ampm rant

You're probably wondering what the ampm in the title is referring to. Well ampm is the name of the convenience-store chain that was formerly BP Connect which was the name of the convenience stores associated with British Petroleum's gas stations. In 2008 they rebranded the convenience stores to ampm. They are in a dozen or so states in the U.S.and also in Japan and Mexico. After having apprised you of that you might be wondering "OK what does that have to do with this weightloss blog?". Well it has to do with the commercials they've been running here in the states for the last couple of years now. They are really insipid little wonders of marketing and what they promote, using the voice of some guy who I swear sounds like Joe "Willie" Namath, the former great quarterback of the then AFL New York Jets football team that was the first team to beat the NFL in the super bowl of 1968, is the fact that they have, now get this, "more stuff". Yep that's it, just more stuff; that's their claim to fame. To prove that they have "more stuff" they show these shots of a guy loading up on "more stuff" in a brand-spanking shiny new store. When this hapless mope get to the checkout counter he suddenly remembers that he needs, you guessed it, "more stuff" just as the checkout person finishes ringing him up and is expecting the money. So what does he do? Right again, bucko, leaves the checkout counter to go back for "more stuff" which is when the guy with the Joe Willie sounding voice cuts in to rap up the commercial. At that point they've pretty well driven home the message that when you are in a place with "more stuff", you'd be absolutely crazy not to take full advantage and load up on as much "more stuff" as your arms can carry since they do not have shopping carts in a convenience store. OK. I know. It's a commercial and 99% of them are annoying, and insipid, and inane and whatever other denigrating adjective you can come up with to describe them. My problem with it is what they are encouraging you to load up on is their stock-in-trade which is essentially what is commonly referred to here in the states as "junk food". Precisely what anyone concerned about their weight should under no circumstance be eating except for once and a great while and that is in very small quantities. We are essentially talking about "garbage" food here, are we not? You know, chips, candy bars, even the hot dogs and hamburgers they sell in those places. It is essentially foodless food, because there is little to no nutrition to it, but baby can it provide the calories and not surprisingly, the unwanted pounds that we are so confounded by. Also, if you hadn't noticed, they are not at all bashful about what they charge for this dubious food that they purvey with the rational being, I presume, is the "convenience" factor. So for this "convenience" you get to pay two to three times more than what you'd normally pay for this "stuff" in a supermarket for something that is going to sabotage your chance of maintaining a proper body weight anyway. Well I guess if you're going to got to Hell-in-a-handbag you might as well go lock-stock-and-barrel and get fleeced while you're at it!

I once not too long ago heard a gentleman being interviewed on a radio talk show about healthy eating and the piece of advice he gave that struck me as a common sense thing but nevertheless quite an astute observation was to "never eat gas-station/convenience-store food" as a way of avoiding unhealthy eating habits. I could not offer a better piece of advice myself, even to someone who does not have a weight control problem. So here goes. Eating gas-station / convenience-store food is a DOUBLE-DUMB FOOD CHOICE!
ampm rant
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