Feeling sad? Take a pill! Feeling restless? Take a pill! Have a twitching pinky? Take a pill for it! Hating your job? Anxious?Angry at your spouse? Take a pill for it! Can't sleep? Take a pill for it! Pining for that new $4,000 IPhone but can't afford it? Take a pill for it! Eat like a gluttonous pig, eat junk food, never get off the damn couch and therefore look like a main character in Moby Dick? Why, don't change your personal habits. That would involve self-examination and work. Simply take a pill for it and shove another 300 greasy, double cheeseburgers down your gullet!
America has become a nation of pill poppers, thanks to the media-pharmaceutical advertising nexus and dissatisfied people looking for a quick fix for all their mostly self-made problems. Ugh.
Then I think of my mom, who was a depression-era baby (and she lived every bit of it) who is pushing 96, had 5 kids, spent a lot of those years slight to moderately overweight...didn't see a doctor for 50 years until recently, she ate sugar like it was....candy.
Same with my grandma, who lived to 93...(she too had a bunch of kids...and loved her sweets).
Preservatives and other additives may have provided a longer shelf-life for food...but it'll continue to lower the shelf-life for those who consume(d) it...not to mention the other side-effect, the reduction in quality(taste/nutrition).
...half the flavor, half the nutrition, "enhancement" chemicals that create a toxic waste sludge in the digestive system affecting heart/brain function...all for double(triple)the price!
(that doesn't include the doctors, the pills....)