There really is no magic bullet to fitness and maintaining a healthy weight. I am amazed at how high “average weight” has climbed in my lifetime. I read recently that one of the reasons for the government starting school lunch programs following World War II was because there were too many military recruits who did not meet the minimum weight requirements to serve in the armed forces. I don’t know if that story is true; if so, it is a sad commentary on our physical fitness today. I’m quite confident that our problem as a nation is not thyroid problems or slow metabolisms as much as it is poor nutrition and lack of exercise.
When I was a boy I thought that when you grew up you stopped liking candy. The reason for this is that my mother seldom ate candy and didn’t seem to like it. So I believed that when you reached adulthood some hideous transformation took place and you started liking vegetables and hating candy. When I asked my Mom about this, she said that as a child she rarely had candy … except for horehound candy, which doesn’t taste all that great. And no wonder – horehound was used to soothe sore throats. What kind of candy is also a medicine? Horehound even looks like a cough drop! http://www.ehow.com/about_5042766_horehound-candy.html
Today we are literally surrounded by unhealthy, prepared, sugar-laden food and treats. Our children were allowed candy once during the week, our “Saturday treat” tradition. This was started out of self-defense because the older children asked for candy every time we went to the store. Fortunately, we were able to convince them that Saturday treat was the eleventh commandment and they did not challenge us (until they were older).
On our new nutrition program, perhaps Mom and I will go back to Saturday treats ... but not to hourhound!
No comments:
Post a Comment