Super Noodles

I have problems with a lot of women’s magazines. Most aggravating to me are the really superficial ones with cover headlines that shout out outrageous claims like, “Lose twenty-seven pounds in 3 weeks!” and “Feel Happy all Day!” Every time I see these I think to myself, “Who buys and/or believes this crap?!?" This past weekend when I was standing at the grocery store check-out, I spotted a magazine that claimed to know the special food that Japanese women are eating that makes them slim. Of course, eyes rolling, I had to flip open the magazine to the article for two reasons.

1. I have a theory that the line always moves faster as soon as I pick up one of the magazines in the check-out line and attempt to read it.
2. I just can’t resist getting a good laugh out of the articles that go with the stupid headlines.

This particular article did not disappoint. It was all about how Japanese women are thin because they eat shirataki noodles. The noodles have some fiber but no carbs and virtually no calories. After later researching the noodles on the Internet (if you’re interested in reading what I discovered click here), it does seem that they have some nutritional value in addition to being so low in carbs and calories, but of course, as any reasonably sane person knows they are not the reason Japanese women or any woman for that matter are thin. I really hate it when the media latches onto a food and tries to make it a miracle food and it’s even more insanely irritating when they try to make that food the reason why an entire culture of people are thin (as if such a thing were true anyway). It’s interesting that they never seem to do this in reverse. If they did, the headline might read: “Shocking Discovery! Find Out the Reason Why ALL Americans are Fat!” The article would highlight some super fattening food that supposedly everyone eats and which is single-handedly contributing to the obesity of ALL Americans. I can’t help wondering what it would be—Doritos? Big Macs? Munchkins?