Watching the "Today Show" as I am getting ready for work in the morning is often disgusting and/or terrifying. First of all, every morning seems to feature some sort of segment about germs. According to Matt Lauer, there are an exponential amount of germs that we encounter in our day-to-day lives about which we don't know. Today, I discovered that there are germs EVERYWHERE at the gym, which gives me yet another reason (in addition to "lazy" and "would rather watch TV") not to go to the gym.
There are also a large number of stories about obesity in America, and how ridiculously unhealthy we all are. Disney, which appears at #8 on this week's Lycos 50, has adopted a healthy food initiative for its theme parks. They plan to offer "appropriate kid-sized portions" at parks, with no more than 30% fat in main and side dishes, and 35% for snacks. In addition, saturated fat will be limited to 10% in all foods, and added sugar will be limited to 10% in main dishes and 25% in snacks.
I have mixed feelings about this intiative. A day at Disneyland is really a celebration of being a kid. As an adult, when I go to Disneyland, I always drop the diet and treat myself to one of those amazing chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. Must we worry about our weight everywhere? However, it is true that the unhealthiness of American kids is getting out of control. Kids need to learn proper nutrition, and it is responsible of Disneyland to provide healthy (if, I'm sure, still ridiculously overpriced) options. The sad thing is that it seems that enough kids are not adopting healthy habits at a young age. They simply gorge themselves on fast food and sweets, rather than treating themselves to a few cookies after a balanced meal containing vegetables. Perhaps preventing the intake of junk food at Disneyland is actually necessary, although I still don't really see why America seems to have lost the concept of "moderation."
On a related note, Britney Spears lost 26 pounds in a month!
