Column: Everything we do, we do it big

Last week, I hit a major milestone: the 21st birthday.

I received many phone calls and texts filled with birthday wishes from friends and family.  But, warnings of  don’t go “too hard” and to “be careful” were also included.
This is because, despite being a year older, many 21-year-olds choose to spend their passage into adulthood as immaturely as possible.

According to a 2008 study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 24 percent of females and 34 percent of males engage in a tradition of consuming 21 or more drinks on their big day.

The “21 for 21” phenomenon is unhealthy and dangerous. It is evocative of Americans’ “more is more” attitude toward diets and lives.

Instead of enjoying a single glass as our first legal sip, we guzzle copious amounts of alcohol and risk our lives in the process.

America’s habit of over-drinking goes hand in hand with our obsession with supersized portions and overeating. 

Although the rest of the developed world’s waistbands are expanding, their populations are still thinner than us. Their mindset may affect this.

The Japanese are not members of clean plate club. They use the phrase “hara hachi bu” to describe when they should stop eating, which means 80-percent full.

The author of the book “Why French Women Do Not Get Fat” theorizes that Parisians are slim because they regard food with the same level of respect they do for works of arts hanging in the Louvre. They view their national cuisine as not only fuel for the body, but also as an expression of beauty to be enjoyed in small quantities.

The less-is-more adage has much truth when it comes to proper nutrition. At the same time, however, there are times when it is important to throw caution to the wind.
It is only by eating or drinking excessively that one is able to appreciate the importance of not overdoing it. The hangover from students’ 21st birthdays serves as an all-too-true example.

— hsspence@indiana.edu