Online Volume 385

October 18 '03

Volume 385

Fat City Milwaukee Houston Tupelo

During my first week of work in Wisconsin, I worked mostly in the suburbs of Milwaukee. Someone mentioned to me that Milwaukee was the obesity capital of the U.S. However, as the week progressed and having seen very few grossly overweight individuals, I came to question the obesity claim. Using the Internet as a research tool, I've been unable to substantiate the claim, but I have noted that Houston, TX, has the dubious distinction of "Fattest City" for the third consecutive year.

I'm about to enter a third week (10/13) of work in Wisconsin, and, for the second time, I'll be working near Milwaukee. Based upon my prior observations, I'll be surprised if there is greater evidence to support the obesity claim I heard a few weeks ago.

I've been watching folks eat for years. In fact, I've been watching others eat since my childhood, when, at extended family gatherings, children were sent off to play or wait in another room as the adults received first choice of the vittles. In recent years, I've been interested in other aspects of eating, including the variety of food consumed, the quantity or portion size, the frequency of meals and snacks, and the availability of fast foods. In my lifetime, I have been privileged to witness the dietary regime of the average American transformed from one motivated by the need "to eat to live" to the desire "to live to eat."

I grew up hearing the adage, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." Mice are still a nuisance, though I suspect not nearly so much so as they were fifty years ago when houses were less energy efficient and less tightly sealed than those of today. Today's "restaurant" or purveyor of fast food has replaced yesterday's "mousetrap," and the path to the door is well trodden.

It's hard to find a restaurant that's doing poorly, unless it's badly managed or in an already saturated market area. Even a restaurant with average food will do well if the customer is "taken care of." However, a recent dining experience in Pontotoc left me questioning how a business could thrive on poor food and poor service. Maybe, I caught them at a bad time?

Apparently, I'm in the minority, but when I am served a meal, I prefer a sensible portion. For me, a six-ounce boneless steak is adequate when accompanied by a medium-sized baking potato and a small salad. Yet, it's hard to find a six-ounce steak on a menu geared to satisfy a lumberjack or a sumo wrestler's appetite. Steaks at most popular steakhouses start at twelve ounces and climb higher, filet mignons not withstanding.

Fast food burger-houses constantly badger customers to "Biggie Size" an order, or opt for larger portions. Those fast food houses that offer more variety than the burger-houses, places such as Applebee's and Chili's and a hundred look-alike others serve oversized portions, only. It's little wonder, then, as more Americans eat on the run and away from home, waistlines are expanding. Obviously, too much of a good thing may not be good for us.

Whenever, I travel by air or journey by automobile into unfamiliar terrain, I experience a great deal of anxiety, nervousness if you will. I've learned that I fare better in such situations if I refrain from eating and travel on an empty stomach. Thus, it strikes me as odd that folks gorge themselves in airport terminals and pay exorbitant prices to do so. Though gorging was not a factor, Raymond Smith told me he purchased a hotdog and soft drink for himself and Bill Waller at an airport food vendor and shelled out $14.00 for the bill.

Airports are not the only places folks pay through the nose to eat. Prices for food items at the average convenience store/ self-service gas station are likewise exorbitant when compared to the supermarket price. Convenience does have its price, or so they say.

America is fast becoming a "Fat Society," due in part to a growing dependence upon fast food rather than the home-cooked variety of yesteryear. And, it's true that most of us fail to exercise or perform rigorous, physical, calorie-burning work. Solid evidence of our "Fat Society" can be found on the wedding engagement section of the daily newspaper. Fat young women are no longer a rarity, as there are plenty of fat young men seeking a mate.

One might think that persons in the health care profession would be good stewards of health, and some are. However, there are enough of them who don't control their weight to give the industry a bad name. I would cite the sixth floor east wing nurse's station of North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo as an example of health professionals whose mouths will never be able to overload their…well, you can finish that one.

Barbara and I recently visited Aunt Jo after she was transported from Pontotoc Hospital to the regional facility in Tupelo. In order to afford Aunt Jo a degree of privacy and to keep my head from spinning as various individuals tried to draw blood from her, I spent a good deal of time standing in the hallway outside her door. With the nurse's station directly across from me, I first noticed a couple of nurses were eating on duty. They were not eating a meal, rather they were snacking.

The next thing I noticed was that, with few exceptions, all of the nurses were large. I am tempted to use "obese," but not knowing their actual weight as a percentage of their ideal weight, I choose to err on the side of caution and say they were beyond overweight. The nurse closest to me was speedily working her way to the bottom of a box of Cheese Its, that she seemed to be sharing with an associate. Soon the associate was munching on something "chocolatey" and marshmallowy that I heard her describe as wonderful.

