the rest of this article or related material too seriously, because at one point he promises, “instant secrets that will keep you healthy and fit all year long,” but conveniently omits the part about you having to do the hard work.  It sounds too much like more shortcuts, and if it sounds too good to be true…