Americans have their French fries, the British have their chips, Latin America has its papas fritas, and the French have their pommes-frites.
We love them. The potato, that most ubiquitous and perennially popular vegetable, is simply sliced into strips and deep fried. The fast food chains have managed to create total consistency so that fries at a McDonalds in Kalamazoo are identical with those offered in San Francisco, Atlanta, Moscow, or Madrid. They are the ultimate finger food, easily consumed behind the wheel, standing in the subway, or walking down the street. Some of us choose to add ketchup, or vinegar, or salsa, but they also taste great just as they are.
The civilized world has a giant addiction to the lowly tuber. It is hard to conceive of the centuries of eating that took place before potatoes were brought back to Europe from the New World and became a staple of every country's cuisine. What did the poor eat before potatoes made their appearance? Bread? Grains? Vegetables?
The advent of the potato changed our diets forever. It was easy to grow, plentiful, and cheap. The flavor was mild, marrying well with almost anything we chose to eat with it. Its texture changed depending upon how it was prepared. And how many ways we invented to cut it, cook it, and use it with every meal imaginable!
We baked it in its skin or roasted it in bite-sized pieces. We boiled it whole or mashed it into a creamy mush. We grated it and fried it for breakfast. We made soup of it and made it a key ingredient in stews. We made pancakes out of it. We sliced it, riced, it, and diced it. We put it into bread, rolled it into dough, and created America's favorite snack, the potato chip.
But the masterpiece that captured us all was deep frying it. Thick, country-style chips, shoe strings, curly and spicy -we loved them all: golden and crisp and perfect.
French fries now make up 25% of our children's intake of vegetables. Fast food nutritionists attempted to substitute healthier alternatives which were peremptorily dismissed by the majority of their customers. Fries remain the accompaniment of choice for all fast food: burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fish, roast beef, and ribs. We simply cannot get enough and never, ever, seem to tire of the little crunches of pleasure.
The innocuous potato, relatively low in calories and packing its fair share of vitamins and minerals, has been transformed into a culinary weapon of mass destruction. Disfigured by saturated fat into a caloric and artery-hardening horror, the French fry may be the deadliest peril we face on a daily basis.
Just a few orders of fries a week can increase our weight by ten pounds a year! Over a decade, that's a hundred pounds, over a lifetime, an awe-inspiring figure. With 60% of us overweight, half of that figure actually obese, we must look to our dietary intake to find the cause. As diabetes and other weight-related conditions mushroom, we know in our hearts that lifestyle changes are needed.
We go on diet regimens, drink liquid meals, fast, cut out sauces, and have our stomachs stapled. We join gyms, buy home exercise equipment, and follow along with television fitness shows. We blame the additives in our food, the hormones in our meat, and the fat in our salad dressings. We forsake the carbohydrates and sugars that our bodies can't process and opt for high fiber breads and low fat milk.
We refuse to believe, because we don't want to believe, that a seemingly harmless, crisp little addition to our meal can pack such a lethal wallop.
"But I just nibble a few," you wail, "And not every day." It's not the single meal intake that leads to an explosion. It's the cumulative total, day after day, year after year, that plants the time bomb within our system. It is the additive effect of repetitive use that eventually reaches critical mass and our physiology implodes.
Imagine, if you will, that not one fry was sold or eaten over the course of a year, anywhere in the United States. With just that change alone, the collective national weight loss could exceed a billion pounds!
The poor potato is ill-equipped to perform as a deadly weapon. It offers us enjoyment and variety and taste and health. But we have taken its honest goodness and distorted it into a slow killer. With every bend of our elbow to pop its sweet flavor into our mouths, we lay down fat on our hips, our stomachs, our arteries, and our pancreas.
Let's save ourselves and save the potato. Much as we hate to admit it, the French fry is something that has to go, before we do.
Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently published a psychologically-based weight control e-workbook, "Diet with an Attitude" which develops mental skills towards the goal of permanent weight control. She can be reached at http://www.dietwithanattitude.com. She provides support and guidance in use of the workbook through her regular blog, http://www.dietwithanattitude.com
executive chauffeured services Bradford .. Madison to Airport carWho'd have thought healthy eating could be so controversial? Lunching... Read More
Food is not simply fuel to keep you going. Nor... Read More
Only if you're trying to fool the scale on a... Read More
At the beginning of December, WeightWatchers.com announced the release of... Read More
When Instant Results Take TimeYesterday I decided to "get back... Read More
You've seen them a hundred times: "Before" and "After" pictures.... Read More
We in the diet and exercise industry have our own... Read More
A fill is nothing to be worried about. The actual... Read More
The only way you will ever follow through on an... Read More
When losing weight, most of us don't have the time... Read More
Dieters dread the plateau. You're on a roll, losing weight... Read More
MYTH: Fad diets work for permanent weight loss.FACT: Fad diets... Read More
If you've been scouring the news, devouring as much information... Read More
FACT: Obesity accounts for 300,000 deaths a year in the... Read More
Finally - you are alone. No one else is around.... Read More
The confusion about eating healthy and dieting will now be... Read More
It's a sad comment on human nature that prejudice and... Read More
Diet is a dreadful word for most of us because... Read More
When the DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health Education Act) was passed... Read More
Everywhere we look in the western world we are inundated... Read More
1. Drink plenty of water. Our body needs a lot... Read More
- Are your ideas of obesity and fat control based... Read More
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, writing... Read More
I did it without starving myself or taking pills. How... Read More
With tons of information out there on "Fat Acceptance" does... Read More
O'Hare Chicago prom limo ..Do you know this year Florida will go through a... Read More
All of our behavior results from the thoughts that preceded... Read More
So your neighbor, office mate, best friend, whoever just lost... Read More
Some of you will not like what I'm going to... Read More
The only way you will ever follow through on an... Read More
Q: I've heard you mention that you don't need tons... Read More
On a little island half way in between Guam and... Read More
People always ask me " how it is that your... Read More
RISING POPULARITYGastric bypass surgery has become a popular surgical procedure... Read More
My first article provided steps for fast healthy weight loss.... Read More
Wow! You must be on fire by now burning and... Read More
Dr. Hagglund's Healthy Eating Tips(All wheat products, bananas*, breads, rice,... Read More
The diary is an essential help in reaching your weight... Read More
It's really difficult for a person to socialise if he... Read More
Not losing weight but gaining it is why we are... Read More
It's the travel time, meaning hours spent sedentary. It prepares... Read More
It all begins with water .... Water makes up 75%... Read More
"I never saw it coming, how did I get so... Read More
It seems everyone is looking for that magic bullet -... Read More
Any dietary plan on the market has some portion of... Read More
(Ailsa's Apple Crumble Diet)I'm Scottish, so it's not a big... Read More
In our quest to get that "perfect" body, we actually... Read More
Permanent Weight loss is not about Diet. If you are... Read More
If winter hibernation tends to pack on the pounds, take... Read More
The Constant Quest for Restriction; Not enough vs. too muchRestriction.... Read More
Weight Loss |