The war is lost, and full surrender has occurred
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One thing that pissed me off during this whole nightmare was that there was no emphasis on losing weight during all of this. The single largest risk factor was obesity. You want better COVID outcomes? Collectively lose 10 pounds...
Did you hear anybody address this? I didn’t.
@lufins-dad said in The war is lost, and full surrender has occurred:
One thing that pissed me off during this whole nightmare was that there was no emphasis on losing weight during all of this. The single largest risk factor was obesity. You want better COVID outcomes? Collectively lose 10 pounds...
Did you hear anybody address this? I didn’t.
You can do something about it. Start writing your local newspapers (if there is still any in business), offer to talk about this to student bodies at your local schools and colleges (maybe through Zoom or Google Classroom), write your local health departments, talk to your pastor and/or write to your church leaders about this to see if you can get them to help share this message with their flock, start repeating that all over your social media, start a campaign, start community organizing, start a non-profit disseminate this message. You have the power!
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One of the big differences in North America compared to Europe and elsewhere is how easy it is to walk places. Partly, this is due to the distances being greater, but also the infrastructure isn't tailored around it. There are a lot roads without decent footpaths or decent lighting - I take the dog out pretty much every day, and even in our small town I frequently feel that I'm at risk of being run over as I have to walk on the street, particularly in the evening. Cycling is even more fun - pretty much every time I go out some knobhead yells at me as he drives past far too close as though I shouldn't be on the road.
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Look, I'm part of the problem, but I recognize what we do wrong...
- Too many processed foods. Too many artificial ingredients. Not enough actual cooking.
- Too much sugar, particularly corn syrup in our diets.
- Some bad advice. French people are thinner than Americans and have less cardiovascular dusease. Yet, they eat a good bit of bread, butter instead of margarine and eskew vegetable oil. Maybe we need to go back and look at dietary recommendations.
- Prison schools. Been in a public school, lately? They treat the kids like prisoners, without nearly as much exercise time. This helps make overweight kids. Fat cells are there for life.
- Work environment. How many people have physically demanding jobs? Back in the day, a farmer needed between 3000 and 4000 calories to maintain body mass. Today, sitting in an air-conditioned tractor cab, not so much. That's one example, there are thousands.
- Portion control. We need to do a better job teaching kids what a correct portion looks like on a plate. People are trained to eat large portions and subsequently, a lot more food than what they need.
@jolly said in The war is lost, and full surrender has occurred:
Look, I'm part of the problem, but I recognize what we do wrong...
- Too many processed foods. Too many artificial ingredients. Not enough actual cooking.
- Too much sugar, particularly corn syrup in our diets.
- Some bad advice. French people are thinner than Americans and have less cardiovascular dusease. Yet, they eat a good bit of bread, butter instead of margarine and eskew vegetable oil. Maybe we need to go back and look at dietary recommendations.
- Prison schools. Been in a public school, lately? They treat the kids like prisoners, without nearly as much exercise time. This helps make overweight kids. Fat cells are there for life.
- Work environment. How many people have physically demanding jobs? Back in the day, a farmer needed between 3000 and 4000 calories to maintain body mass. Today, sitting in an air-conditioned tractor cab, not so much. That's one example, there are thousands.
- Portion control. We need to do a better job teaching kids what a correct portion looks like on a plate. People are trained to eat large portions and subsequently, a lot more food than what they need.
That's a good start, but I think the problem is deeper. Eating unhealthy seems to be ingrained into American culture in so many ways. For instance, people seldomly take the time to eat properly and/or treat it as a family event. It's something you do "on the go", while driving, while at your desk, while watching TV or using the phone. In other cultures it's more common to "celebrate" a meal: Everybody gets together, you prepare a nice looking table with good food, the family starts and ends the meal together, eats with silverware and proper China and not fingers/things wrapped in paper, and uses the time to talk to each other. The act of eating has a low status in the American priority hierarchy.
Also, the pervasive "bigger is better" culture as well as the tendency to only choose the least healthy foods from other cultures and make them even less healthy doesn't help.
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Americans actually managed to make good old British breakfast bacon less healthy. An astonishing achievement, rivalling that of the Manhattan project!
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I just went for a walk at lunchtime - about 2 miles. I did not come across a single other soul out there in 30 minutes, masked or otherwise.
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I just went for a walk at lunchtime - about 2 miles. I did not come across a single other soul out there in 30 minutes, masked or otherwise.
@doctor-phibes said in The war is lost, and full surrender has occurred:
I just went for a walk at lunchtime - about 2 miles. I did not come across a single other soul out there in 30 minutes, masked or otherwise.
They knew you were out...
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I'd never even considered that. Their feelings of insecurity at seeing somebody as awesome as myself probably keeps them indoors!
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It's 32 degrees out there, and the wind-chill is freaking nasty. If I'd gone out au naturel, it wouldn't just be my blood that was blue.
