MANGIA, MANGIA

“Take twice as long to eat half as much.”

I’ve got this tummy with which I am not happy. It seems I’ve been eating too much fast food. You know what I’m talking about. That which the food industry creates for our convenience. Tastes good, but good for ya? Questionable. Looking at the list of ingredients provides words I have difficulty pronouncing, much less understanding. I suppose I could google these words or look them up in my dictionary app, but once I learned more about what is in what I eat, I might have to change my way of life.
Take skillet meals. Follow the directions and you’ve got a nice meal in less than 10 minutes. Convenient. There a some good things to zap or nuke in about 3 minutes. Handy. And in every major city, and an ever growing number of smaller ones, there are national franchises with drive-thru fast food places. The same ones we’ve exported to Europe and beyond.
Which leaves time to volunteer in one’s community, pursue hobbies, inform oneself about the candidates and issues on the ballot, learn a new language, spend time with friends or family discussing important things, or reading a good book.
Or not. Maybe just watching tv, playing video games, and endlessly texting.
Of course, it concerns me that I’m hearing rumors about “Frankenfood.” At first I thought it might have something to do with Al Franken, comedian, author, and Senator from Minnesota…or hot dogs. It seems genetically altered foods may be hitting the shelves which are resistant to crop-destroying bugs, and actually last longer on the aforementioned shelves. Oh sure, there are questions about nutritional value, whether these foods would alter the genetic codes of humans over time and repeated use. But hey, really…would anyone, especially a large corporation, put the lives of its customers, consumers at risk?…Nah… ?
But back to my tummy. It has been said that “A waist is a terrible thing to mind.” It was easy to gain the few extra pounds. To get rid of them means stepping up my exercise program, taking fewer naps, and possibly, just possibly, learning to cook, and doing so with fresh produce instead of cans or dry packages. All it will take is determination, perseverance rescheduling my daily life, and taking twice as long to eat half as much, and a vision of being able to count to 21 again.
Namaste,
Ramdassnt