It’s Pink Floyd’s Fault

"You can't have any pudding unless you eat your meat . . .How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?"(It's better on the recording, so go here).

The lyric from Pink Floyd's album "The Wall" echoes a common phrase from many of our youths.

It also reflects a cultural theme of "You need to clean off your plate."This was often tagged with the guilt ridden, "There are starving children in [insert country] who'd love this." Or, the more aggressive, " Eat what's put in front of you!"

And then there is compounding guilt of the cook's, "What, don't you like it?"

Today, I feel guilty if I leave food on my plate – at home or at a restaurant. At a restaurant I can ask for a doggy-bag and at home I can also give the food to one of our dogs, but I still feel guilty.

So, to remove my guilt, because I can't blame my mom (that just causes more guilt), I blame Pink Floyd.

This well-meaning theme has a rotten side effect – over eating.

Combine this with technology allowing us to work from a desk all day, the ability to order-in food, you can't outrun your fork, and things like eating technology advancing faster than human evolution, and obesity is a major cultural issue.

The cure, when you hear that little voice in your head saying "that's enough" – stop eating! Or, if that little voice is gone or sleeping, eat less calories than you burn in a day until things get normalised, then balance the two.

Category: Fitness Tips
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