Its January 2 and your working out in the gym to fulfill your new years resolution. Just like every other American you want to lose weight and be healthy for the coming new year. Week after week your muscles begin to ache and you notice that you haven't lost much weight from when you started. Now your at home contemplating whether to go to the gym or not. You remember being on the treadmill and feeling the drops of sweat roll down the back of your neck and the muscles in your thighs and calves burning. So you decide to skip working out today. Then a thought comes to you, "If I don't eat and drink things with real sugar and calories I don't have to go to the gym".  Americans are obsessed with losing weight and being healthy yet no one wants to take the time and commitment to do so.
   There was an experiment done in recent years that tested the patience of children. Working with toddlers in an investigative study can be difficult at times. "We recently tried to do a version of it, and the kids were very excited about having food, in the game room." Any child would be excited to play a "game" with food as some sort of incentive. This reward makes them more interested and excited to play. In this case though they actually wanted to see and even measure their excitement. The more excited they were the harder it would be for them to resist the treat. That is why the investigators had them pick their favorite food initially. Clearly, the experiment is tied to the subjects instantaneous desire for the goodies.
   In a related way the American desire for sweetness with no calories bespeaks a cultural preoccupation that is problematic. The "I want it all/I want it now" mentality makes for citizenry that has forgotten the powerful appeal of the journey, of the process. Why do Americans demand such fast delivery of non-caloric sweetness? Why are Americans so compelled to want everything with no consequences? We are living in a world where there is no waiting. If you want clothes, but don't have the money at that time, you swipe your credit card and pay the bill later. If you want to eat, but don't want to take the time to make the meal; you drive down the street to a fast food restaurant.
   The point I am trying to make is that Americans do not have the patience to wait for things they long for.  So if we want to be healthy we don't show the will power to wait for the results from the gym, nor do we show self control to not over indulge with sweets. So we now have to have sugar substitutes so we can eat all the sugary treats we want and still think that we are being healthy. When you really won't see results with sugar substitutes and the many other health hazards that come with them. With all of this in mind we are forgetting the journey and the feeling of accomplishment from resisting our temptations and following through on a project.