PLEASE SIR, I WANT SOME MORE

Guilt-free dessert? (Globe and Mail, August 21st, 2004)

A U.S. government dietary advisory panel is considering whether its revision of nutrition guidelines should let some people treat themselves to guilt-free desserts.

Such treats would be bonuses for healthful living, under proposals being considered by the advisory panel that's drafting an update of the nutritional guidance.

The experts are looking at what are called “discretionary calories.” Those could be allowed for people who get nutritious meals while staying below the calories they need to burn for energy.

The panel is looking at ways to write discretionary calories into the recommendations that the government is to issue early next year, in tandem with an update of the food guide pyramid.

Discretionary calories are what's left when the calories needed to meet all of a person's nutrient needs are subtracted from the greater number of calories needed to meet energy needs.

It is relatively easy to rally around the struggle for freedom when one is threatened by tyrants like Hitler or Hussein, but how does one confront well-meaning bureaucrats who believe the world is a better place when we feel state-approved levels of guilt as we munch our Twinkies?