What the Frack?

I have never worked in the restaurant business before, but I am perfectly qualified to serve up a supersized order of reality with a side of “get your life in order.” We, Americans, are becoming obsessed with the idea of things being easy: easy access, easy money, and easy women. In the world of rapid developing technology that we live in today, we wrap our minds around this concept that if it doesn’t come quick and effortless then something is not right. We spend so much time trying to figure out how to obtain the results that we want faster, whether it’s “6 pack abs in six minutes” or fast food, that inadvertently we put ourselves on the “fast track” to an early grave.

Who is to blame for the fact that over two thirds of the United States population is overweight or obese? Obviously it’s those power hungry corporate executives who run the fast food business right? No, it isn’t! Obesity is not determined by one decision. Obesity is determined by a series of lifestyle choices that people make that usually snowball off of one event because they lack the will to drive themselves away from making a bad decision. Fast food companies may not be helping by what they’re doing but there is only ONE single person who is in charge of how they live their life…It’s you, and you, and you, and you. Each and every one of you is the sole owner of that wonderful complex body of yours so it is up to you to decide if you want to lead a healthy life.

When it comes down to taking care of yourself the process is much less intricate than we make it to be. We are fooled by the “newest advanced muscle building formulas” and spend more time trying to construct a systematically perfect nutritional plan than we do actually exercising! Care about if you work hard. Care if you took the personal effort to do the little things during your day such as taking the stairs or passing over that cream filled Twinkie. It’s about running faster, running harder, not about if you have the latest scientifically developed sneakers.

The number one obstacle that people face in trying to change their life for the better, is themselves. The time for making excuses is over! Stop saying I have no time to exercise! It is your life, make time! Another excuse people give is that they do not have the energy to exercise. It may seem counterintuitive but did you know that when you exercise, your body releases endorphins giving you a natural high as well as boosting your energy? Why don’t you mull that over while you run on the treadmill. The point is, people become deterred from making healthy decisions because they diet or walk for a week and see no results. Becoming healthy does not come from changing one aspect of your life. Instead it comes from a combination of things that compose of the choices that you make every minute of your day.

Being active is a bit like a job. Whatever you do make sure you do it because you enjoy doing it. Staying healthy should most definitely be something that you don’t have to kick yourself out of bed to do. Find something, anything that will better your lifestyle and love it. Exercise is the one thing that I doubt anyone could talk down upon. There is no one too young-too old or too skinny-too fat, who could not reap the benefits of being healthy.

Not enough is being done as a country to help combat obesity. Let us take the problem into our own hands, and not our stomachs. Realize that you have the freedom to lead your life of choice. Remember that everything that is glazed is not gold. Work hard, work often, and work out, and every night when you look back at your day ask yourself, “Did I kick ass today?”

Bibliography:

Center for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

Mayo Clinic

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/DS00314

FAT:A PBS Documentary

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/fat/video-ch_01_vid.html?tos=vid&filetype=mov&bandwidth=_hi