Madeline (Giles) DeJournett is the Advance writer for the North Stoddard Countian. A retired high school English/history teacher, she spent 32 years teaching in 5 schools in Missouri and Alaska. These days, she lives quietly with a menagerie of wild and domestic animals on 52 secluded acres in the remote Tillman hills south of Advance. She graduated from Dexter High School in 1960 and Southeast Missouri State in 1964. She can be contacted at advancensc@sbcglobal.net.

The Dismal State of U.S. eating habits

Posted Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at 9:34 AM

Looking at this plate makes me soooo hungry!!! Oh, do I love that peaches and cream corn on the cob!

Was Mama's advice a good thing??

I've been thinking about our eating habits here in America.

Frankly, I was shocked when I did the research for my recent story about weight loss. I couldn't believe the state of affairs in America today!

One-third of the American adult population is obese??? How did this happen???

When my mother was growing up, people were skinny! Heck, when I myself grew up, most people were skinny.

I think of my own weight problems, and I wonder--Is it because I was taught to "eat everything on my plate"?

That used to be good advice in an era when portions were normal.

But now they're not! How many fast food places "super-size" our meals at the drop of a hat??

We can no longer follow our parents' advice to "clean our plate"!

In 1998 and again in 2000, I took groups of high school students on a tour of Europe--Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.

We saw not ONE overweight person!!!

And it was no wonder: People walked everywhere. The streets were full of people walking.

And the meal portions---one small scoop of ice cream for dessert! The plates were nearly empty!

What has prosperity caused us to do to ourselves?

When our clever inventors created all our time-saving devices--like vacuum cleaners and washing machines and dishwashers--did they envision a race of morbidly obese Americans who would use these labor-saving appliances??

We're so "advanced" that we decided to eliminate physical education classes from our schools. Wasn't that a bright idea?? Now over 17% of our youngsters are obese!

Is this our reward for becoming the foremost innovative race ever to populate the earth?

We need a nation-wide Renaissance of healthy eating and exercise habits!

We need our families, our businesses, and our individuals to plan ways for our population to regain the vigor which made this nation great!

If we continue on our present course, I see a dismal future ahead.

All our enemies will have to do is come push our Lazy Boy recliners into the ocean, with our fat, bloated bodies floating out to sea like enormous walruses.

R.I.P., America! The home of the Big Mac and the Whopper, reality T.V. and electric scooters for everyone!

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I think we were all doomed, when everyone in the family got an automobile. When I was a teenager, I had to drive my parents' car. I remember one particular night when I collected 50 cents from my girlfriends for gas to run around the Pig and Dexter Queen.

-- Posted by goat lady on Tue, Jun 25, 2013, at 11:30 AM
I recently saw a documentary filmed about 1970 at and around Stanford University and something seemed off. Then I realized what was odd ... not a single person was overweight! Most of the people would today be considered skinny. In just a few decades there has been a radical attitudinal shift because a stigma used to be associated with being overweight.

-- Posted by FJGuy on Mon, Sep 16, 2013, at 6:13 PM
FJGuy! It's so good to see you again!! It's been years since you were here!

Since the Statesman went on Facebook in...let's see...2009, I think, the blogs have practically disappeared.

My postings have been seriously curtailed, because the Statesman wants me to PAY to read the paper! Ironic, isn't it??

Are you still in the frozen north??

-- Posted by goat lady on Tue, Sep 24, 2013, at 9:40 AM

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