This Is Personal


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This is personal.

Genetically speaking, you’re exactly the same as humans were 20,000 years ago. Back then humans were perfectly constructed for their living conditions, as they subsisted on grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, water and a little protein when they managed to hunt down an animal. They worked very hard just to survive and propagate the species. It was impossible to become fat by consuming excess calories relative to the calories expended just to survive.

Life circumstances have changed just a bit from those times, but our bodies have not evolved. We are still designed to eat those same kinds and quantities of food and to be physically active most of the time. Chances are good that doesn’t describe your typical day.

We can rationalize the desserts, the beer and the fatty protein we eat – it’s our choice. But our kids don’t get to make that choice because they eat what we supply. If the fridge and cupboard are full of bad stuff abounding in sugar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, fat – junk food – then that’s what they’ll eat. That includes other junk food, like the almost all carb and salt Happy Meals and the almost all carb pizzas we serve them. And they’ll drink the soda instead of water because it tastes better. Then they’ll veg-out on the couch with some electronic device.

And that is why, “The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.”

One in six of our kids is obese! Not overweight: OBESE! That’s from the CDC. Their only interest is public health, unlike our legislators who need to keep the sugar industry happy in order to get campaign contributions. Plus, you don’t win the Iowa caucuses by telling Iowans that high fructose corn syrup is bad stuff that is killing our kids.

The part of that you can control immediately is your kitchen and your kids’ sedentary “activities.” That’s in quotes because killing aliens with one’s thumbs isn’t very active.

These are our kids. That’s why it’s personal.

If you’re a grandparent, pass this love note along to your kids.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Please offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe.  Thanks!  JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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2 Responses to This Is Personal

  1. Jim Altschuler April 28, 2016 Reply

    Amen, brother! This also applies to seniors, many of whom just don’t feel the energy to get up and go like they used to and have adopted some “easier” eating habits — processed foods containing high levels of salt, sugars and high fructose corn syrup, and carbs, carbs, carbs.

    As a result many of them succumb to the same unhealthy eating habits and lack of genuine exercise as the kids you discussed, the same or even more severe results will occur — obesity and/or death.

    If you’re someone’s kid, pass this love note along to your parents and grand-parents.

  2. David Houle April 28, 2016 Reply

    Jack-
    Several things:
    1. Teach your children well
    2. Explain the logic that while the sensation of taste of food lasts for seconds, the extra calories from these few seconds can become pounds that last for years.
    3. Explain that people get fat if they eat more calories than they burn. So, explain that a ice cream cone is a30 minute walk and tie the two together.

    Now for adults.
    When asked how i stay so thin and fit in my late 60s, I simply answer “Choice!” That is all it is. Every thing else is just BS and talk. Every day the choice for breakfast, for lunch, for snacks for working out.

    As with most other things, people often don’t want to own their actions.

    In the past, when giving talks about the future of health care I have asked audiences to raise their hands if they know someone who is 75 and very obese. No hands go up. Lesson learned- they all died years ago.
    Sorry to be hard core but it IS that simple.
    And if you don’t like reading these words, it probably means you are overweight.
    David