Confession time — I’ve discovered that Mr. Franklin was right. I eat roughly twice as much as I need to.

Conversation time — I’m not alone.

My discovery of my excess food intake came not from the usual identifier — a bulging tummy. 

 My new insight bloomed out of consistently high cholesterol levels, arterial calcium heart deposits, and a nagging sense that food was taking on more importance than it should.

 And so — I made a decision. I decided to lose 14 pounds and get back to my recommended 180-lb. fit guy weight.

And I did.

It took roughly a month and basically – like my buddy Ben suggested – cutting my food intake by half.

It was not as tough as it sounds.

I already had the exercise thing down. 

Anyone above 35 or so will find that losing weight without exercise is really, really tough. 

I also didn’t have to alter what kind of food I eat. I don’t eat junk food, drink sodas, scarf up sweets, or hit fast-food places, except an occasional “never open on Sunday” treat.

I did have to do two things, one of which was portion control. What a wake-up call.

Did you know that a serving of ice cream is less than 1/2 of a cup? I didn’t.

Or to be a proper serving, that a sirloin cut should be roughly the size of a deck of cards?

Or that two tablespoons of shredded cheese, four ounces of orange juice, one slice of Ezekial bread, or a cup of cooked pasta equals a serving?

Why bother?

Well, that’s part of the problem. If me and a whole lot of other Americans don’t start bothering with our quantity and quality of food, we’re going to explode.

I’ve also learned the importance of a second eating thing – savor the flavor.

That’s the only way I’ve found to deal with the assault on my sense of fairness by the stark demands of portion control.

I’m learning to chew every bite thoroughly, enthusiastically, and with a dedication to tasting everything.

There’s actually a third thing – a disturbing list of deadly pursuits that has stoically stood the tests of time and folly.

You may know that list as the Seven Deadly Sins – a biblically derived flag for big things that undo us. 

The seven are represented as pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth.

Spoiler Alert — Read the Democrat Party platform for this script broken down into detail.

But, social insanity aside, isn’t it interesting that out of all the things that can take a toll on us here on earth, gluttony makes the top seven?

We like food for good reasons, but like everything else, what we partake is not without consequence.

Eat the wrong things and too much of even the right things, and our body will start talking to us.

It speaks the language of diabetes — one hundred and thirty-million of us have diabetes or are on our way.

It speaks the language of obesity – 42 percent of American adults are obese... and one in five of our children are too. 

It speaks the language of heart disease – every primary cause of heart problems is super-sized by overeating.

It speaks the language of hunger – the more we eat to excess, the less there is for people who don’t eat enough.

It speaks the language of expense — look at your Biden-omic grocery bill for the answer to this one.

To another subject, all the nonsense you hear about “fat-shaming” is just that.

Of course it’s wrong, but those who do it are in a stupid minority. No person of character, love and intelligence demeans others on the basis of size.

On the other hand, those who use this victim declaration as an obesity shield – like others who hide behind the armor of race, entitlement, irresponsibility, addiction and gender confusion – may successfully shut down discussion, but always to their eventual peril. 

By appearances, I’m not a glutton. Thanks to genetics, exercise and a healthy diet, it doesn’t show.

But what there is on the outside belays what’s happening on the inside – and it mostly tracks back to an excess of comfort through food.

I’m a confessed glutton, and I’m doing something about that.

Note I took a pass on Ozempic. Medication shortcuts around Mother Nature rarely work. They just pretend for a while, and then reveal their underlying harms.