Low Fat Food...

Alright, totally off topic (well, mostly) but I have to have a dig at low fat food today, consequences be damned.

It really bugs the heck out of me nowadays, that I cannot seem to walk into any large corporate grocery store and find normal yogurt. I see "low fat" written on practically everything, bar two brands that I know of. I don't want low fat yogurt, I want normal, cultured, normal fat yogurt, preferably containing strawberries or peaches, which are also normal. No added color or preservative or crazy-making E numbers, just plain old normal yogurt with normal fruit in it. Where the hell has that gone?

And another thing: low fat "meals". It's bad enough that you have to eat two of the "one serving" ready meals when you're feeling lazy, but those low fat ready meals really take the biscuit don't they? There's not enough in one of those cartons to feed a large mouse, is there? Does anyone in the world (bar those with reduced stomachs - and I am not one of them) really get full off one of those? Plus, on top of that, they cost about $3 each and contain artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives and whatever else. What a rip off!

Companies boast left, right and center about "low fat" this and "low fat" that. People actually drink skimmed milk nowadays and still firmly believe they are drinking milk. Does anyone actually know the fat content of full fat milk any more? It's about 5%, for those who are interested. Funnily enough, that percentage equates to a "95% fat free" product which in any other case would be labeled a health food! Yet people seem to believe that cutting down to tinted water is going to make them thinner, or healthier. I firmly do NOT believe that cutting down from whole to skim milk (without other dietary changes) will make anyone thinner, unless half their diet is milk. And unless we're talking about a nation of calves here, I doubt that can be the case.

What the hell happened to eating a balanced diet? is a balanced diet cutting out sugar and all traces of fat, starving yourself and watching the calories on everything you eat? Nope. How about this: eat more fruit and veggies as a part of your daily diet. If you're full, stop eating. If you're eating a full Olive Garden style mean every two hours, perhaps it would be wise to cut down, no?

How can it be that eating a tiny sandwich with hydrogenated vegetable oil as a spread and low fat ranch loaded with artificial stuff to make it taste real can be a better option than wholewheat bread, with a nice slab of turkey, normal butter and mayo, and some greens, plus a nice bowl of peaches and cream as afters, all washed down with a lovely hot cup of tea? Apparently the caffeine isn't good, the fat isn't good, the meat is too much, the BREAD has too many calories in it and mayo has now become the Devil's little friend.

Come on people - there's no need to eat enough for six, sure, but you do realize we NEED CALORIES to LIVE, don't you? Yes, that's right, eating 800 calories a day is not a good choice as a normal diet - you need about 2000 on a normal day just to get done what needs doing. Dear God, get up, walk the dog, play with your friends and encourage your kids to do the same and for cripes sakes, eat a normal, balanced diet free of artificial crap while you're doing it.

Personally I will take the mayo, the butter, the slab of turkey, the nice CALORIE laden wholewheat bread and the caffeinated cup of Earl Grey and burn it off doing fun things. At least when I die (eventually) my body won't sit there, preserved from all the artificial preservatives I've been eating for 70 or 80 years. I don't want anyone digging me up in 2000 years and saying "Wow, did they embalm her well!".

Nix the silly, expensive, low fat fake foods and stick with the real stuff in moderation. That's all I have to say about that (a la Forrest Gump). Okay, rant over.