You know what really irritates me to no end? When people say, “Everything in moderation.” The conversation usually goes something like, “Carolyn, would you like a doughnut?”
“No thanks,” I reply with a smile on my face.
They look at me, half way roll their eyes, and say, “Well, you know, everything in moderation,” and stuff a doughnut in their mouth.
I smile again and continue doing whatever it is I’m doing and think to myself, Huh; I wonder what they think moderation is... and if they are aware of their BMI...
First of all, I do not like their attitude! It’s like they think I’m the bad guy for refusing a doughnut. And more often than not, I’d say the reason they say ‘everything in moderation’ is because they want to sooth their own guilt for not refusing junk food. It could also be because they know it angers me and want to be a smart ass.
Guilt is not a feeling you should have from eating. If you are feeling guilty about eating something, just don’t eat it. If you choose what you eat wisely, you will feel better about yourself in the end. Discipline is something Americans have a hard time with. Refusing something we want is not a part of our culture.
Now that’s how I feel about the context of ‘everything in moderation,’ but I also don’t like the content of the message. I honestly don’t even believe in this everything in moderation mumbo jumbo First off, who decides what moderation is? And secondly…EVERYTHING?!? REALLY?!
I’m not here to tell you what it means to be moderate, because I think it’s something you definitely need to think about on your own. An alcoholic may think 1 glass of wine or 1 beer a night is incredibly moderate, whereas I consider an alcoholic beverage a few times a year to be moderate. My point is moderation seems to be a matter of opinion.
For example, today you may have a bag of M&Ms but you NEVER have M&Ms! Yesterday you had a grilled cheese and French fries, but you rarely ever have fast food. Tomorrow is your friend’s birthday party so you’ll probably have some cake and ice cream, but your friend only has a birthday once a year! (Just like all your other friends.)Then it’s the weekend, you ALWAYS go out to eat on the weekend, that’s what weekends are for!
“Everything in moderation!”
Hopefully you see what I’m saying, but in case you don’t: Eating different kinds of junk food everyday is not moderation. Eating 100 extra calories a day will lead to gaining 10 pounds in 1 year. If America understood moderation, I highly doubt we would have the array of health problems we have today. Remember, heart disease is the number one killer in America, second is cancer, and type II diabetes is also running rampant. I read that obesity is soon to surpass smoking as the number one cause of cancer. It sure looks like our ‘everything in moderation’ routine isn’t working out too well.
Now to the ‘EVERYTHING.’ Are you kidding me? A few things you should never have (in my humble opinion of course) bottom feeders, pork, partially hydrogenated oil, and quite possibly battery acid.
Bottom feeders, such as crab and lobster, eat feces and whatever else there is on the bottom of the ocean. Do you want to eat something that eats feces?! Pork is filthy too. It doesn’t have sweat glands so its waste just stays in its body, marinating its edible parts. Partially hydrogenated oil is a form of trans fat. It raises your bad cholesterol and lowers your good cholesterol. Have I mentioned heart disease is the number one killer in the United States? As for battery acid, who knows, maybe that one can be included in everything in moderation.
Okay, sure, eating these things a couple times a year will not kill you (except for the battery acid. That may kill you, don’t eat it), but it also will not provide you with optimal health. So, if you can define moderation in a healthy way, you may not develop these illnesses as quickly, or maybe not even at all. But if you eliminate at least some unhealthy things from your diet, you increase your chances of having a happier, healthier life.
So maybe a proper saying would be, “Some things in moderation… if you know what moderation is”
And! Don’t forget about dental caries, one of the most common human diseases. All too often people think that eating sweets in "moderation" will help them prevent tooth decay. However, even if they will themselves to eat only one bite of that doughnut they are still providing the bacteria in their mouth with plenty of nutrients to make it to the next snack session and sucrose is the number one favorite snack for cariogenic bacteria. Eating frequency is the number one key factor in dental caries so snacking in between meals, even if it is in moderation, greatly increases your risk for dental caries; just another reason to stay away from moderately eating junk food. If you absolutely have to eat sweets, please do it during meal time and in moderation “if you know what moderation is”. I could go on and on maybe I should start an oral health blog haha. EMee
ReplyDeletehey carolyn this was a fun read. I can just see you bashing away at the keys over the disturbing phrase "in moderation" - i plead guilty to using it, many times. but after reading this I will now define it a bit more carefully. Have a great day and keep this up! see you soon
ReplyDelete...not to mention drugs and cigarettes which can become addictive even when used in whatever 'moderation' means.
ReplyDeleteQuote-worthy: Eating different kinds of junk food everyday is not moderation. -Carolyn Quijano
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