Supersizing America

For some of us, food is warmth and love. Weand the world could return to its infatuation with the
associate it with home and childhood: tempting smellsDrive-Thru. We beamed with a sense of satisfaction
that greeted us after school on a cold Decemberthat we had prodded the market in a healthier direction.
afternoon. The kitchen served as the center of theThen we noticed that we were still fat.Where had we
house under the kindly direction of the Captain in thegone wrong? Well, the "small" burgers were still big:
apron. If we were good, we might be allowed to stirtwo to three times the size of their relatives of forty
the pot. If we were very good, we got to clean out theyears ago. The salads were healthy until drenched
mixing bowl.As we grew up, we found wonderswith several hundred calories of creamy dressing. To
elsewhere: the coffee shops and diners wheremaintain the taste we had come to love, toppings
adolescents gathered and food was only a platformwere added: more kinds of cheese, butter, relishes and
for the real business of talking, bonding, and flirting. Wedipping sauces. And everything was still primarily fried:
drank cola and root beer and discovered sundaes,breakfast, burgers, chicken, potatoes. Even high quality,
pizza and french fries. But real food was what we atefrequently-changed deep fry oil is loaded with calories
at home.Later, we moved on to the pale imitation ofto be deposited on our waistlines, hips, and internal
food represented by college cafeterias andorgans.Fast food has taken us out of the kitchen into a
underground cafes that were heavy on music andworld where the demand for productivity makes us
political rebellion and light on the menu. We returnedwork harder and longer and steals away any notion of
home for the holidays and again ate real food, as goodspare time. We run to keep pace with a society
as we remembered. Some of us moved on to thespinning ever faster and we eat on the run because to
non-food of C rations and swore we'd never enjoypause is to fail. Is there no escape? This is the
eating again.We moved into the world of work:Twenty-first Century -- returning to the food regimes
automats and deli lunches or expense-account steakof fifty or a hundred years ago is improbable. The old
and martinis where even the most exquisite fare tookfashioned "made from scratch" meals require too
a back seat to table discussions. We married, movedmuch time and effort, except for special occasions, in
into new homes, rediscovered the warmth andour fast-paced, two-working-parents,
intimacy of a family kitchen and embraced the delightslong-work-and-commute lives.What we can do, if we
of gourmet cooking, homemade bread, and nouvelleseek to withdraw from the enormous herd of
cuisine.At the same time, just below our level ofheavyweights, is to remember that the way to health,
awareness, the fast food industry started to blossomslenderness, delayed aging, and increased longevity
into the billion dollar gorilla it is today.At first, it was smallhas been demonstrated repetitively by our little friend,
hamburgers and hot dogs with french fries and a drink.the laboratory rat.The secret is consistent, prolonged,
At first, it was an occasional visit to "get mom out ofcheat-proofed, under-eating. Once that core concept
the kitchen." At first, it was just something fast thathas been adopted, and completely internalized, the
avoided interruptions in our race to the top.The menuspathway to a new, thin you becomes clear: eat
expanded to encourage more frequent visits.whatever you want but a LOT LESS. We're not
Drive-Thrus that sat closed and empty until noonlooking at the old adage of "eat moderately and move
suddenly discovered how to make breakfast itemsaround a lot" because we know, from experience, that
that could be eaten at the wheel. Chicken, fish, and ribsit doesn't work. When I say a "lot less" I mean it. You
were added, soon followed by Mexican specialties,may be eating three times a day, plus snacks. Cutting
baked potatoes, fried vegetables, and sandwiches.out a snack here or a dessert there may eventually
The burgers got bigger and so did we.Somewhere, ahelp you lose weight - if you have twenty years to
brilliant light bulb exploded in an ad man's brain andinvest in the attempt.Don't "cut back." Slash, sever,
"Super-Size" was born. If a burger was good, why notpulverize your portions. If you eat three meals a day,
make it bigger for just a little more money? If fries arechange to eating just one. If you like to graze on six
the staff of life for American teenagers, why notmini-meals or snacks, cut to two. Reducing your overall
make the portions bigger? Why not make the bestintake by two thirds should bring you into the zone of
purchase value a whole meal, combining everything theyour actual daily needs. Yes, it would be nice if you
customer wants (and maybe something they don't)?opted to make those reduced calories all highly
Why not Super-Size the whole meal and really makenutritious but we all know that you are going to eat
money?Rather than an occasional change-of-pace,what you are going to eat, no matter how much the
the Drive-Thru gradually assumed a predominant placehealth gurus nag you. So go ahead and eat what you
in our diets. Astute marketers targeted their salesintend, just one third of your usual rations.To keep your
pitches to the most responsive and easily manipulatedenergy on an even keel, you can spread your one
niche of the population: children. Tired, time-strappedmeal throughout the day. If your usual lunch is a
parents yielded to tearful pleas to visit Ronald or Jack.cheeseburger, fries, and a shake, split it up: a shake for
And our children grew fat.Teenagers, with theirbreakfast, a burger for lunch, a dinner of fries and a
deep-seated psychological preference to live in theirslice of cheese. Are you then on a diet? Are you using
cars existed on a diet made up, almost exclusively, ofyour precious time on specialty shopping and food
fast food, turning up their noses at the thought of apreparation? Do you have to think about what menu
home-cooked meal. Active and full of energy, theyitems fit into your prescribed weight plan? No, none of
ignored the almost imperceptible puffiness that theirthese apply. You are simply eating the way you have
intake triggered.What was there to worry about? Thealways done except one day of your prior food plan
Drive-Thrus were a gift from heaven: tasty food, fastnow last three days. If you're worried about your
access, car-proof containers, cheap satiation.Then wehealth, take a multivitamin (funny, you weren't worried
woke up. We looked at a world where even theabout your health on the same fare in the past, were
average individual was clearly overweight and moreyou?) If you are a tall, large-boned individual or you feel
than a third of us were obese, even our children. In a(genuinely and persistently) faint, take a canned
culture obsessed with the appearance of being thin,nutritional booster like Ensure.It is almost too simple and
we were become permanently, indisputably, fat.Thetoo easy IF you have really internalized the concept of
few earlier voices of criticism increased to a low roar.under-eating and have adopted a "can do,will do,"
The tasty creations of yesterday became theattitude - the key to everything.P. S. You'll save a lot of
now-maligned culprits of our condition. To keep themoney too!Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and
money-machine viable, the fast food moguls adaptedan admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic
to the cries for change: the oil used for frying wasreframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation
trumpeted as unsaturated, salads appeared on menus,on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the
substitute sides for french fries became available, andDoor: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free
"Super-Size it?" was no longer the order taker'sezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently completed a
standard refrain.The industry breathed a sigh of reliefpsychologically-based weight control book: Diet with an
seeing that a few changes made everything all rightAttitude: A Weight Loss Workbook.