by Barbara Berkeley, MD
There are so many people selling pleasure in our world and it's so easy to be convinced that we can pay for our choices later. It's kind of like running up a big credit card bill. In particular it's easy to rationalize away bad diets. I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every time I've watched someone eat a greasy meal and a rich dessert and then say, "I'll just pop a Lipitor." As if any single medicine can oppose the extensive damage done to a body that is being treated badly.
Our world reminds me alot of the famous segment in Pinocchio in which a bunch of boys are lured to Pleasure Island---a place where every bad habit is encouraged. Although old-fashioned and heavily moralistic, these scenes are worth a watch. For many years, I worked as an ER doctor and the looks on the faces of people having acute heart attacks still haunt me. In fact, they remind me quite alot of the panic that Pinocchio's friend experiences when he realizes that his bad habits have come home to roost.