Eating “right” is often harder than parallel parking, finding a pair of jeans that fit right, and remembering which their/there/they’re to use combined.
Lucky for us corporations are trying to lend a healthy hand.
Most notably, the U.S. food and beverage companies have announced plans to put uniform nutrition symbols on package fronts. Specifically, the Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Associations said the labels will include calorie counts, the amount of saturated fat, sodium and sugars for each serving.
Meanwhile, Walmart officials announced last week plans to become a healthier corporation. The nation’s largest grocer is going to reformulate thousands of store-brand products to reduce sodium and sugar and it will work with suppliers and help them do the same.
The company also has promised to reduce prices on produce and build stores in so-called food desserts, which are poor areas that don’t already have grocery stores.
Both of those initiatives are helpful, wonderful and potentially life-changing, but, where do they leave candy? Should the confection aisle suddenly be filled only with healthy snacks? Or maybe it should disappear all together?
No. And no.
Sticking to a healthy diet is like the old analogy about holding sand in your hand. Hold your hand too lose (eat whatever, whenever) and all the sand falls through your fingers (you fail). But, squeeze too tight (give up every food ever that has anything bad in it) and all the sand falls through your fingers just the same (you fail).
Candy gives the world balance. It’s never been meant to be the base of your personal food pyramid. However, it is there to give all of us human beings something sweet in life every once in awhile.
I can say all that with authority because I’ve been there. Last year I lost 50 pounds (dieting secret: lots of walking and not a lot of eating) and I’m here to tell you that I never once gave up candy all together. In fact, I ate Paydays and Peanut M&Ms on a weekly basis.
The weight still came off, and I was able to keep my sanity in the process.
It’s wonderful that corporations seem to finally be recognizing that they do have a role play in making people healthy, I just hope candy companies continue to realize that they have a role to play in making us sane.
