My way of life has always been based on moderation.  It covered all topics, including food.  In recent years, I have been in an area that thrives on excess.  The consequences range from difficult to destructive.

On the minor end of the scale, purchasing groceries is a difficult experience.  As stores logically cater to what the majority of their customers want, it is virtually impossible to find small packages of anything.  As I am currently a single adult, I neither want nor need super-sized packages of cold cereal, super-sized packages of fresh meat, etc.  Some foods can spoil, and others need to be taken home, re-wrapped in smaller packages, and frozen.  It is even difficult to find one-pound boxes of cat food;  all most stores sell are 3.5-pound bags.

While excess hits the grocery stores, it also hits the school cafeterias.  A couple of years ago, I was curious about the ever-rising cost of school lunches in the local school district.  I found the lunch menu online, and was stunned--  so stunned, in fact, that I went to the website of the high school I had graduated from in a different state, to make some comparisons.  

When preparing to write this post, I again accessed the lunch menus of these two very different school districts.  The local school district lists five hot "choices" and five cold "choices" for each day's lunch.  It is more like a restaurant than a high school lunch menu.  In contrast, my high school lists two main dishes, and sides of fruit, vegetable, or salad each day.  Local kids are learning exactly what their elders live by:  to be picky, and to run on excess.  No wonder obesity is such a problem in this area.  

Moderation is a key to good health, and a balanced life in general.  When kids do not learn this--  because their elders never learned it--  they will suffer for the rest of their lives.