To Serve Man (The Twilight Zone Revisited...)

Forty years after its first airing, I can still recall vividly an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled To Serve Man, in which an apparently benevolent, technologically superior race of aliens had come to Earth, their real intentions only apparent upon translation of their innocuously titled manual at the episode's shocking conclusion.

I was reminded of this recently while browsing the "food" aisles of a chain drugstore, which happens to be located across the street from a bus stop that I frequent several days a week, and where I do occasionally pick up a few convenience items when they are "on sale." There, mere yards away from the counter dispensing costly medications designed to alleviate the symptoms, though not necessarily to cure the self-induced maladies that often strike in later life, were rows upon rows of snack and convenience foods, loaded with substances that provide a virtual guarantee of future business for the insanely profitable pharmaceutical industry.

I look at this from the viewpoint of one with firsthand knowledge of the ravages that a poor diet can wreak on one's mind and body, and as a survivor, having lost forty percent of my body mass over a long period of time. Others have asked me for my "secret" to maintaining the weight loss, but there is no such commodity. Simply put, if it's not "real" food, it's poison. Raised on an omnivorous diet, I still crave a steak or burger on occasion, but those occasions have become so rare as to be almost nonexistent. I do consume sparing amounts of fish and some poultry, but most of my diet consists of whole grains, beans, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables. Once a week, I treat myself to a veggie omelet. I generally avoid snack foods, desserts, pasties, and alcoholic beverages except in very small quantities. I try to eat a variety of foods, avoid "pigging out", and try to get adequate rest and exercise. How well I have succeeded will only become apparent with the passage of time.

Better living through chemistry? Hardly...

~ Lythande