September 28, 2008
The Obesity Epidemic: Who's REALLY Responsible
I have written about this before, but I feel compelled to write about it again. Why? Because it's everywhere that I am. Everywhere that I walk, everywhere I go, almost everywhere I look. It's there. What is it? Obesity. Morbid obesity. Overweight adults, young adults, and now even teenagers and children all over North America. It truly is becoming an epidemic, as some articles have pointed out in the local and national media and online.
I've spouted off about this before. But this time I'm touting the whole perspective from two different places that are new to this supposed epidemic of obesity plaguing America's sidewalks, coffee shops, eateries, and fast food restaurants.
I recently read an online article wherein the statistic was thrown about that in 40 years America would be suffering from 100 percent obesity. Yes, 100 percent obesity. It would almost become a matter of being born obese, as obesity would be part of the genetic programming since it would become a genetic condition.
Now, I don't remember the validity behind this stark statement within the article, but it did catch my eye. And yet, at the same time, it made me wonder. You see, I don't think we're heading towards a 100 percent obesity epidemic. I think we're going to get close, very close to almost everyone in this country being overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.
But, I won't count myself in on that statistic no matter how far into the future I project myself. You see, I too have to watch what I eat. I was not blessed with a special meat suit that is able to consume whatever it wants and then magically burn it off while I'm sleeping. No.
I too have to ensure that what I put in this body I'm renting for a few decades is as healthy as I can stand, and contains just sufficient amounts of calories and nutrients that aren't going to make me enlarge into a size that I don't want to be, or isn't healthy for me to live in.
I also have to stay active, especially when I don't want to, which is most of the time. And I have to exercise. Again, which is something I don't want to do most of the time.
Many times I think of my Dad, who's still alive and almost 78-years-old. He still walks, at a very brisk pace during his every other day exercise routine, approximately 3 miles. In cold Canada to boot.
It's a struggle.
And hard work.
But it's doable.
For most anyone.
So, I just have to ask myself why the rest of the country, evidently, isn't thinking this way. Why have people become lazy as time has progressed in this so called modern society we're in now? Yes...l-a-z-y.
I recall when I was in high school, a long-ago 30 years past, that there were 500 students in the school and only 2, yes - two, were considered by today's standards to be obese or grossly overweight. And one of the persons was my good friend at the time. He was 5 foot 9 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds.
Now, I know what you're thinking. That's not large, that's not big.
Of course it's not. By today's standards it's the norm.
This is what we've become accustomed to seeing in many young teenagers across school campuses.
Never mind the city streets filled with adults and young people. Being that size is nothing today. It's all too common.
So, what I'm attempting to relay here is the visual fact that there is something going on with more and more people in households across North America, as those of us residing in one of the most modernized countries in the world are getting fatter, and fatter over time. And, this is not something to ignore.
Before I get email blasts and so forth, let me state that I know there can be medical reasons for someone getting large and larger as they grow older, such as genetic predisposition.
This is a valid reason for being large, and struggling with weight gain. But, from what I see and read, way too many people fall back on this genetic predisposition reasoning and, to me, therefore is used just as an excuse.
I know no one is asking me to accept this reasoning, certainly not the obese people in America, but it's an excuse that I find hard to accept most times. Why?
The only way I'll accept that someone who is now obese or morbidly overweight was predestined to be that size by genetics is if I see it in perhaps the last 3 or 4 generations in their family of ancestry. Then it can be easily seen during the last century that that family did have a gene makeup that made them more prone to heaviness or obesity. Outside of that, I'm hardcore, and not buying it, and instead view it as an excuse.
Why am I having such a narrow- and close-minded position on this? Well, to be real candid and espousing a position I haven't before, I'm stating that the reason the people who aren't predestined by their genetic makeup to be obese are actually obese is all a matter of personal choice.
Yes. They are personally responsible for getting large, and larger. They are personally choosing to become the size they are. Little by little. Decade by decade.
Remember me sharing that it's a struggle even for someone like me who is tall and slender to maintain the shape that I'm in? I believe that the vast majority of obese people aren't doing the same but rather are using whatever excuse they can to maintain their position that it's genes or some other factor behind their large size. And the large size of their behinds, too.
