Too many choices?

Maybe I lived a sheltered childhood but when I was little I remember your potato chip options being very limited.  You had basics like Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos, tortilla, plain Ruffles or Lays, Pringles, sour cream & onion, barbeque and maybe a cheddar sour cream on a special occasion.  Now they have every flavor imaginable available on a potato chip.  BLT, dill pickle, loaded baked potato, sweet potato, cool ranch, salt & pepper, lime margarita, garden salsa, French onion, vinegar, pizza, cheeseburger, you name it and it’s on a chip.  And there’s no such thing as a standard type of chip anymore either.  Now you can have it fried, baked, pita, organic, pop chips, special K, sweet potato, vegan…and the list goes on and on.  Does this seem like chip overload to anyone else?  The chip aisle at my local grocery store is larger than the health section.  And we wonder why we’re obese?  Don’t even get me started on the cookie/snack aisle and at any given time you have six to eight varieties of Oreos on a shelf.  Even a classic candy bar like Snickers has had to add variations like almond, peanut butter, marathon protein bar and more to keep up with the consumers demand for more, more, more! And have you ever tried to make an informed decision in the ice cream aisle?  Regular, low fat, sugar free, fat free, yogurt, all natural, popsicles, drumsticks, sandwiches, cookies, bite size, pint size, quart size, gallon and every flavor imaginable. I don’t know about you but this causes serious shopper overload for me.  Sure, variety is the spice of life and companies today aim to please every person’s changing palate but sometimes I think, it’s just too much.  I don’t think that processed, twisted, flavored and altered should be standard fair in everything we eat.  Sometimes, I prefer not having a million choices.  Sometimes my mind is happy when I just have to figure out if I want vanilla or chocolate, white or wheat, plain or barbeque.  I have enough on my mind on a daily basis than to have grocery shopping be an adventure or treasure hunt.  Maybe I’m the minority here and that’s fine with me but I can’t help but think that sometimes too much is not a good thing.  I mean, really, do you need BLT chips?  Just go make a yummy BLT with fresh tomato and lettuce.  I bet it will be much more satisfying.