Food Costs, Gas Costs & Obesity

I grow tired of hearing the constant lamenting of rising food and gas prices. Not that I don't feel the pain. It's just that rather than whine, I don't know why people just don't do something about it if money is getting tight due to having to spend more on food and gas.

Take gas, for instance. There are some places you absolutely need to drive to, you can't avoid it. Other drives you can avoid. Like I used to think nothing of driving 50 miles round trip to Cedar Hills State Park in Dallas to go on an 8 mile mountain bike ride. I've done that dozens of times during my exile in Texas.

When the drive to Cedar Hills came to cost about 10 bucks in gas, that just seemed a really stupid thing to do. That and I used to buy an annual park pass, which I no longer buy, saving another $70, or whatever it costs now.

I'm pretty certain I'm spending way less on gas now than when it cost $1.29 a gallon. I used to like to drive up to Lake Grapevine, once more about 50 miles roundtrip, to hike or bike at Rockledge Park. Then I discovered Tandy Hills Park, with greatly superior hiking, only 4 miles from my abode.

Which leads me to the food cost increase.

Well.

It has been my observation, particularly here in Texas, that America could stand to go on a National Diet. There is way too much obesity. I saw a hugely fat little kid yesterday, swimming. To me letting your kid get that fat is a form of child abuse.

I've never been much of a junk fooder. But I do like cheese, the sharper the better. When cheese prices spiked I quit buying it, just on the principle of it. My own cooking is usually healthier than eating in a restaurant, so I do that seldom. It's way cheaper to eat your own cooking.

If the chubby people would cease going to fast food joints, or cut way back, they'd save money, calories and gas.

If the chubby people would get out of their car and walk a bit more they'd burn more calories and less gas.

I see fat people at the Super Wal-Mart riding in the motorized carts, due to being unable to walk, due to their heft, with their cart filled with awful stuff like packaged donuts, candy, bags of chips, frozen breaded chicken parts, frozen corn dogs, bacon, ice cream and assorted other things that you shouldn't be eating if you're obese, with no sign of fresh fruit, vegetables or anything nutritious and lo-cal in the cart.

It is my totally based on nothing guess that America could stand to cut back on what it collectively eats by 30% or more. If demand for food goes down, the price will go down, just like the price of gas would go down if the demand for gas dropped.

Other nations do not have the advantage that America has in this area. The American people are together carrying millions of tons of stored calories, sort of a food version of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

So, now, in this time of crisis, it is time for America to draw on its Strategic Fat Reserve and go on a National Diet. This will bring down the price of food, the price of gas and the price of health care. It's a win, win, win.