I was talking recently to a lady. In the course of our conversation, she told me that she has two children, one a post high school graduate, the other an early elementary student. I remarked that there was a lot of years between her two children’s ages. She told me that she lost a lot of weight before conceiving her second child. We determined then and there that Big Macs were a good form of birth control.
A seventy year old man related to his grandson that he was born in 1947, before “the pill” was invented. Grandpa went on, “Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. We thought fast food was eating half a biscuit while running to catch the school bus.” In the absence of Big Macs, what did Grandpa’s generation do to promote birth control?
Perhaps they relied on chicken and chocolate. Possibly weight gain not only assists in birth control, it also promotes long life, “conceivably” (pardon that pun) due to the lower stress of an environment that results from fewer children. An email I once received stated that Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame lived to be 94. The inventor of Nutella brand died at the age of 88.
Ironically, according to that same email, those who were forerunners in exercise initiatives, though they might have contributed to increased conception rates, did not extend their own life spans. Consider the following information I received in the same email referenced above: the inventor of the treadmill died at the age of 54; the inventor of gymnastics died at the age of 57; a world bodybuilding champion died at the age of 41; footballer Maradona died at the age of 60; and James Fuller Fixx, credited with helping start America's fitness revolution by popularizing the sport of running, died of a heart attack while jogging at age 52.
These situations beg the question, “How did smart people come to the conclusion that exercise prolongs life?” Consider: “The rabbit is always jumping up and down, but it lives for only two years, and the turtle, that doesn't exercise at all, lives 400 years.” Probably these conclusions were reached in the same way that the idea that nicotine and drugs are good for prolonging life based on enigmas such as these: cigarette maker Charles Winston died at the age of 102, and the inventor of opium died at the age of 116, in an earthquake.
This is why research is so important to the extension of truth and knowledge. Life cannot be successfully predicted on outliers such as the incidences above. While every rule seems to have its exception, exceptions cannot become the rules. What some people take as facts based upon happenings are in actuality fallacies, erroneous conclusions drawn from isolated facts and events. It seems particularly in the realm of politics this is becoming more prevalent. It would seem that Americans have a thirst for truth, evidenced by nothing better than use of “fact checkers” to verify information presented in political speeches and news stories. What becomes a major stumbling block is when some of the “checkers” come up with “red” facts, others “black” when speaking of the same checker!
I believe that even in today’s society it remains a fact that the only assured method of birth control is abstinence. (Just to be safe, I think I’ll have a Big Mac for supper!) As for prolonging life, God alone takes care of that. Consider the Scripture: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” (Matthew 6: 27 KJV). Not even the colonel’s original recipe can hold a candle to that.
I leave you with some other thoughts presented to me via email to brighten your week until we next have opportunity to meet via the printed word. (Don’t take email’s or my word for these: become your own fact checker!)

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

Celery has negative calories.
It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery
than the celery has in it to begin with.

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
(I do both at the same time. Wonder if I get double coupons for that?)

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk."
Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened.
"Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.

I’m not fat. I’m just . . . easier to see.

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
-Mae West

What do you call a running turkey? Fast food.

Why did the turkey cross the road?
(He wanted people to think he was a chicken.)

Good judgment comes from experience,
and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

My heart says chocolate and wine,
but my jeans say, please, please, please, eat a salad!

Losing weight doesn't seem to be working for me,
so from now I'm going to concentrate on getting taller.