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by Arnold De Villa
February 14, 2011
Part I: Fast Food – the devolution of a basic human need Shelf life, cost, comfort, mass production, transport and politics are some terms that attempt to explain why 30.6% of people in the U.S. (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_obe-health-obesity) attract more gravity than the rest of the civilized world. As we evolved from the industrial age and lanced through the speedy race of technology, we breezed through growth and poked against the natural rhythm of a slow paced nature. Then, we deferred the physical corruption of consumed matter. After injecting capitalistic greed triggered by insatiable consumers, food in America is now so affordable that pantries and refrigerators can be stacked with victuals more enduring than a dozen blizzards.
The question is, how much of that food is really food? Monosodium glutamate butylated hydroxianisole, pottasium bromate, food colors and other assorted dyes with infinitesimal chemical labels – do you honestly want your gastric juices to meet with all these? Fast food is really fast. Cows are induced to grow in a jiffy. Chicken is fattened as it develops inside an egg. Fish will be shipped while they swim in huge fish farms within transatlantic vessels replete with newly discovered growth hormones and other elements. And produce sold through large food chain stores will have certain additives to make them look fresh and forced fresh.
Part II: Slow Death – the pathogen of fat and other genetically modified organisms.
Heart attacks, diabetes, cancer, and other correlated modern day executioners dominate the sufferings of hospital residents. Ask any health care professional. To witness death on a regular basis is part of their job description. Someone told me that a major culprit behind all these is food. Really? Tell that to the extremely poor people of the Dark Continent, the homeless pariahs of Southern Asia or the indigenous natives of the Far East. In places where basic humanity still thrives; where crude farming is the only choice and animals are grown in the wild; where Corporate Behemoths have been driven away, food still plays the role as a source of authentic nutrition and not as a scapegoat for comfort. Not everything that is super sized is good. Not everything that is in large proportion is truly fulfilling.
Not everything that is inexpensive is affordable. In the long run, that which is cheap will show its face. It can gobble up our life savings. Ask any frequent flier who travels through an ambulance direct to the ER. Organic and natural is not a status quo. There are more and more alternatives to “Whole Foods”.
Part III: Factory Doctors
My appointed was at 10:30 am. The crabby receptionist told me to sign in, asked for my insurance card, then gave me a form to fill up and then told me to wait after I returned the sheets. After fifteen minutes or so, a lady came out from a room with French doors screaming out my last name. I followed her lead through a maze of tiny rooms furnished with a mechanical bed and other contraptions that remind me of illness. She checked my vitals, my height, and my weight. She was not as crabby as the receptionist. After I discussed the reason for my visit (a regular check-up), she told me to wait for the Doctor to come in. After forty minutes, a short guy with a tie and a stethoscope came in with a smile, introduced himself as my physician and then performed his routine. He was out in less than five minutes right after he told me to set an appointment for a lab work. While I lead myself out of the maze, I saw him doing an instant replay in another small room with another client who probably waited for more than an hour like I did. I could imagine that it was the same experience that an inanimate object could have felt as it passed through an industrial conveyor built. In, out and gone – just like that.
Part IV: and other disorders
The blizzard of 2011 has left a terrible taste on our fattened tongues. I can commiserate with the drivers of Lake Shore Drive. I, too, passed through that ordeal sometime back. This morning, a truck plowed snow back from the street and into our driveway, piling more than four feet of frozen matter. I was trapped in my garage. My back and arms are still sore from the nagging motion of shovel and elbow joints.
The first month of a New Year is over (again?). The busiest and most expensive city of Illinois will soon have a new Mayor. The commotion in Egypt is still pending. The “Packers” have won the game. Everyone is waiting for the Grammy Awards. Can someone tell us what is going on in the Philippines?
While I have started with the not so palatable reflections on food, detoured through the slow death of fat pathogens, almost ended with my “Factory Doctor” appointment, and got distracted by a falling snow, I have only brushed a scenery of curious disorders. They are right before our eyes, waiting for recognition, hoping for a resolution and expecting for correction. The solutions are not that difficult. Eat healthy, read labels, avoid fat and see the Doctor less. Although not necessarily in this order, disorders of the more fatal type are those that try to embed themselves as a normal portion of our regular lives. They are the ones that creep gently into the fibers of our awareness that we are not aware of.
Ralph Waldo Emerson stated that “what lies around us is not as important as what lies within”. And what lies within is not only that which matters to the soul or that which is confined within our minds. It has a lot to do with the flesh beneath our skin, the tissues they are composed of and all the organs that are embodied within.
It is in winter that we are often deceived to absorb and chew whatever we see dormant in our shelves. It is during this season too that we walk less, run less and exercise less. Without including snow shoveling (more of a hard labor), we are probably in the last phase of hibernation. After this frigid spell, the warmer tides will arrive. And with it a faster commotion. As long as fast food is not the constant and consistent end point of an even faster movement, then other disorders could probably be contained. In the meantime, while we stroll the aisles of or favorite grocery store (by the way, “Mariano’s” in Arlington Heights is really good), it would not hurt to browse on labels and review those long and unidentified components we are about to pour into our intestinal tracts. After all these is said and done, have a nice and happy Valentine’s day! (oh well, it could be another disorder…smile).