Golden Corral

Corral - a pen for livestock, esp. cattle or horses, on a farm or ranch.

I decided to go to Golden Corral for brunch instead of working out yesterday, not by choice. My family wanted to go, and how could I refuse. As I entered the establishment, I wasn't sure if I was waiting in line at an amusement park, or at a restaurant. Judging by the size of the people in line, I quickly determined that there was no roller coaster that could support the amount of weight that was increasing before me as I waited for my turn. I could actually hear people getting fatter as I waited. Golden Corral, what an appropriate name for this restaurant. Once they herd you through the front line, its every man for himself in the corral. Corral is not a word that I want associated with any dining experience. I saw a young child trampled as they brought out a fresh batch of french fries. While I waited in the buffet line I was bumped, pushed and cut-off by other people who were some how more hungry than I was. As I made my way through the herd of patrons, destroying plate after plate of carbs, fat, and the worst sources of protein, I couldn't help but feel embarrassed, offended, humiliated, slightly nauseous, and a little bit afraid. How could this place exist? Only in America I guess? The Golden Corral is treating people like animals and encouraging them to overeat. This restaurant is promoting obesity and people are gobbling it up. 

Well America, in case you haven't noticed, you're not getting any thinner and no one likes being fat. So, who's to blame? Is it the restaurants and vendors that provide us with high calorie foods and meals, or is it the consumer? Maybe our government is to blame. Maybe the government needs to restrict our diets since we can't do it for ourselves. They restrict everything else that supposedly brings us harm, why not food? I am going to blame the consumer. They are the ones opening their mouths. Blame it on ignorance, gluttony, apathy, carelessness, or wrecklessness. This shit is out of control and there aren't enough personal trainers to do anything about it. Over eating is no different than drug abuse, and some of these people are no different than junkies. The only difference is that we tolerate/ignore this kind of behavior. We throw junkies in rehab and jail, perform interventions and kick them out of our houses. But we protect, coddle, ignore, and enable obese people with equally dangerous and costly addictions. Why? Because they are our family members and friends and we don't want to hurt their feelings?

So, we will patiently sit back and do nothing while we get fatter and suffer from a laundry list of health problems caused by bad diet and lack of exercise. You are twice as likely to die prematurely if you are 40% overweight. Some of the other health risks include: heart disease (leading cause of death in America, go figure?), stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, gall bladder disease & gall stones, osteoarthritis, gout, sleep apnea, and asthma. There are also risks to your quality of life like: lack of mobility and range of motion, low self-esteem, depression, and social prejudices.

What's the good news? Most of these problems can be avoided, reduced, reversed and/or prevented by losing weight and exercising. All you need to do is stop procrastinating. If you have been progressively gaining weight, every day you wait is another day of gaining. Start today. Start now! Stop eating for pleasure or comfort and start eating to live. Get a membership to a gym, hire a personal trainer or dust off the Nordic Trac and start exercising, or you can keep going to a restaurant that treats you like livestock and stuff yourself with "all you can eat."