January 24, 2001
Dear Everyone:
Too much stress. Not enough chocolate.
This week we went to a “Safety Awareness Program” on “Fad Diets: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. The presenter works with one of my coworkers from time to time, so three of us went to the presentation to show our support.
And spent an hour listening to what was OK and not OK about various popular diets. What was OK: It’s a good idea to eat a lot of different kinds of food (in moderation, of course). Not OK: Limiting yourself to only one food group.
It seems that Americans spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 billion per year on diet books, diet clubs, diet foods. (Does that include Diet Coke™? ‘Cause that could account for a lot of that $30 billion. I know I contribute my share.)
And we still aren’t losing weight. More Americans are more overweight than ever before (or did they just change the definition of “over” weight?). But don’t feel bad; apparently they’re doing even worse in the United Kingdom.
Some Fad Diets:
“The Sugar Busters Diet” All sugar is evil. Don’t eat fruit because it contains sugar. This one couldn’t work for me because the first thing I do on workdays is drink a large glass of grapefruit and tangerine juice (to give the vitamins something to work with).
“The Atkins Revolutionary Diet” Don’t count calories, just count carbohydrates. Not much of a revolution. I remember this one from the ‘60’s. Didn’t work then. Doesn’t work now. Also, carbohydrates (in moderation, of course) are just as good for you as all those other food types.
“The Caveman Diet” Never heard of this one before. Is that the one where you’re only allowed to eat Wooly Mammoths? Could be a little too much protein, but I bet they provide lots of (wooly) fiber. Or maybe it means you’re supposed to subsist on grains, fruits and berries (when in season only) and get your protein from grubs.
I remember reading once that some anthropologist figured out that the average hunter-gatherer (such as the “cavemen”) spent about 20 hours per week providing for food, clothing (as such) and shelter for him and his family. Most of us work more than twice that long. But I bet that hunter-gatherer didn’t have a six-year-old clamoring for a PlayStation 2 for Christmas, or payments on a $30,000 SUV.
As for diets, lots of helpful advice. Eat sensibly and exercise regularly. Reduce your stress level. (What does she think chocolate is for?) After an hour of this, we retired to the cafeteria and built 7 dollar’s worth of salads for each of us. This religious fervor lasted until about 3:00, when my stress level went up and I dived into the Emergency Chocolate Supply in my desk.
In other news…
“Jeannie” and I spent last Sunday helping one of her court reporter friends install the same special software into the same laptop computer that “Jeannie” has. Since we’d been through all that before with “Jeannie’s” machine, it was relatively easy to install the software and show her how to get into the CBT (Computer Based Training). We also cleaned out a couple of dozen shortcuts to stuff she’ll never need, but which the computer manufacturer couldn’t resist adding for “free”.
The friend didn’t feel comfortable offering me money for the time I spent working on her machine (nor would I have accepted), but she did give me an envelope of gift tickets to a local movie chain. Guess whose turn it will be to “pay” for the movie for the next 7 times?
Speaking of movies, we did finally get out to see something a few weeks ago: Finding Forrester. This, “Jeannie” tells me, is Good Will Hunting all over again (same director) with a different cast. Sean Connery plays William Forrester, a man who wrote “the great American novel” as a young man, then withdrew from the world. This movie does not have the best toupee of Sean’s career. That place is still held by The Hunt for Red October.
Forrester takes a young, black high school student, who shows promise as a writer, under his wing. F. Murray Abraham plays the kid’s English teacher who can’t believe that a poor, black kid from the Bronx can write as well as he does because that would make him better than the teacher (still playing Salieri, but then, it did win him an Oscar). Power struggles ensue. Both Forrester and the kid grow by the end of the movie.
Good enough for a matinee, unless you happen to have a whole envelope of gift tickets (which are also redeemable at the concession stands), in which case, go see whatever you want.
Love, as always,
Pete
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