The one-size-fits-all utopic panacea happily ever after

I feel like gringos are always looking for the panacea solution to every problem that they have. This "panacea" manifests as the new gringo fad of the year: low fat diets, adkins diet, low carb diet, green food, green production, green everything. I feel like your average gringo is always following this illusion that the panacea solution will come to them from the media and businesses in the form of consumerism. We consume food, material things as well as knowledge. We can read infinite articles about the benefits of Omega-3s and antioxidants, etc. But can we assume we will ever know more about the minerals, vitamins, nutrients our bodies need than just the very tip of the iceberg? I feel like following my intuition and listening to my body, I will feed myself infinitely better than I would just reading the new SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY that says tumeric might prevent colon cancer. I was eating tumeric long before it was labeled as "HEALTHY" by Newsweek. Because I trust my taste buds and Indian food is my favorite. While, obviously science has its usefulness, I feel like science took the place of religion a few centuries back, and literally became the new religion. I do think US culture is becoming aware of that, slowly.

Like Lori says, gringos need to focus inward. I think it helps to see what our bodies tell us, our minds, our souls. Focus on what our bodies crave (beyond sugar and salt). Down deep, what are we craving? Are we scared to focus inward? What might we find? I remember last July I was feeling really exhausted for like three days straight. And I remember the whole time I was craving mote, this typical Chilean grain. I finally bought some, cooked it and ate a ton. And I felt sooo much better. Later I had a hunch and read up about mote on the internet, and sure enough, it was a good food to eat in order to combat fatigue. Point being my body is sometimes much smarter and more aware than my mind. Perhaps some obese people are out of contact with what their bodies really need? Maybe maintaining a healthy weight/body means being able to dialogue with our body's needs. Listening to what our bodies really want and giving it to them.

In a similar way, it's like the whole "Let's be green" fad is a bit of an illusion to cover up the fact that maybe we'd be better off not consuming so much, not shopping so much. With each "ching ching" of the cash register, I'm contributing to pollution. How organic is that cotton? 100%? No plant was harmed during its production? Yeah, that fuscia color looks like it was made from some super organic dye. Technically, if greeness is what we want, wouldn't we be better off to stop production for a while? Stop producing more clothing, objects. I mean, really, do we need any more clothes or objects in the States? Granted I'm aware if production stopped lots of people would lose their jobs and the economy would probably go into recession, etc. So it may not be the solution. But who are we kidding? Green industry. Is this not an oximoron? Pollution will still happen. Hopefully at lower levels, but it will exist. Can we call a spade a spade? or does everything always have to seem like it came out of a fairy tale?

I was reading about how solar panels can be produced at much lower cost nowadays, and the article listed some of the chemicals used in the process of producing solar panels. While clearly this is better than carbon, how green is it really? ....I kind of think if we want green, we should listen to Rousseau with his idea of the "noble savage", and how, the further away from nature we are, the more corrupt we are. While this is utopic and all, if we want to be "green", wouldn't we be better off running around in the woods/jungles dressed like Adam and Eve. That would be GREEN. I'm just pointing at this illusion that everything in the future is going to be so GREEN. Green factories. Yes, it will probably be better. But we'll still pollute. Obviously consumerism won't just stop, so, yes, the best solution seems to make it greener. Why don't we all just admit we are in denial? We could at least be honest with ourselves: WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT CONSUMERISM, IT'S TOO SATISFYING. Things, useful or not, all rapped up in nice little packages. Yuppie is the new bourgeois. Ha!

On the optimistic side, I do think gringo culture is slowly becoming more aware of its impact on the world and on itself. FINALLY.
Oh, wait, we're not the only country in the world? Shit, now what?

"The one-size-fits-all utopic panacea happily ever after" would make a really good t-shirt slogan. Maybe Walmart could mass produce them for me on organic cotton at a factory operating on biodiesel made from McDonald's used vegetable oil. Never been greener.