I know this is hardcore. I know this is something that is slanted and one-sided by most standards, but it's how I see things now.
What really put me over the edge on this subject was another article I found on the web posing the rhetorical explanation that credit cards were making people fat, because fast food chains in North America now offer payment via credit cards and debit cards.
The reasoning behind this article was that having this option, once one is in the grease hut, allows people the convenience of purchasing their greasy-encased and fat-laden food with plastic money, instead of paper money, like in the old days. And, it also supported this explanation with the point that if a potential customer's pockets were empty they are still going to the drive thru window for the triple-layered heart attack bacon cheeseburgers and then paying for the purchase with their credit cards or debit cards.
To a point, I agree with this article as at times I've found myself out of cash when I'm in one of those places buying a quick snack for my boys. But, no matter how cogent the reasoning within this article to explain another contributor to the North American obesity epidemic, it still missed the point of personal responsibility, accountability and culpability.
I ask: What about the person who pays for their food with a debit or credit card: aren't they making a choice, in the first place, to eat there? I know that's how *I* ended up in there with my boys -- I chose to go there.
Yes, it's now more convenient with the debit card processing on-site.
Yes, it's easier to get fast food junk food when the green isn't available in the pocket anymore, but isn't it still a choice to actually go thru the drive thru or pay inside the store for the triple cheeseburger with bacon and large fries and a Coke with plastic? Isn't that a personal choice?
I think one has to agree with this, and, ergo, rightfully so the question is begged: Where is the personalized and responsible acceptance of one's need to BUY this food in the first place?
But, then we're given an out from personal responsibility via the overt blaming of the fast food chains and the debit card and credit card companies and their placing these machines at the restaurant registers and thereby giving this as another payment option at the fast food restaurant.
"It's all their fault, and that's why we're getting fatter as a nation." Rrrrright.
Does this make as little sense to you as it does to me?
It's like saying that smokers smoke more and drinkers drink more because they have debit and credit card machines in the local stores. And kids eat more candy because candy is available in virtually every store in the nation.
Why not just outright blame the food stores and superstores for having TOO MUCH food on their shelves for us to choose from and buy and THAT'S why North American's are becoming obese?
Where's the taking responsibility for one's choice, in the FIRST place, for CHOOSING to eat the fast food, and drive up TO the drive thru lane, or walk INTO the fast-food restaurant?
Where's the admission of personal responsibility for making those choices which lead one to over time become obese or morbidly obese as time goes on as those choices are made over and over and over and over, on a personal basis?
And, then some person or organization writes an article on the web and states that the credit card companies are 'responsible'.
Yes, they contribute.
Yes, they make things more convenient.
But, they don't make the person get in their car and see the take-out fast-food chain restaurant on the corner of the block and drive up and park or go through the drive-thru lane and then take the card out of their wallet or purse and hand it over to the pimply-faced teenager behind the register who is thinking about the homework that needs to be completed tonight before he/she can go out on that hot date with that other pimply-faced hottie from high school.
Come on people; let's take responsibility on a DAILY basis for the choices we make. Let's make ourselves responsible for the condition our body is in. Let's read some of these articles and tell ourselves, "Geez, there's another article that wants me to believe that someone else is responsible for my obesity, beyond my immediate ancestors and something I truly had no choice in through birth in this gene-pool I'm a part of."
Let's understand that getting to an obese state is not fun. Being obese is not fun. Although it's now becoming the norm almost everywhere you look, it's still something that society is responsible for, but one we, as individuals can personally begin to change back to being the atypical condition it used to be when I was in high school a scant three decades ago.
But, this all starts right with the body that we're each living in. It's one's life, it's one's responsibility. NO one else's but yours.
Oh...and, don't get me started on those people who tried to sue that fast food chain because they didn't put a warning label on their 1420-calorie triple burgers with three slices of cheese and half a dozen strips of bacon telling people that if one continues to eat these artery chokers and heart squeezers, that they might get 'fat'.
