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REAL LIVING (Part 1 of 3)
This past weekend, my wife, Ryoko, and I spent two days in Atlantic City. We love walking on the boardwalk and find the casinos to be entertaining. With the excitement of the sights and the sounds of the bright lights and the people laughing and cheering - and for our occasional wins in the penny arcades - we make AC our annual or semi-annual mini-escape from our normal routine.
The one thing that is disturbing for us both, however, is the rampant presence of extreme over-fatness and obesity; it seems to increase every time we visit AC. While Ryoko and I don't judge people from their appearances, per se, we are keenly aware that we are being impacted negatively by the unhealthful choices of so many others. This issue is not about aesthetics, but about the survival of our culture.
When you start to notice walking aids being used by people as young as 35 years old, and when you see people in their 40s and 50s struggling to simply stand up from a chair, and youngsters too heavy to run and jump, then it's time to make cultural changes. It's dismaying to see that most of the 20-year old females were thicker in their midsection than my wife who is 35 and in her 5th month of pregnancy. While it's clear that regular brisk physical activity and healthful, nutritious eating must become a part of the standard American lifestyle, the first change needs to be made in the mindset of our culture.
As a result of increasing fatness, the USA has been experiencing ever-rising health care costs, reduced health benefits, shortening lifespans, reduced productivity and weakening corporate profits, slower mental functioning, and so much more. How can any culture prosper - or even survive - when most of its citizens are too heavy or sick to function optimally, or at least properly? We all end up paying a steep price for poor lifestyle choices. Culturally, Americans tend to overeat and under-exercise. It's time for Americans to realign their priorities.
What's the solution? All the diet books and programs in the world, combined with all the health clubs we can build, won't make a difference until we shift our thinking and eliminate our concept of entitlement. To correct our over-fat epidemic, we need to first change our thinking. Here are a few suggestions.
- Don't live to eat; instead, eat to live. Recognize that the primary purpose for food is to nourish our cells, enhance our minds and bodies, and to enhance regeneration. Entertainment/pleasure is a far second purpose.
- Eliminate the belief system of entitlement. Regardless of how wealthy the country that you live in is, or how wealthy you are, the body still needs a clean healthy diet with a moderate caloric intake, one which is in alignment with your caloric output (physical activities).
- Be mindful of your body's signals. Our bodies have an intelligence of its own. Several signals that indicate that you may be overfeeding and/or under-exercising your body include the following:
a) If you frequently feel tired, even when you sleep enough;
b) If your body aches continually (knees, lower back, hips) for no apparent reason;
c) If you struggle with basic activities, such as getting up from a chair, going up and down stairs, or walking briskly.
If any of these are a challenge, and you are under the age of 100, perhaps it's time to eat more healthfully and exercise more.
[Next week, in part 2 of this series, I will address the problems with buffets, and how to enjoy them, but without going overboard. part 3, in two weeks, will address the need for having youth engage in more physical activities, including team sports.]
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