Stop being stupid and pass me the damn cookie box
In light of this
perhaps I shouldn't be so sanguine. But just because YOU got no discipline…It's dinner time. Do you know how much food you're eating?
Probably not.
That's because we are a nation of portion distortion. For the last 30 years, the amount of food designed to be eaten at one sitting has ballooned to such an extent that most diners no longer have any idea what constitutes a reasonable amount of food.
A single 20-ounce bottle of soda is actually 2 1/2 servings. Muffins are the size of small cakes. A large order of french fries? That's a third of the calories you should eat in a day.
Most Americans wouldn't know a sensible portion of pie if it hit them in the face.
Controversy could crumble sales of Girl Scout cookies
Kim Severson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, March 6, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle
It's a tough year to be a Girl Scout.
As girls fan out across the Bay Area to sell what probably will be 2 million boxes of cookies, the sweet icon of American entrepreneurial spirit finds itself dunked in some of the nation's hottest topics -- abortion, obesity and labor relations.
And if that isn't bad enough, the low-carb craze could torpedo the century-old American tradition.
The first blow came from an anti-abortion group in Waco, Texas, that staged a Girl Scout cookie boycott last month. At issue was a summer sex- education conference for girls sponsored by Planned Parenthood and endorsed by the local Girl Scout council.
For boycott leaders, the final straw came when the local chapter named a Planned Parenthood executive as a Girl Scout "Woman of Distinction," said John Pisciotta, co-director of Pro-Life Waco and an economics professor at Baylor University.
Anti-abortion cookie lovers can breathe easier, however. Pisciotta, who aired his case on NBC's "Today Show'' on Friday, said that the Bluebonnet Council of Girl Scouts, which oversees troops in the Waco area and 13 other counties, has agreed to sever ties with Planned Parenthood.
That means the boycott is off. Pisciotta is even going to buy some of his favorite Girl Scout cookies, the top-selling Thin Mints.
Nutritionists who are trying to help the nation trim calories and avoid dangerous trans fat might not be as pleased. The Girl Scouts' national office has received complaints because the cookies are made with plenty of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil -- think Crisco or margarine -- which the Food and Drug Administration and the nation's top medical researchers agree is the most dangerous fat in the human diet.
