Eat Less. Just eat less.

After reading all the sad stories about how many Americans can't afford to eat healthy food - so they just have to go to McDonald's everyday - (which No. 1 is the biggest crock!), I read this very interesting article from an Indian perspective: Indians bristle at U.S. criticism on food prices:

Instead of blaming India and other developing nations for the rise in food prices, Americans should go on a diet. Criticism of the United States has ballooned in India recently, particularly after the Bush administration seemed to blame India's increasing middle class and prosperity for rising food prices. The food problem has "clearly" been created by Americans, who are eating 50 percent more calories than the average person in India. If Americans were to slim down to even the middle-class weight in India, "many hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa would find food on their plates," Mehta said. The money Americans spend on liposuction to get rid of their excess fat could be funneled to famine victims instead, he added.

Americans eat an average of 3,770 calories per capita a day, the highest amount in the world! In India, it's 2440. Who needs 3,700 calories a day? On Thanksgiving Day ... OK, fine, on Thanksgiving. But other than that? Sometimes, it's fun to just not worry about calories. But sometimes it becomes a habit. Al and I started using smaller plates and I think we are eating less. The last time we had dinner, we had a piece of chicken and split a bag of steamed vegetables and our plates looked piled high. It was like: I don't think I can eat all this! And we started eating with chopsticks or using smaller forks (skinny with 3 prongs instead of four .. you have to spear everything or the food just falls off). It makes us eat slower, too.