Taking the Trump Diet to the Next Level

In preparation for a colonoscopy, they put you on a special diet to empty out your intestines.   It involves a lot of Gatorade, clear broth, and laxatives.

I thought I would be hungry without solid food, but the broth was surprisingly satisfying.  I had never bought broth before, at the grocery store.  Why wasn't I buying broth all the time?  On top of everything else, broth doesn't need refrigeration when unopened.  A camper should like that.

Putting leftovers into broth for more nutrition and taste is so easy.  That is how our frugal (and less obese) ancestors ate.  They used leftovers from the main meal in mid-day.  Remember that they didn't have good refrigeration in those days.  There is always something that needs to be used up, soon.

My new evening meal.

Just think: all my life I had been cleaning out skillets and pans during the mid-day meal by washing the residue down the sink, instead of saving it for evening soup.  According to the etymologies, 'soup', sup, supper, sop, and sip are all cognate.  

Obviously most people don't need heavy meals in the evening.  They don't need calories to sit on a couch and look at electronic screens.  People eat heavy meals because the rat-race didn't give them much time for meals, earlier in the day. 

This is a great chance for a practical issue to jump up to a philosophical level.  Some people deal with their own mortality by soothing themselves with promises from ancient holy books written by who-knows-who in superstitious ages.  It works for them, to some extent.

But can we soothe ourselves with non-lies?  In eating an evening meal of frugal and simple soup, we melt into the general stream of our ancestors, who weren't that different from us.  It can be soothing to convince yourself that your own Ego is not the center of the universe, and that your sacred individuality is an exaggeration to the point of delusion.