Ried Rants

Depending on your age you may or may not have noticed that America is FAT and proud of it. I would say that seven out of ten folks are at the very least tip the scales in the “over weight” category.

To a certain extent it is due to brain washing we get everyday on a grand scale. You may think “what the hell is Ried talking about.” Well listen up for just a second and I will give you examples. Let’s take the fast food with the arches; LOVE their French fries by the way. Back in the 1960’s an adult meal was the what is the “kid’s meal” these days.

Everything you buy as “individual snacks” now is HUGE. Those little 99 cent bags of potato chips are really 2.5 servings and unless you are reading the nutritional information closely you may not realize that the “single serving” of 120 calories or so you think you are eating is really more to the tune of about 400-600 calories if you eat the whole bag and depending on what type of empty calories it is.

Now for you out there that may have no earthly concept of calories let me share with you that a good healthy meal for an adult is 300-500 calories. That 20 once soda that you drink is about 240 calories...nothing but empty calories. No nutritional value. Just calories that will be stored as fat.

A calorie is a unit of measure burned…and if it ain’t burned it is stored as fat. So many folks are eating food that has no nutritional value. And if that is not bad enough they are eating WAY too much of it.

Eat the “good” stuff that you like. I eat junk food and cake and pie. Remember the mantra exercise more, eat less. Stop eating your feelings for heavens sake. Get some help.

And if you are chubby stop showing your belly to everyone. No one wants to see your belly poking out of the bottom of your shirt. Get bigger shirts. God knows they make them now.

The clothing makers must have thought to themselves “vanity sizing” that is the way to tackle the obesity dilemma. Vanity sizing is when a clothing manufacturer makes a size larger than is should be. For instance a size 4 waist is about 25 inches. I know girls that wear a size four in pants and they have a 28 or 29 inch waist.

These girls may be thinking to themselves that there is no need to lose any weight and exercise because they can fit into a size four.

You may be in denial and say that is not true.  Sizes are the same. I can tell you from personal experience that sizes have changed.

I now weigh more than I did in high school and for some odd reason [vanity sizing] wear a smaller size now than I did back in high school.

The best rule of thumb I have come across to date is that your waist needs to be smaller than your hips and/or chest measurements.

So make decisions that make sense. Stop thinking that if something is in a small container that it is one serving. Eat some protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates that will satisfy your hunger and get your brain and body back on track.