No man can save his brothers’ soul or pay his brothers’ debt.
Paraphrase of Psalm 49.7
The market for information on diet, exercise, and spiritual practice needs an infusion of truth and expertise. My voice has some depth because of my B.A, in Physical Education which includes Anatomy, Physiology, and Kinesiology added to my years of spiritual practice.
An article/story came into me this week which needs to be addressed.
“Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong”, Sept. 19th Huffington Post, Highline. https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/.
The author, Michael Hobbes says the medical industry is under-trained regarding nutrition and diet. The industry has failed to address our obesity epidemic. That sounds right. The story also wants us to change our thinking and actions about overweight and obese people. We need to stop bullying and shaming them into perceived better eating and lifestyle. He states that ⅔ of dieters gain back more than they lost even on the most well-known programs. He says that even our Physicians are trying to shame our fatties into dieting.
After many examples, he gets to the real issues; 1) 60% of the calories Americans consume come from “ultra-processed foods”. 2) The minority community children see twice as many ads for soda and candy as white children. The story next goes into a series of facts blaming the trillion-dollar food system. All of which I do not dispute. I must draw conclusions now. However, the conclusions I came to are not the same as the authors.
My conclusion is to limit the processed food industry by not buying and consuming so much of their obesity making product. We should encourage healthy purchasing and healthy eating. We should all eat healthily. The authors’ conclusion is to create another group of “protected class” people, “the obese”. Just leave them alone. His conclusion is poor in regarding the health cost to the individual and the cost to the community that now share the burden of health care.
I’m in favor of healthy eating education. Our food stamp program should offer rewards for healthy purchases (some states are starting to do this). The big business food producers should not be subsidized from farm to table. Finally, we should offer Physicians and patients bonuses for fitness. What if we had wellness rewarded in our insurance system?
Sometimes our thoughts need to change.
Be healthy
In the spirit, Dave
HEALTHY AT 120 