The term ‘target rich environment’ has been used by the military for decades. It refers to a situation in which the attacker has superior knowledge and equipment to overcome the defenders. It has been used in a social setting to refer to the number of available people of the opposite sex at a bar, party or another place of entertainment.
I joined Halliburton many years ago. My background in quality and reliability had given me a wealth of experience in seeing the same problems repeatedly. I mentioned to my new boss that it was a target rich environment – anything you touch, you can fix and make better. His term was low-hanging fruit.
I attended a meeting this past week. The host was describing a product (capsule) that had the extracts of lots of fruits and vegetables. We, as American consumers, are not well educated on nutrition. When a product appears that can give us health without us having to buy, prepare, cook and eat foods, then the company has targeted us as their consumers.
We are the target rich environment for those companies that produce health conscious options to supplement or replace our normal dietary choices. Is it the education we are not getting regarding nutrition? Is it the convenience of not having to buy, store, prepare, cook and eat food at home? If I can have dozens of servings of fruits and vegetables in a few capsules a day, why not take advantage of it?
I advocate balanced nutrition and caloric restriction coupled with intermittent fasting to live a long and healthy life. If I am taking two capsules of this and another couple of something else that provides me with everything I need, is this the best thing for me? It is certainly convenient? It might even be cost effective. But, is it what my body needs?
The choosing and eating certain foods allows us better control of our longevity. If I chose to pop a few capsules of this, I am still unaware or what is required to reduce the risk of age-related disease. I am taking a very easy way out.
We now must factor in the vagaries of how much of what did I get with a particular supplement. I believe that supplements are needed. Vitamin K2 and vitamin E are difficult for find in most of the foods we eat. Vitamin E is eight different chemicals. Normal supplements give you one and it is generally a synthetic version.
Should anyone be happy being in a target rich environment? I don’t think so.