Why You Can't Eat Just One
Lay's Potato Chips made the slogan "Betcha can't eat just one" a household phrase. Today, consumers eat more Lay's Potato Chips than any other salty snack. Last year, consumers purchased approximately 4.6 million pounds of Lay's Potato Chips in just the Baltimore and Washington supermarkets, while consumers in Harrisburg and Scranton purchased approximately 2.5 million pounds in supermarkets. Folks, that is 6.1 MILLION pounds of potatoes in just 4 markets.
Frito-Lay, Inc., is the $10 billion snack food division of PepsiCo, Inc., (like they don’t ruin the health and waistlines of Americans enough with Pepsi!) Frito-Lay is the market leader in half of the world's top 10 snack chips markets with operations in 40 countries and a family of global, multi-billion-dollar brands including Lay's Potato Chips, Doritos Tortilla Chips, Ruffles Potato Chips, Tostitos Tortilla Chips and Cheetos Cheese-Flavored Snacks. It must be true, no one eats just ONE!
Numerous media reports these days have alerted the public to the growing concerns of health risks related to obesity. Among the several known causes of obesity, food advertising on television has received a significant amount of criticism for facilitating the consumption of unhealthy foods. Food advertising represented a little over $ 7 billion in ad expenditure, with over $ 2.5 billion on network television alone. These numbers are nearly double the amount of restaurants ad expenditure ($3.7 billion in total ad expenditures and $1.2 billion on television, respectively). Together, the combined expenditure of food and restaurants advertising add up to close to $ 10 billion—in ADS!
Chips and snack foods are listed as one of the biggest “vices” contributing to American’s obesity—that means it is a food that is consumed on a regular basis or in enough quantity that it hinders an individual from living at their ideal weight. This great concern about the rise in obesity is due primarily to the fact that many adverse health effects have been associated with obesity. According to the American Obesity Association (2004), obese individuals are at risk of developing arthritis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, urinary stress incontinence, among several other severe health conditions. These factors together could lead to an increase of deaths from obese effects, which already numbered 300,000 in 2002, and is 180,000 cases more than alcohol and drug abuse deaths combined.
With the advancement of technology and the proliferation of media options, Americans are spending more time sitting in front of a computer/TV screen rather than engaging in physical activities—and TV is where much of the $10 Billion in ad dollars is spent! It has been documented that an average American adult these days watches between 4 and 4.5 hours of television per day. This tendency to live a sedentary lifestyle, coupled with increased food portion size and availability of snacks high in salt, sugar, and calories, are said to have produced an increasing number of obese adults.
My point? My point is this, I truly believe that anyone suffering from chronic overweight (you know, those 20 lbs you have been trying to lose for 20 years!) or anyone with 50 or more pounds to lose can NOT “eat just one”. Moderation of foods that one is addicted to is impossible. Now, it isn’t impossible to “eat just one” or small amount if you aren’t addicted to the particular food. But if you are like many people and one Frito leads way to eating the whole bag, or one Girl Scout cookie and the box is soon emptied, or one spoonful of ice-cream and before you fall asleep that night; the entire ½ gallon has vanished from the freezer—then you need to realize and admit that you are addicted to that particular food and stop setting yourself up for failure by trying to limit your intact to “one” or “some”. I promise you this; it is easier to have NONE than it is to try to stop at ONE bite, one cookie, one piece, one taste of any of the foods you love.
Recently I spoke about the torment of trying to control our vices via “moderation".. A few people adamantly disagreed with my stance and argued that any food in moderation is fine. After reading this does it make you think twice.
Can see the clear connection between the ads for unhealthy, fattening foods constantly being pushed in your face and your ‘cravings’ or desire to eat them? But they KNOW you can’t stop at one, and they KNOW if you eat some, you WILL come back for more.
Try this, if there is a food that you think you just can't make it through the day without consuming, pray for strength to go without it just for today. Tomorrow is another day and you can always ask God to help you through the craving again, but just worry about not giving in today!
Vice Busting...everything else is just a diet!
Julia
http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/