I recently came across an article from the Center for Astrophysics, a Harvard-Smithsonian venture, that states three out of every four stars in our celestial neighborhood are red dwarfs. And six percent of those have Earth-like worlds, so the closest habitable planet is only a mere 13 light-years away.
Imagine: other worlds, possibly other life forms, going about their business of occupying a blink of space near us.
My imagination gets the best of me and I envision the future of boardrooms at top fast-food chains as they clamor all over the prime real estate expansion that awaits their inevitable conquest.
From Space Fries to McAlien Burgers (taste just like chicken), fast food will have a field day either catering to our human (or not so human) tastes.
Much to my dismay, fast food is thriving on Earth and probably here to stay. Right now there are three million fast foods restaurants in the world, with seven million consumers ready to chomp into a Big Mac in Liechtenstein or devour a Whopper in Morocco. Though that number appalls my healthy sense of eating, apparently many others, including those in this country, are still falling victim to the lure of fast food.
It’s cheap, fast, and tastes good, or so they say. And if you take a good look at the long lines at these prolific restaurants, the fact that fast food is loaded with fat, sodium and sugar seems ineffective at thwarting the throngs of people piling in line to get a burger or two.
Yet it is well known that the over-consumption of fat puts one in line for obesity, with sodium and sugar a direct hit for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The excessive amounts of these three found in what is called fast food (and I use the term food lightly because though it might be fast, food it is not), puts the body at risk.
Our bodies need fresh, un-processed food where nutrition is high and the “life-force” is strong. So let me offer a reminder why eating sensibly does not consist of stops at your nearest drive thru.
Fast food goes through so many processes that it literally becomes “dead.” With an incredible shelf life its main objective, injections of many chemicals are needed to get it back to the right taste, smell and texture to keep the consumer coming back for more.
Aromas are chemically added to the food to make it palatable and smell good, since 90 percent of the taste of food is actually linked to its aroma.
Color enhancements are added so the look of the food passes the appeal test, where the nature of what it truly looks like is covered up through the wonders of chemicals.
Sodium phosphates, titanium dioxide, dimethylpolysiloxane and azodicarbonamide can all be found in fast food products as well as detergents, sunscreens, and silicone caulk. None of us in our right minds would even take 1/100th of a teaspoon straight up of those chemicals that most of us can’t even pronounce. But it’s found in many fast and packaged foods.
The least realized is how enzymes are literally processed out of these foods which in turn put a heavy strain on our body’s use of its own digestive enzymes. The fresher the foods we eat, the more enzymes can be found to contribute in the break down of food, easing the extreme energy consumption needed for digestion and instead funnel the energy to other functions in the body. I can only imagine that the more bionics created to replace our ailing body parts will only lessen the care given to eating correctly and grant us a society of walking metal and plastics.
But then again, maybe that will allow for easier space travel where, on a stretch to Andromeda, a galactic burger order can be heard echoing through space, along with “and would you like some fries with that?”
