Sunday, 24 February 2008

Stress Free???

Fat free, gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, salt free, wheat free......absolutely taste free .........and now there's stress free. Food can now make you less stressed?


I kid you not. I have never seen this listed on food labels before. I went to open my yogurt today and it hit me between the eyes. The yogurt is not only stress free but it's 100% stress free. I wonder if there is a money back guarantee because just the sight of those words caused my blood pressure to rise.

'Oh my god', I screamed, 'you have to see this'. The dog looked at me with a level of disdain that was crippling. I think his lack of interest in the boring, sugar free, gluten free, vanilla yogurt gave me the answer. He always comes through. I guess there is not a lot about the bland taste of yogurt to get your heart racing.

It's a wonder the marketing gurus have not been having palpitations about all the possibilities of stress free food advertising. There is a huge target market after all.

According to the American Psychological Association

- 43% of adults suffer from adverse health effects from stress

- 75-90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress related aliments and complaints

- stress in linked to the six leading causes of death - heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.

- $300 billion annually is lost due to employee absenteeism, reduced productivity and worker's compensation benefits.

Stress is neither a symbol of status nor an indication of your importance. It is merely a one way ticket to high blood pressure, jangled nerves, exhaustion, emotional instability or a heart attack. These are not pleasurable things so stress is best to be avoided at all costs.

Being stress free is a definite status symbol.

It's only a matter of time before we see McD's bringing out their stress free line or is that what the Happy Meal is meant to be all about.

Personally, I am thinking the only way food can be stress free is if you plant it, grow it and cook it yourself. Just need to go out and buy me a cow to make my own yogurt.....then again, there are all different kinds of stress..........I think I will just quit reading the labels for a while....it will cause me less stress that way.. .....