Eat your vegetables!

Last night, Margaret and I got sucked into one of those Learning Channel shows... you know... the kind that trick you into learning. Well, the show was called "I eat 33,000 calories a day." (Talk about sensational 'journalism') And all I can say is YIKES! One guy didn't even have any shame, he just let the cameras roll while he lay on this specially designed recliner/bed that he couldn't move from wearing only a diaper. He weighed almost 900 pounds, and several years prior had to go to the hospital and wouldn't fit through the door, or even a window, so they had to break out the bricks around the window frame to increase the size of the opening enough. Then, to make matters worse, the 8 firefighters couldn't lift him and they had to bring in a FORKLIFT! He was really into sweets and ate over $14,000 worth of candy bars a year. How do people even AFFORD that? That particular guy recently refinanced his house and ate 1/2 the proceeds. One thing that was telling was when they laid out all the food each person ate in a day, the predominant color was beige: chips, french fries, fried rice, fried chicken, fried fish, bread, eggs, Twinkies. None of them really ate any vegetables, or at least any fresh vegetables. The show didn't really help them, either. They confronted the subjects with all the food they ate but didn't show a comparison of how much a healthy person SHOULD eat, and didn't show appropriate portion control.

Which reminds me of an experience in Norway. Now Norway is a land of pretty healthy people who walk everywhere and get lots of exercise, so it was the rare experience to see really obese people... and most of the time they were American tourists. Well, one time, my companion and I were helping an old lady mow her lawn. It hadn't been done all year and was quite large, so it was like cutting through a jungle. It took us all day and so when we finally finished around 5, she invited us to dinner... which we were thankful for, since we were famished. Her son, who lived with her but whom we'd never met, came home around that time, too. He was the biggest Norwegian I'd ever seen. Well, when the old lady dished up the rice with meat sauce, our portions were generous (we had been working all day after all), but the son dished himself up and easily served himself 5 times what we had on our plate. There was lingonberry sauce that accompanies most Norwegian meals and my companion and I took the typical spoonful, after which the son took the jar and poured enough out to completely cover all the meat sauce. When we started eating, my companion and I were mesmerized by the son, who was eating so fast that he was breathing heavy. I think lifting a fork was the most exercise he got.