Just when I was thinking there was something terribly wrong with the picture before me, it got worse. One of the nurses left her desk, walked down the hallway a short distance, and entered a room filled with lockers. She returned with a canned soft drink, a small package of Soft-Batch cookies, and one other snack item. A moment later the trimmest nurse on duty appeared eating popcorn from a large Styrofoam cup.

"My God," I thought, "What's wrong with these people; when one eats do they all eat? Do they eat all the time?"

I felt as though I were trapped in another dimension of time and space…a dimension where sadly overweight individuals were the norm. I was an outcast from "Fat City." I feared that I would be tempted to become one of them in order to be accepted.

"You can come in now," I heard Barbara say, as she opened the door to Aunt Jo's room, and I hurried inside.

We stayed with Aunt Jo until she was about to be taken to X-ray, and we left. However, on our way home, we stopped by Papa John's Pizza and ordered two large sausage and pepperoni pizzas to take home. Later, while eating the pizzas, I limited myself to two (or was it three) slices of pizza. After all, the images of the nurses on 6^th Floor east were still fresh.

Mensa - A Special Cat By Margaret Demoville

You had asked me why Mensa was so special, and I told you that I would get back to you, which I am doing now. In the meantime, while praying for Mensa and taking her back and forth to the Vet School at State [Mississippi State University] for chronic renal failure, King, a panther-like outside cat who was so sweet, had something in his throat. I took him to the emergency vet here since it was night. He stayed in Tupelo a couple of days, then they thought he needed to be at State, too, and I immediately took him down. The surgeon had put a tube in his neck and removed it later, thinking that all was fine, but King died. They tried CPR, but he did not make it.

It is very sad. He was so sweet to Mensa and was running and playing with her when she first got back [home] (she was in intensive care for 8 days) and was able to get outside. I keep taking Mensa back for checkups, and she is doing better -- has chased the next door hunting dog a couple of times and climbed the drapes and the trees. She is feeling better.

Mensa is very special. Mother's preacher and I thought that Mother needed a cat, and I thought that it would be good to go to the Humane Society to give a kitten that really needed a home, a home. When I got to the Humane Society, this tiny tuxedo kitten (black and white with the white feet) was sitting up on the door ledge. She really was tiny. She got on my back, and the employees had to remove her.

I thought that I would see which kitten came to me first. Well, all of the kittens came to my feet, but Mensa climbed all of the way up my dress. I said, of course, this is the one, since we had picked out each other.

When I picked up Mensa, I took her to Mother's house, and Mensa looked at me and at Mother, and immediately she jumped on Mother since, of course, this was Mother's house, and Mensa is a great public relations person! I knew then that this tiny kitten's name should be Mensa since she was so smart. One eye was almost closing due to a cold; so, I kept her with me; so, I could take her daily to the vet for antibiotic shots. I was afraid that she would die, but she continued to improve and became a gorgeous kitty.

She won the kitty contest at Wal Mart and came in second in the overall contest, but, as I told Mensa, it was a "dog" of a contestant who beat her! There were so many contestants -- from cats, dogs, bunnies, etc., but Mensa was wearing her "diamond-like" tiara and necklace. They judged the contest by photographs, and I must say that getting that necklace and tiara on Mensa while trying to take her photograph was not an easy job!

The main thing about Mensa is that she is a pretty girl, but it is her inward beauty that makes her so special. The Doctor of Internal Medicine at the Vet School at State did not think that Mensa would make it when I took her down [several weeks ago]. She said she had never seen an animal bounce back like Mensa.

I am still giving shots and IV's when needed since this is a disease that Mensa will live with, but, due to many prayers, good doctors, and; especially, God's watching over her, she continues to improve. Let me know when y'all are in the Tupelo area so Mensa can visit with the family whose news she really enjoys! By the way, she only reads quality news -- that's why she enjoys your news so much!

Bodock Beau Football Season Humor

The following football trivia/ humor is presented as received. The fact there are no jabs at Ole Miss is not intentional. There simply were none.

(1) What does the average Alabama player get on his SATs? Drool.

(2) What do you get when you put 32 Arkansas cheerleaders in one room? A full set of teeth.

(3) How do you get a South Carolina cheerleader into your dorm room? Grease her hips and push.

(4) How do you get a Georgia graduate off your porch? Pay him for the pizza.

(5) How do you know if a Mississippi State football player has a girlfriend? There is tobacco spit on both sides of his pickup

(6) Why is the Kentucky football team like a possum? Because they play dead at home and get killed on the road.

(7) What are the longest three years of an Auburn football player's life? His freshman year.

(8) How many Florida freshmen does it take to change a light bulb? None, that's a sophomore course.

(9) Where was O. J. headed in the white Bronco? Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He knew that the police would never look at LSU for a Heisman Trophy winner.

(10) Why did Tennessee choose orange as their team color? You can wear it: to the game on Saturday, hunting on Sunday, and picking up trash along the highways the rest of the week.

Submitted by H.P. Prewett, Jr.

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