Danny ChaiI hate “diet” or “light” anything. It represents the worst of America to me. The obvious answer to overconsumption and its associated illnesses is to consume less. But Americans have this delusion that they can make trivial concessions (with diet and light foods and whatever), still eat as much as they want, and suddenly everything’s OK. That just won’t work. If you’re downing diet and light foods and drinks all day, you’re almost certainly overconsuming other foods as well. The caloric savings is just a drop in the bucket, and it’s not going to make much difference.
The only real solution is behavior modification, portion control. I hate how America tries to take the easy way out, not really change a thing about themselves and vainly trust in “solutions” like diet and light foods, the Atkins diet, Olestra, Splenda, whatevers. Just do what needs to be done instead of looking for a magic pill.
I know, it’s not very compassionate of me, who is blessed with skinny genes and a modest appetite. But still, I hate that about America. We all think we can get all the good without putting in the work to get it. I love that quote Steve Martin had when he hosted the Oscars, talking about some actor and how good he looked, and he says, “I would do anything to look like that… except eat right and exercise.” That’s America in a nutshell.
My biggest quibble with diet and light foods though is that they taste bad. I’m especially annoyed by light soy sauce. Come on now. Soy sauce is meant to add flavor and saltiness. If you lighten it up, you just need to add more to get the same effect. So what’s the point? Rage.