Couch Potato-So Appropriate!

In 1976 the term couch potato was born. Tom Iacino of Pasadena, California and a member of a Southern California group humorously opposed exercise and diet fads. He said we prefer watching television, the boob tube, and eating potato chips. Brilliance comes in sparks. Iacino substituted tube for the synonym of potato—“tuber.” Hence, a boob tuber to the lay folks is simply a couch potato. So, why don’t we sit down on our couches and eat a bag of beet chips? Some of us do, but to eat a beet is different that eating a potato and for two reasons. Beets are perfect roots, whereas potatoes are imperfect roots, tubers. For that reason, potatoes and potato chips remain lodged in the digestive regions and stay away from our heads. Beets go straight to our heads. They are, according to Rudolf Steiner, “the thinking man’s vegetable.” Beets also suppress our appetite because they go straight to our heads. Potatoes leave us wanting for more.

Rudolf Steiner goes so far as to say that Europe mentally changed as soon as the Spaniards brought back the potato from the Andes in the 16^th century. From that point on and especially relevant to those countries where the potato became a major staple, “they neglected their brains.” Chips and dip anyone?