Weighing In

by Pat Antonopoulos
Noticed some Academy Awards photos.
Noticed 'thin' almost to skinny.
Know that our culture seems obsessed with weight, size and shape.
Huge amounts of money are spent on trainers and gym time.
Groups flourish for the expressed purpose of regulating our size and shape.
Women diet to loose weight and undergo surgery to add dimension.
The value of our shell trumps the inner core.

Consider the reasons we consume food.
Two of those reasons are precious: sustenance and sharing love and the times of our lives.
Consider all we consume that is harmful to both nutrition and enhancing special moments.

Interesting concepts.

I pay dollars to the gym so I can exercise when the weather is uncomfortable. More of my dollars go to the local high school pool so I can burn calories. Daily walks and weekly ice skating chip away at the imbalance of intake and output. Granted, I love every minute of exercise and it does so much more than sustain the body.

In the distant past, I even became part of a group designed to teach the discipline of eating. Now eating habits are almost lock-step in routine. My grandchildren tease that I eat cheesecake once each year and that is my quota of dessert.

How absolutely silly that types!

When I was 50 years old, I joked that at 70, I would eat dessert first and take up cigarettes. Age 70 is now five months gone and dessert is not on the table. Cigarettes? Never.
Rationally I understand my regulated patterns, but those patterns are terribly annoying. My new resolution is for age 75. Then I will eat nothing but desserts so I have a ton of excuses to walk, skate and swim even more.