Again...don't make me go there, and I'll save us both the trouble of reading more words on this rant I've been on with this article about the obesity epidemic in America. Enough already.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
(Happy 78th Birthday Dad, love you! And, keep walking. :-)
Posted by Andre Best at 8:50 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
Your Body: Are You Voiding The Warranty?
I'm sorry, but I just can't get past the entire issue of seeing people in the United States who seem to just be getting larger in size, overall. It's something that I can't understand. And perhaps my writing here will clearly show that perhaps my stance derives from naivete, or ignorance, or maybe clear misunderstanding about the entire issue of obesity in the United States.
Like most people in developed countries these days, I too have to pay attention to what I eat, what type of food I eat, and, how my exercise routine is going. If I don't do all this, I notice a slight change when my pants begin to feel too tight around my waist, which happens from time to time. Although I have kept the same weight for over 10 years now, I know when my 'size' begins to change/increase.
Because of this, I know that I have to pick up the efforts of my exercising routine, my eating habits, and/or my attitude about fitness in general and how that translates into my daily (non)activities with this meat sack I am carried around in.
So, I am aware that it is a constant chore for those of us who are not having to scramble for our next meal to have to watch what goes in our body versus how much is worked off and how much is useless excess that is stored in-situ in our fat deposits.
And, I know that having to watch what one eats and balance that with how much one exercises the body and keeps it in a state of fitness beyond simple stretching is an effort unto itself. However, that is where my awareness of what is needed to tackle this part of existence head-on ends.
Let me explain.
Every time I go to the gas station to put gasoline in my vehicle I am reminded of this issue, both as I pay attention to the putting gasoline in my vehicle process, and as I watch those around me as I wait for my vehicle's gas tank to fill up. And sometimes I see people that remind me of the entire issue and how perplexing it is to try to get a grasp of at times.
Again, let me clarify.
I have what is considered a sportier vehicle, and according to the owners manual I'm supposed to be putting premium gasoline in the vehicle to ensure that it stays in prime operating condition. Anything less than this jeopardizes the actual condition of the engine and the exhaust system overall. Gunk buildup, inferior operating results, knocking, pinging, rattling, increased emissions, and voiding of the vehicle's warranty are all possible outcomes of not adhering to the recommended fuel type being used in the vehicle.
Now, let me ask you, how many millions of people have vehicles that are similar to mine and they choose to take similar more intensive care of them as I do by adhering to the vehicle manufacturer's recommended fuel usage type? I'd bet millions of them do likewise.
But, how many of these same vehicle owners don't even give their own bodies the same type of care and consideration? Again, millions, I'd bet.
Specifically, how many of these vehicle owners take that nice sportier vehicle they just filled up with gas and immediately drive on over to the adjacent fast food drive-up window at the local neighborhood artery clogging outlet and order one of those 3/4 pound triple decker, double cheese, quadruple bacon monstrosities layered between sumptuous processed white bread buns? Millions, I'd venture to guess again.
It's kind of confusing isn't it, this behavior that is, right?
We are all making numerous decisions each and every day about what we put into the organic vehicle we have been blessed with for up to 90 years or so. But, what type of decisions are we making to best take care of this vehicular work of beauty that is carrying us to the next world as long as we are able to hang out in it? Again, as I'm seeing more and more every day, many of us are doing a pretty lousy job of taking care of this vehicle, this vessel, that we are temporarily housed in.
Overall, we're taking better care of the vehicles we BUY and then throw away only a few years later, than we do with the vehicle we were BLESSED with through birth on this physical plane.
It truly doesn't make sense to me.
Now, let me state again, that you're not going to go to dictionary.com and see my picture popping up when you ask for the definition of 'fitness'. Why not? Because I too know that it is troublesome at times to make proper decisions as to how to best take care of this vehicle we motor around in, by foot, every day.
But, it does come down to how much we are willing to continue to decide each and every single day, and moment, as to what is the best way to fuel this personal vehicle, and how to best maintain it.
Maybe someday we'll begin to realize that this is the vehicle we should be focusing on taking the utmost care of, not the metal man-made box we ride around in every day.
So, the next time you ride around in your own vehicle, or the bus, or carpool with other people, think about this subject. Look at the people in other vehicles. Think about what you see and about the discrepancy you mostly see surrounding the vehicles being driven, and the drivers of those vehicles.
