Day 152

Today is another one of those days where I have a few things on my mind worth (arguably) writing about:

Can anybody give me one good reason why coffee couldn't be sold in little bags the same way that tea is? It seems to me, intuitively,that the whole coffee filter system is a roundabout way of doing the exact same thing that a teabag does. Why not coffeebags?? Just imagine them. It's so simple, so obvious, and yet they do not exist.

Jordan once told me his idea for a product he thinks would fly off the shelves at the toy/novelty store where he works: the "world's largest tube of toothpaste": it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Well, maybe not the world's largest, but still very large, say holding a full liter. The only problem I can think of is the crusties at the end, they'd build up and that might be gross.

Personally I think they should sell a writing tool that's a pen on one end and a pencil on the other. Or, one of those multi-pens where one of the click options is a pencil, and another one of the click options is an eraser. They could call it the pencil... well, I'll think of a good name someday.

So yesterday at the grocery store I was in line, and right behind me was a family. They were all fat and unhealthy and clearly a bit depleted from all the walking through the aisles. Their cart was chock full of terrible food, no vegetables or fruit whatsoever, and an overload of pop, chips, hot dogs, white bread, sugary cereal, kraft dinner, and more. But what was worse was the fact they were in some strange way trying to be healthy. The pop was diet, the white bread was "part whole wheat," the mayo was "25% less fat," and so forth. These are the people in our nation who insist vehemently that being fat is something they can do nothing about, in spite of their best dieting efforts.

And yet, even the fat Survivor contestants lost weight. Jenny Craig users lose weight with overwhelming success, for the very simple reason that their meals are no longer up to them. Jenny Craig (if I understand correctly) simply delivers you pre-portioned food and tells you what and when to eat it. Lo and behold, everyone loses weight.

And such is the flawed nature of the diet, and of the diet book. I'll admit, lip service is paid to the notion of a real lifestyle change, and to self-control as factors, but those things need no books. There are lots of different ways to eat right, and the stunningly simple issue is that of the ratio of calories consumed to calories burned. Push that ratio in your favour, and you'll lose weight. Eat healthy food while doing so, and you'll be healthy. Avoid calorie-dense food, and you won't have to be hungry. Replace your caloric drinks with water, and you'll give yourself a huge advantage.

But it is hard. As I've said many times before, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but that doesn't stop me from saying that drug companies would pefer you ill, governments would prefer you uninformed, car companies would prefer you unfit, chemical companies would prefer you a clean freak, lottery companies would prefer you illogical, religions would prefer you needy, NASCAR seems to prefer you have no brain at all, and food companies prefer you to be a big fat dinosaur of a consumer.