Some years back, I was reading a medical journal called The Cortland Forum. Now, those of you familiar with medical journals know you are more likely to find this one in your doctor’s bathroom than his private office. It’s about 20% cartoons by volume. However, there is a section where doctors get to outline “interesting cases” they have encountered. The one I am thinking of right now involved a man whose wife had made him an appointment, concerned that he’d lost a bunch of weight despite not actually changing his diet much. It turned out this fellow drank copious amounts of soda at work — like multiple two liter bottles daily — and had recently switched from regular to sugar-free varieties. Gee, imagine that; cut a thousand calories from your daily diet and watch the pounds melt away.
And this brings us to last Monday’s L.A. Times. Researchers in Massachusetts did a study and found that teenagers can lose weight by simply switching to beverages that do not contain sugar. This should not be a revelation! I have always said you have to watch sugars — even the naturally occurring ones — to lose weight. The FDA says if you want to lose weight you need to pay attention to the calories you drink. So do the folks at Kid’s Health and the folks at Family Doctor. This is hardly cutting-edge research. Just remember the next time you reach for a glass of orange juice that if you want to lose weight, you are better off just eating the whole orange.
On an only sort of related note, I’d like to talk about Food In Bar Form. It turns out they may well be Candy Bars that Taste Bad. If you must eat the darn things, remember that Not all of them are good for you. These folks recommend “It can be confusing, but you want to look for whole grains, brown rice syrup, something that’s complex. You want to stay away from things that are refined, that have preservatives – anything you can’t pronounce.” Well heck, wouldn’t it be simpler to eat a piece of fruit or a packet of nuts? Heck, make it a balanced diet and eat both! It sure seems like the real purpose of these bars is to suck money out of your pocket $2 at a time.
It is the concept of conspicuous consumption applied to … consumption! The flashy wrapper and the high price tag lets everyone know that you don’t scrimp when it comes to taking care of yourself; and you look so stylish doing so! R.E.I. (sports outfitter) has a lineup of many of the very same. My favorite (to read about – not eat, yeuch) is named “GU.”