Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Too Fat to Fight


This post won't be about writing or my books. Today I came across this article. Here's a paragraph from that article.

A new report being released Tuesday says more than 9 million young adults, or 27 percent of all Americans ages 17 to 24, are too overweight to join the military. Now, the officers are advocating for passage of a wide-ranging nutrition bill that aims to make the nation's school lunches healthier.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

Perhaps the school curriculum should now include a course on nutrition and what kids should be eating. If we all took a more conscientious approach to what we put into our mouths at any given point in our day and night, and realize like any machinery, there are certain things we need to be healthy, then we will again produce young men and women who are healthy enough to join our armed forces.

This to say the least is embarrassing for this country. Our kids are now too fat to join an organization that is devoted to protecting us. Lord help us all!

Yet, when I see statistics telling me we are spending in healthcare every year 98 billion dollars in just the treatment of diabetes it makes me wonder. Is there a conspiracy between the healthcare system and the fast food chains to produce this state of affairs. Again to say the least this is embarrassing for all of us in this country.

We are indeed becoming a "sick nation." And it seems no one knows how to put the BRAKES on this rampage of disease that is basically caused by lifestyle and diet.

Yet, it all comes down to economics. Stop buying the soda--which adds absolutely nothing to the health of our bodies--and you put people out of jobs. Stop buying all that processed foods that can never provide all the nutrients whole unprocessed foods do into our bodies--and again you put people out of work.

It's a Catch-22 situation where we make the choice to be able to make the money to put food on to our table or we make money to pay the co-pays that go with those numerous visits to a doctor's office for diseases that are caused by our diets.

Education is the key to helping our children become healthy and fit so that if they want to join the armed forces they won't be rejected based on their overweight status.

Eating whole rather than processed foods will help. Portion control will definitely help. It is one reason why when I go out to eat I usually cut the portion in half or even more than half, and end up with two even three meals that week.

The information is out there on what is going to help us attain a good weight. Again, it is simple. Become aware of what you are doing to your body...which over time many lose perspective and actually become out of touch where they are in their diets.

The body is a machine. It does need certain foods to survive. It does not need the processed foods, or any quasi-food that adds absolutely nothing in terms of nutrients.

The body will utilize all the vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and legumes you can feed it. When it comes to pastries, and soda, candy...basically all that sugar, all the body can do is turn it into fat storage which pushes the numbers up the scale.

Exercise is also a must. Our bodies were meant to move...and incorporating that every day is the key along with eating the correct foods the body can utilize will produce a well-oiled machine that our nation can be proud of once again.

A common sense approach to a healthy lifestyle and a healthy diet is needed more now than ever before because our healthcare is actually more of a security threat in terms of costs than anything we can incur from outside sources.

Who needs terrorists to destroy what we have? Just scoffed down those donuts, gulped down all that sugar laden soda, scarfed down the double burgers, and the extra serving of fries...and don't forget those milkshakes that hold more calories then anyone is allowed in a week. We don't need any terrorist to bring down this great nation. What we eat and the poor choices we make will do that for us.

Enough said. I'm out of here to take my PeekaPoo for her long walk!