How to best combat obesity in America is as huge of a national debate as abortion, the coming election and tax increases. Heck, we spend so much time debating the issues that there is little time or money left to actually solve the problems we face.
Here's the truth. Whether Americans want to face it or not, we eat too much fast food, restaurant food and over-processed "convenience foods". We drink too many soft drinks, juice drinks and "sports"/"energy" drinks that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup (even the seemingly healthy product "Vitamin Water" is loaded with the junk!) and we sit on our widening rear ends hours on end, pardon the pun, doing NONE or not enough physical activity. The average person watches more TV in a day than they exercise.
The reason we are in this Obesity Pandemic mess is easy to see and simple to fix; but that would mean giving up our comfortable "American" lifestyles; actually having to cook and prepare healthful meals at home:
• Rather than popping open a box of cereal for themselves and/or little Billy before work/school and sending him off to learn fueled with sugar in his engine--we would get up 20 minutes early and make a healthy breakfast of whole grain pancakes w/ fresh fruit in them, egg white omelets with ONE yolk and a lot of fresh vegetables.
• Rather than relying on budget strapped schools to feed your child, save their money for books and teachers salaries and pack your child's lunch! Make a healthful sandwich on whole grain bread, put tomato and lettuce on it. Pack a piece of fruit, a few healthy homemade cookies and a bottle of water. Pack yourself the same lunch and spend your lunch hour at your desk improving your productivity and increasing your income rather than trolling the food court at a nearby mall looking for the tastiest junk to eat.
• Take a baseball bat to every soda machine that offers anything other than water. Ok, that's extreme, but it certainly would help!
• Turn the television OFF and get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day! We are not an obese society because not enough people 'have called Jenny yet', we are an obese society because McDonalds and Coca-Cola sell more food to us than anyone else,
Come on America, are you willing to prove me wrong? NO fast food and NO soft drinks for ONE YEAR; let's just see what it does for our bottom line.
I can almost see the headlines now:
Master Motivator Julia Havey offers a challenge to American's that would cut Obesity rates in half in one year's time. The plan called for total and complete abstinence from fast food and soft drinks for one year. America took the call to action and followed the simple plan and cut government spending on Obesity related causes by $30 BILLION dollars, consumer spending increased because people earned more money due to increased productivity, which was due to their decreased weight and needed new, smaller sized clothing for themselves and their children. Sporting goods sales doubled. And McDonalds and Coca-Cola are out of the junk food business; Coca-Cola's Dansani water line, is the best selling beverage in the world and McDonald's sells grilled chicken salads with healthy low fat dressings, apple dippers WITHOUT the option of caramel to dip it in (that negates any health value they may have!) to millions a day and have revamped their image from enablers of obesity to champions of health!--and then, I woke up!
The source for Obesity solutions
Julia Havey
http://www.JuliaHavey.com