Next time you go to the carwash, or drive by a car repair shop, remember how the owners of these cars are probably taking better care of their vehicle, and focusing more on that on average, then their own bodies.
Interesting observation, isn't it?
Now, what about you and your future vehicle maintenance plan? Are you at the top of the priority list, or is the moving metal box you use to ride your butt around in comfort at the top?
Don't worry, don't feel guilty if the prioritization is a little bit funky right now. Just be sure to re-prioritize, quickly, if necessary. And stick to THAT maintenance plan...or risk voiding your body's warranty.
Perhaps permanently.
And, remember, that vehicle you own most likely won't exist in 40 years, but you most likely will...if you choose wisely. Now.
Good luck.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 5:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2005
Exercise Tips to Live By
As most people have no doubt read in some form or fashion online or offline, obesity in developed countries, in an epidemic.
And it never used to be this way.
I remember when I was in high school in the late 1970's that there were two kids in school who were considered to be different than the rest of us because they were 'heavier'. Of course they were taunted, joked about, and ribbed. All because they were considered as being 'fat'.
But today, one barely has to turn a street corner where their favorite donut shop is located without bumping into or seeing someone walking on the sidewalk who is nowadays considered to be morbidly obese.
No more taunting allowed, because this size proportion of most people is so common that it wouldn't be funny (as if it ever was) to joke about someone's large(r) size.
But there is a solution to most of this epidemic of the increasing girth and waistline of the vast majority of adults, mostly in North America.
Use up more calories than you take in.
Now, I am not supposing that this simplistic solution applies in every single instance. The true, and genuine out-of-whack thyroid conditions come to mind.
But for the large majority of adults, it has simply become a case of we are eating too much and exercising too little.
But the word 'exercise' scares most folks.
Visions of bulge-revealing grey sweatpants and armpit showing sweatshirts come to mind for most people when they recall history's recent exercise crazes.
But in today's world, one has to get 'exercise' where they can.
It doesn't have to constitute a three-year membership and daily trips to the local neighborhood gym, be it LAFitness, Golds Gym, Bally's, or 24hour Fitness.
Exercise can be as simple as walking to that co-workers desk across the office, instead of phoning them.
Or, yes, walking those two flights of stairs up to that next meeting at work, instead of taking the elevator.
Or, parking your car at the FAR end of the parking row and walking in to the store.
Exercise can even be as simple as taking the groceries in from the car and carrying them into the house - one bag at a time.
You see, in today's world we are all busier than ever. Even though we have all the tools, gadgets, and devices that were designed to make our lives easier.
So we have to seek out exercise where we can find it in our lives. Why? Because we all need to continue eating.
And as long as we're going to continue doing that, we're going to continue taking in the calories. And if they aren't going to be used, they're going to be put away somewhere in our body. Yes, they're going to be stored as fat.
Can we all say 'Hello love handles'?
So you see, exercise for most people does not have to consist of a monthly membership fee and pumping iron with the rest of the gronks in the gym. Of course, if that's your deal, like it is mine, than go for it because that'll do you a world of good.
But if you're like most folks and you barely have enough time to change your mind, never mind your lifestyle, don't worry.
Just change how you do the things you ALREADY are doing. Change them so you make yourself work more and subsequently burn more calories.
And you might realize that you're actually, gasp, 'exercising'.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com - Learn About Life From Another Perspective
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 1:03 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2005
Getting it Where You Can. Exercise, That is.
I remember a few months ago I was walking down the stairs at the seven-story parking garage across from where I work in downtown Phoenix. As I was walking down I came across a woman who said to me 'Why are you doing this? You don't need to take the stairs.'
My immediate response to her was 'That's why I do it.' Implying that, yes, I don't need to take the stairs, that's why I do it.
It amazed me that just because a person doesn't have a belly hanging over their belt that someone would assume that that person didn't need exercise.
Now, I'm going to write an article about this during the next few days when I have a little bit more time.
Watch for it.
Thank you kindly.
Posted by Andre Best at 9:13 AM | Comments (0)