The French Fry: Weapon of Mass Destruction?

Americans have their French fries, the British have their chips, Latin America has its papas fritas, and the French have their pommes-frites.

We love them. The potato, that most ubiquitous and perennially popular vegetable, is simply sliced into strips and deep fried. The fast food chains have managed to create total consistency so that fries at a McDonalds in Kalamazoo are identical with those offered in San Francisco, Atlanta, Moscow, or Madrid. They are the ultimate finger food, easily consumed behind the wheel, standing in the subway, or walking down the street. Some of us choose to add ketchup, or vinegar, or salsa, but they also taste great just as they are.

The civilized world has a giant addiction to the lowly tuber. It is hard to conceive of the centuries of eating that took place before potatoes were brought back to Europe from the New World and became a staple of every country's cuisine. What did the poor eat before potatoes made their appearance? Bread? Grains? Vegetables?

The advent of the potato changed our diets forever. It was easy to grow, plentiful, and cheap. The flavor was mild, marrying well with almost anything we chose to eat with it. Its texture changed depending upon how it was prepared. And how many ways we invented to cut it, cook it, and use it with every meal imaginable!

We baked it in its skin or roasted it in bite-sized pieces. We boiled it whole or mashed it into a creamy mush. We grated it and fried it for breakfast. We made soup of it and made it a key ingredient in stews. We made pancakes out of it. We sliced it, riced, it, and diced it. We put it into bread, rolled it into dough, and created America's favorite snack, the potato chip.

But the masterpiece that captured us all was deep frying it. Thick, country-style chips, shoe strings, curly and spicy -we loved them all: golden and crisp and perfect.

French fries now make up 25% of our children's intake of vegetables. Fast food nutritionists attempted to substitute healthier alternatives which were peremptorily dismissed by the majority of their customers. Fries remain the accompaniment of choice for all fast food: burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fish, roast beef, and ribs. We simply cannot get enough and never, ever, seem to tire of the little crunches of pleasure.

The innocuous potato, relatively low in calories and packing its fair share of vitamins and minerals, has been transformed into a culinary weapon of mass destruction. Disfigured by saturated fat into a caloric and artery-hardening horror, the French fry may be the deadliest peril we face on a daily basis.

Just a few orders of fries a week can increase our weight by ten pounds a year! Over a decade, that's a hundred pounds, over a lifetime, an awe-inspiring figure. With 60% of us overweight, half of that figure actually obese, we must look to our dietary intake to find the cause. As diabetes and other weight-related conditions mushroom, we know in our hearts that lifestyle changes are needed.

We go on diet regimens, drink liquid meals, fast, cut out sauces, and have our stomachs stapled. We join gyms, buy home exercise equipment, and follow along with television fitness shows. We blame the additives in our food, the hormones in our meat, and the fat in our salad dressings. We forsake the carbohydrates and sugars that our bodies can't process and opt for high fiber breads and low fat milk.

We refuse to believe, because we don't want to believe, that a seemingly harmless, crisp little addition to our meal can pack such a lethal wallop.

"But I just nibble a few," you wail, "And not every day." It's not the single meal intake that leads to an explosion. It's the cumulative total, day after day, year after year, that plants the time bomb within our system. It is the additive effect of repetitive use that eventually reaches critical mass and our physiology implodes.

Imagine, if you will, that not one fry was sold or eaten over the course of a year, anywhere in the United States. With just that change alone, the collective national weight loss could exceed a billion pounds!

The poor potato is ill-equipped to perform as a deadly weapon. It offers us enjoyment and variety and taste and health. But we have taken its honest goodness and distorted it into a slow killer. With every bend of our elbow to pop its sweet flavor into our mouths, we lay down fat on our hips, our stomachs, our arteries, and our pancreas.

Let's save ourselves and save the potato. Much as we hate to admit it, the French fry is something that has to go, before we do.

Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently published a psychologically-based weight control e-workbook, "Diet with an Attitude" which develops mental skills towards the goal of permanent weight control. She can be reached at http://www.DietWithAnAttitude.com. She provides support and guidance in use of the workbook through her regular blog, http://dietwithanattitude.blogspot.com

---

The Public Stoning of Gastric Bypass Patients: When Things Get Ugly

Recently a woman went public in her online diet community... Read More

Weight Loss/Control Glossary of Terms

A Little Help With Some Difficult terms Aerobic Exercise.... Read More

The Calorie Formula -understand Them and Lose Them

We have all heard of those new diets, Atkins, low... Read More

Low-carb Diets: Fad, Fallacy, or Fact?

The most common and popular diet fad over the past... Read More

Diet Pills, Products, and Dieting Supplements - Can They Help You Lose Weight Quickly?

Fighting obesity has become one of the most important issues... Read More

Obesity in Old Age May Disable, Not Kill

Many physical problems are related to obese condition, like difficulties... Read More

After Gastric Bypass: Some Tough Love on Grieving Food

New gastric bypass patients say they miss food, they grieve... Read More

Want To Lose Fat? Eat More of This

If you've been working out with weights for any length... Read More

How to Eat All You Want and Still Lose Weight

How would you like to eat all you want and... Read More

Two Words That Guarantee Success (or failure) When Planning To Lose Weight

Did you know that being successful with losing weight starts... Read More

Be a Loser: 50 Reasons to Get Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgery is fast becoming a very popular way... Read More

Americas Secret Addiction

America is a nation of self-disclosers, amiably acceptant of our... Read More

4 Keys to Weight Loss

First off, let me start by saying this list is... Read More

How to Exercise and Lose Weight on a Busy Schedule

In my fitness consulting business, I get the opportunity to... Read More

How To Cop An Attitude With An Overzealous Hostess

We all encounter those hosts and hostesses who feel it... Read More

Diet Pills ? Do They Work? Are They Safe? Which One Should I Use?

Diet Pills are the fastest growing segment of the dietary... Read More

Mediterranean Diet - What is It?

Well, to begin with, there isn't really any one Mediterranean... Read More

The Truth About Low Carb Dieting

Every day you walk down the street it is becoming... Read More

Five Really Tough Dieting Tips

If you are losing, trying to lose, or think you... Read More

Taking Control of Your Cellulite

Cellulite happens to us for many reasons. Some reasons-- like... Read More

Hydrate to Lose Weight: The Real Skinny On Water Retention and Sodium

If you've been scouring the news, devouring as much information... Read More

I Lost the Weight So Why Am I So Miserable?

I was overweight at my age. It's not a pretty... Read More

How to Burn Pure Fat and Lose Weight More Quickly

If you're trying lose weight, maintain your weight, or sculpt... Read More

Remembering The Titanic: Top Ten Weight Loss Mistakes Others Make But We Can Avoid

Patrick Henry once said, "I have but one lamp by... Read More

The Secret to Safe Weight Loss

The safe way to lose weight begins with a thorough... Read More

Ultimate Weight loss: Ephedra is it Good or Bad?

I have had some e-mails come in and everyone is... Read More

Young Wrestlers Fast, Sweat to Make Weight

Weight Loss Their Greatest Opponent --------------------------------- Before high school and... Read More

The Mind Body-Fat Connection

Negative thoughts, symbolic protection, being who we really are ........ Read More

Weight Loss Motivation: I CAN DO IT!

Several months ago I was in desperate need of weight... Read More

Weight Loss With Water

It's calorie-free, inexpensive and easily obtained - yet few people... Read More

Scales Are For Fish, Not Weight Loss

Contrary to common belief, your weight is not really the... Read More

Hear What Your Diet Pills Say

Used a diet pill recently and got depressed because you... Read More

Getting Enough Sleep at Night May Just Help You Lose Weight

Eating the right foods and exercising regularly have been the... Read More