WALKRIGHT, Second Edition – CHAPTER SEVEN Part 4: The Path to Better Health and a Longer Life

CHAPTER SEVEN:  The Path to Better Health and a Longer Life

          “... if America is the land of the free, it is also the home of the double cheeseburger and the double chin.”

          - Jay Palmer

 

          Whatever you do, don’t buy into the bizarre lies of the “Fat Acceptance Movement” from obesity activists.  Strange as it may seem, there are some grossly obese people who are attempting to make gluttony and sloth, two of the seven deadly sins, both socially acceptable and a source of pride!  The immature leaders of the fat acceptance movement are attempting to justify their own gluttony and sloth by distorting common sense, peer pressure, and scientific biology.  They ignore that fact that being severely underweight or severely overweight are both examples of human malnourishment.

 

          The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created an excellent website the details the dangers of adult obesity.

          https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/causes.html

 

          The undeniable truth is that the fat acceptance movement is just as unacceptable as quack doctors peddling quack medication that kills rather than cures.  Thus, the fat acceptance movement is just as dangerous to the human body, mind, and spirit as was legal slave trading was and illegal, contemporary slavery is now.  In any event, please keep in mind this simple rule for lifelong health by Benjamin Franklin who wrote “Eat to live, don’t live to eat”.

 

          “He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.”

          - Lao Tzu

 

          NOTE:  What we, the authors, have written above is no mindless rant against the truth-bending, radical activists of the surreal Fat Acceptance Movement.  Instead, we are fighting for the physical health and mental health of all people who wish to live active, happy, and productive lives as mature, human beings.  We want our fellow human beings to live happy and healthy in the actual world, instead of the delusional fantasies of the Fat Acceptance Movement.

 

          Throughout the years, Americans have tried countless gimmicks, as well as spent billions of dollars, to effortlessly lose excess body fat.  Through strange diets, questionable and sometimes dangerous drugs, and expensive plastic surgery rather than making the effort needed to make significant lifestyle changes.  This insane quest for a painless obesity cure is based upon false or misleading information from profiteers who make money by offering better physical health with little or no physical effort.

          Engineers predict that someday medical nanobots could decrease soft and hard tissues in some areas of the body, while building up new tissues in other areas, making custom made, designer bodies a reality.  This, and so much more, could happen if we discover how to manipulate physical matter in nearly the same way we now manipulate data in computers.  However, the same engineers predict that nanobots may not become a reality before the year 2050 at the earliest.  (For the newest information on this nascent science, look up the key words, “Molecular Nanotechnology” on the World Wide Web.)

          Consequently, the fact remains, presently there are only two truly effective ways to lose weight and keep it off:  Consuming fewer calories, (especially high calorie density fat) while simultaneously burning more calories through physical activity.  Physicians of ancient Greece knew this fact.

 

          "Moderation in all things."

          (The Lady of Andria) by Terence Aferj 190 -159 B.C.

 

          Consuming fewer calories for the American people is made difficult by a food industry that daily turns out more than 4,000 calories per man, woman and child.  This is about twice the recommended calorie intake for the normal daily activity of the average American adult.  Also, much of this production is in the form of expensive, highly processed, convenient (fast) food with a high percentage of fat, salt, and sugar.  This is “bad” food that tastes “good,” encouraging the over consumption of calories.  The average American eats at restaurants about four times each week, where many meals contain close to one whole day’s worth of calories each (about 1,600‑1,800 for the average adult.)

          Overseas travelers have noted that the portions served in American restaurants are considerably larger than those served in European restaurants.  Moreover, to serve larger portions to their diners, American restaurants have increased plate sizes from ten inches to twelve inches!

 

          “Big doesn't necessarily mean better.  Sunflowers aren't better than violets.”

          - Edna Ferber

 

          Equally important, in the United States major food producers spend close to $45 billion each year in advertising to promote consumption of their products.  Many of the 10,000 food advertisements put out by the best brains of Madison Avenue promote deadly fast food to children, even to the extent of making these foods available in school lunch rooms.

          Consequently, the image of Ronald McDonald potentially presents more of a hazard to our children’s health than that of Joe Camel.  Once again, we sacrifice human health and our planet’s natural environment upon the altar of corporate greed.  Perhaps Yale University Psychologist Kelly Bronell summed up this disgraceful and pathetic situation best when he wrote that American has become a “toxic nutritional environment.”

 

          “Sorry, there's no magic bullet.  You gotta eat healthy and live healthy to be healthy and look healthy.  End of story.”

          - Morgan Spurlock

 

          NOTE: When you walk by a case filled to nearly overflowing with candy, desserts, soft drinks, and/or other high calorie density foods, please ask yourself the following question.  What do I want more, short-term, infant-like, oral satisfaction or long-term, good health?  This question alone might give you the mental strength to walk away without buying any of those “dangerous treats.”  Indeed, the battle for your own physical health, and for those you care about, begins in your own mind.

 

          A recent Harris poll has 74% of Americans admitting their need to lose weight, up from 59% a decade ago.  Also keep in mind that American’s over consumptive food culture, besides being a health hazard, eventually puts additional strain on the earth’s natural resources and endangers the survivability of future generations.

          All of this negatively affects American public health.  According to the Calorie Control Council, the number of people on serious diets has dropped sharply in recent years.  Simultaneously, by Center for Disease Control standards, only one in five Americans is spending an adequate amount of their leisure time in physical activity.  An article in the Journal of American Medicine recommends 150 minutes of physical exercise per week.

 

          “Daily exercise is one of the keys to excellent health.”

          - Anonymous

 

          Dr. Fred Stuman, author of “The Doctors Walking Book,” wrote that more than 650,000 people in the United States die of heart disease annually and more than 1.3 million survive heart attacks.  Some major causes of heart disease are lack of exercise, obesity, high serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking, diabetes, and hypertension.  Nevertheless, the single, leading overall cause of heart disease is lack of exercise.  To repeat a simple idea, sedentary people run about the same risk for heart attacks as those who smoke two packages of cigarettes a day.

          The United States Public Health Service reviewed 43 studies on the relationship between exercise and heart attacks and concluded that a sedentary lifestyle contributes more to people having heart attacks than any other single factor, including smoking cigarettes, high blood pressure, or an elevated serum cholesterol count.  In short, inactivity is dangerous to your heart.