Boomers, and eating our way to happiness vol24

If you remember when the Dead Sea was only “sick”, you must be a Boomer.

In comments to my previous blog’s, I have been informed that I need to keep the blogs shorter. Let me know if you have any other comments on how we can together pull our Boomer family and friends out of their inaction ( remember, be positive ! ) and into a realization that there is so much more to do that is fulfilling and satisfying.

Unfortunately, many Boomers believe that the quickest way to fill this metaphysical hole in their sole is by eating.

It’s a simple formula really: more beef = more endocrines = more good feelings overall. If that were the case, we would have the happiest cohort in the history of the civilization.

We’re not happy ! Amazing. How can this not be so ? Perhaps if we changed our diets, ate more fish, fruits, nuts, veggies, or did a cleanse

Everyone seems to like little facts today, to use to drive home their points, or dispute others, I call them little facts because unless you know the context, they can sometimes be dangerous. Like this factoid I found last summer in a hi-tech journal of Printed Circuit Boards:

Factoid :      6% North American population =  34% bio mass

What that says is that the population of North America is 6% of the world’s total population, but if you weighted up the world’s human weight, North Americans have 34%  of that total. Think about that – we weigh almost 6x the average of the people on the planet. So, can we agree that getting skinny will not only prolong our lives, keep us healthier, and that it has not worked as a solution to our desires?  Really, eating is the worst kind of drug,  with minimal short term highs for devastating long term health risks.

I think we can see that once we get over navel gazing at our increasingly large fat deposits, working through this list of potential foods and fads can take years, even decades, before we realize that filling in the hole is not working. With all the health effects now obvious, I would argue that the hole is actually larger, since it is now combined with guilt, and a sense that we are receding from a solution, not getting any closer. The buffet was a false prophet.

Self-esteem might be the right word to explain what diminished. Funny that, a potential solution, eating our way to happiness, actually increased the size of the hole.

The foodies have a slogan for this – eat less, and for more money. The point they make is that eating right costs more than eating poorly.

Just look at our fast food chains. They are changing to attract the older set, with coffee klatches and group seating, and gourmet coffee, as they know that we are all afraid to eat their foods all the time. Look at the price. Having 2 burgers and a drink will cost you the same as a decent buffet in most towns!

Really, either solution is bad, but that is how we are marketed to. Making a salad at home, and grilling your own steak is more time consuming and expensive, but better for you. Thus the eat better for more philosophy.

In addition, studies have shown that our vegetables do have less nutrition than they had 20 years ago. I am not sure why, but you would need to eat lots more carrots to get the same nutrients you got then. I was at a dinner party recently when the hostess presented a plate of carrots that were red, pink, black and blue. After asking what the hell she was trying to serve, I was informed that these were real carrots, grown  locally, without using genetically modified seeds.

Maybe the best metaphor for our Boomer journey is the tomato, my favourite veggie. I had gotten tired of tomatoes recently, and I put it down to it being winter, and maybe the weather was causing the taste and texture to be unfulfilling. For me, I need a good tomato in a salad or its all bland. I read an article describing how, in their attempts to genetically modify the tomato to look consistent, be pickable early and still mature, and not spoil over great transport distances, the favour had accidently been modified out ! The sweetness had been lost in our great march to progress and profits.

In the next Boomers – wtf !, the Sequester and whom is to blame.