Save The World, One Pound At A Time
With Thanksgiving, and Christmas, winter is the season of festivals and food.
There is plenty of tempting food at hand, but everything I like is fattening.
(As someone said 'Everything I like doing is immoral, illegal or fattening.
") Why God put all the vitamins and anti-oxidants in veggies, is beyond me.
He could just as easily have inserted them in cake, apple pies and ice cream.
So however strong the temptation, I have to remember that they are fattening and fat is no longer in vogue, while thin is in.
It was not always so.
Till the late 19th century, being fat was a sign of prosperity and status.
Everyone ate the same foods, with the poor eating less and the rich eating more.
Further, the rich sat around while the poor did all the manual work, so the rich were fat and the poor thin.
Also fat people were considered happy and benign, while thin people were not to be trusted.
Quoting Caesar- "Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
" How things have changed.
Now fat, not thin, is a cause for alarm.
Almost daily, I come across media discussions about the spread of obesity and its harmful health effects.
A few years ago obesity was prevalent only in developed Western countries but now it seems that the Asian countries are also catching this epidemic.
Well meaning exhortations to eat wisely and exercise regularly have failed.
However a recent incident at an airport provides a glimmer of hope.
The incident involved a generously proportioned passenger who was asked by a chartered airline to buy a second ticket for herself.
The reasoning was that she was too big (or two big) to fit in one seat and would overflow into the next one, depriving the airline of a paying passenger.
I think this is a terrific idea butit does not go far enough.
We should apply this logic to all passengers; their fare should be based on actual weight.
(After all when we send a parcel by US Postal service or Fed Ex, the fee is based on the actual weight of the shipped item).
This would be equitable and we could call it "the fair fare".
As passengers adapt to this fare, they will have a strong incentive to lose weight.
This will make for a healthier population resulting in fewer doctor visits and reduced medical insurance premiums, making universal coverage affordable.
Improved fitness would lead to a more productive workforce.
More people could be accommodated in each airplane, reducing airways congestion and saving fuel.
Further, luggage could also be charged by weight; people would carry less luggage resulting in quicker check in and checkout, also in greater energy savings for the airline.
In fact, why not follow this reasoning to its logical conclusion? All transportation charges could be based on the weight of the passenger or vehicle involved.
Car tolls would be based on the actual weight of the car.
There would be a strong incentive to buy lighter cars, again reducing energy consumption.
Passengers would not carry unnecessary stuff in their vehicles, resulting in better mileage, energy savings and less wear and tear on the nation's highways and bridges, which are in a poor state of repair.
What about restaurants? Instead of having "All you can eat" buffets with a fixed price, people would weigh in and weigh out.
Their check would depend on the weight increase.
(Of course no bathroom visits would be allowed between the two weighings).
This would discourage excessive binging, again resulting in a healthier American population.
As people began to eat less, less food would need to be produced and farmland could be diverted to growing more corn for ethanol.
This again would help to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.
As this movement progressed further, America would become self sufficient in energy.
Deprived of their oil revenue, despotic regimes in the Middle East would not be able to afford development of nuclear weapons.
It is very likely that existing dictatorships would collapse and be replaced by democracies.
Then the people of the world would live in peace and prosperity.
There is plenty of tempting food at hand, but everything I like is fattening.
(As someone said 'Everything I like doing is immoral, illegal or fattening.
") Why God put all the vitamins and anti-oxidants in veggies, is beyond me.
He could just as easily have inserted them in cake, apple pies and ice cream.
So however strong the temptation, I have to remember that they are fattening and fat is no longer in vogue, while thin is in.
It was not always so.
Till the late 19th century, being fat was a sign of prosperity and status.
Everyone ate the same foods, with the poor eating less and the rich eating more.
Further, the rich sat around while the poor did all the manual work, so the rich were fat and the poor thin.
Also fat people were considered happy and benign, while thin people were not to be trusted.
Quoting Caesar- "Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
" How things have changed.
Now fat, not thin, is a cause for alarm.
Almost daily, I come across media discussions about the spread of obesity and its harmful health effects.
A few years ago obesity was prevalent only in developed Western countries but now it seems that the Asian countries are also catching this epidemic.
Well meaning exhortations to eat wisely and exercise regularly have failed.
However a recent incident at an airport provides a glimmer of hope.
The incident involved a generously proportioned passenger who was asked by a chartered airline to buy a second ticket for herself.
The reasoning was that she was too big (or two big) to fit in one seat and would overflow into the next one, depriving the airline of a paying passenger.
I think this is a terrific idea butit does not go far enough.
We should apply this logic to all passengers; their fare should be based on actual weight.
(After all when we send a parcel by US Postal service or Fed Ex, the fee is based on the actual weight of the shipped item).
This would be equitable and we could call it "the fair fare".
As passengers adapt to this fare, they will have a strong incentive to lose weight.
This will make for a healthier population resulting in fewer doctor visits and reduced medical insurance premiums, making universal coverage affordable.
Improved fitness would lead to a more productive workforce.
More people could be accommodated in each airplane, reducing airways congestion and saving fuel.
Further, luggage could also be charged by weight; people would carry less luggage resulting in quicker check in and checkout, also in greater energy savings for the airline.
In fact, why not follow this reasoning to its logical conclusion? All transportation charges could be based on the weight of the passenger or vehicle involved.
Car tolls would be based on the actual weight of the car.
There would be a strong incentive to buy lighter cars, again reducing energy consumption.
Passengers would not carry unnecessary stuff in their vehicles, resulting in better mileage, energy savings and less wear and tear on the nation's highways and bridges, which are in a poor state of repair.
What about restaurants? Instead of having "All you can eat" buffets with a fixed price, people would weigh in and weigh out.
Their check would depend on the weight increase.
(Of course no bathroom visits would be allowed between the two weighings).
This would discourage excessive binging, again resulting in a healthier American population.
As people began to eat less, less food would need to be produced and farmland could be diverted to growing more corn for ethanol.
This again would help to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.
As this movement progressed further, America would become self sufficient in energy.
Deprived of their oil revenue, despotic regimes in the Middle East would not be able to afford development of nuclear weapons.
It is very likely that existing dictatorships would collapse and be replaced by democracies.
Then the people of the world would live in peace and prosperity.
Source...