Our metabolism slows as we grow older, which means that adults on the average gain two pounds per year. And this goes for those of us who are careful about our intake. To make the situation more difficult, in order to make foods taste better, dishes are cooked with cream, fat, lard, grease, salt and sugar. When we are tired or stressed, it is easier to buy a bag or corn chips than it is to prepare banaha or tamfula. It is challenging even to walk into Starbucks for a cup for coffee because of the amazing array of goodies that one can add to a ten-calorie serving of Joe: 130 calories for whipped cream; 270 calories for whole milk; mocha caramel at 25 a pump, etc. The Java Chip Frappuccino contains 650 calories and more grams of fat than a McDonald’s Big Mac. Without question, the more choices we have and the easier it is to find something to eat when we’re hungry, the more we tend to eat and we eat what we want instead of what we should. As the years go by, our health problems are compounded by the reality of bad food choices, slower metabolism, loss of enthusiasm to stay active and the fact that it is easy to become discouraged as the scale shows added pounds.