Obesity

Obesity is one of the major issues of North American people, including me! My situation is not so bad and I believe that I simply can get rid of a few extra pounds that I carry with me everywhere but that has several reasons. Before I explain the reason why I have the problem, I talk a little about the facts about eating habits here in Canada which I’m sure are similar to the US’s.
You see vending machines, fast food restaurants, cafes and supermarkets almost everywhere you go and as the prices are cheap compare to the other types of entertainments, mostly; you are continuously eating or drinking! Cups of coffee, bars or chocolate, cones of ice cream, cans of bear and many more is consumed everyday by people. Food business is actually a very good business. You see lots of commercials about different types of foods every day on TV. No matter how many times and in how many different ways you call fast foods junk foods, people are still eating it and enjoying! That’s also why cafes like Tim Horton’s are very unlikely to accept new franchises and the people who run these businesses are getting richer and richer everywhere. As my cousin’s husband and good friend in Coquitlam said once, they sell water! And that’s partially true. They brew coffee which is mostly water and sell a large cup of it for $1.60. Imagine how many cups are consumed every day. At the beginning I thought it’s because of the harsh cold of winter that people consume this much coffee. That’s what it is but that is not all. Even in a hot summer day of July you like a hot cup of coffee. It’s as Ali G. says is a addiction! But I don’t believe it. It has the same affect a cup of tea has. But the amount of caffeine is less. Yes it’s relaxing but it has other benefits as well. I’m going too far. I’m not only talk about the coffee here. I’m talking generally about the amount of food that is produced and consumed every day in Canada. Once I asked a Tim Horton’s employee about what they do with all the doughnuts, cookies, bagels and other baked goods which is left at the end of the shift. She said they simply throw them all out! Same story in the supermarkets. I was looking for carrot muffin in a CO-OP store a few months ago and noticed that one of the employees is collecting boxes from shelves. Those were expired baking goods! They are simply thrown out! Or they send it to the Food Bank which is much better. At least a poor guy can enjoy the taste of a carrot muffin. Chocolate bars, bottles of soft drink and bags of chips are sold everywhere, even if you go to Staples or Canadian Tire. The last two ones are completely different businesses from food. But as soon as people see them, they can control themselves, they buy. I, myself, was to a Canadian Tire today to but windshield washer and brush and bought a chocolate bar and chewing gum with them as well. That chocolate bar became part of my dinner tonight but not every one is as careful and thoughtful as I am. Actually I’m not that much careful! Last weekend when I was at Hodani’s I consumed 3 tall cans of Budweiser, each about 473 ml! God knows how much carbohydrate I received. And that was not all! I had lots of rice, pistachio and cashew as well. So I went to the gym yesterday and today and exercised a lot. I burned more than 330 calories in 30 min. today and that’s a good record.
Anyhow I have to be more watchful and get rid of this fat belt I’m having on my waist. That would be late to do that in a few years. The older you get, the harder to get rid of the fat.

(Photo: I tried to control my weight using a chart but that didn't help much because once a week or more I get together with my friends and we drink and eat. So it ruins mostly what I do during the week! As you see I went up once to almost 193 lb [87.3 Kg] and dropped to 186lb [84.2 Kg] and that was the time I got sick and I've already written about that)