Playin' the Blame Game: Obesity

This is probably a topic that has been beat to death, but It still bothers me. In this world of finger pointing, who the hell do we blame for obesity? The question brings people to screaming, jumping to the defensive position and hiring lawyers, yet the problem, in my mind has yet to be resolved. Fixing school lunches isn't going to make america skinny again just like Drew Carey isn't going to make "The Price is Right" cool again.

I feel that we have honestly entered a well established way of doing thing and have backed ourselves into a corner. Fast food is a revenue generating, job supplying and economy stimulating powerhouse, to close the thousands of fast food joints would surely mean economical collapse. Like a stone in a pond the ripple effect will be far reaching, effecting the meat, farming, construction and many other industries. So that's out the window.

Culture. As time goes one, we become less apt to make real meals with real foods. Instead we substitute the meats and veggies with preservative laced bi-products that are ready in 4-7 minutes. Thats the conveniance factor! We live fast paced lives, there is NO time to make a full meal, wash the kids, take the dog out, do laundry AND clean the dishes. So the moms of today cook frozen dinners and eat fast food, the daughters grow up and do the same thing to their kids and so on and so forth. You can see where this leads. Another way to look at the culture aspect is the fact that everything is Instant. People know what they want and they want it now, completely forgetting what it feels like to work for something. Then there's video games and computers. I refuse to own a video game system because I have seen the worst it can do. Pale, obese people that are completly removed from the real world. So instead of going outside and enjoying life, they live vicariously through a whimsical character in a fantasy realm.

Fat has also become socially acceptable is some ways. Reuters recently did a story on the fact that as our population gets bigger and heavier, the "normal" weight for average people will also increase. It's scary shit.

The government could also be one of the guilty parties. I pose this question. Have they done enough to inform our society of what an actual healthy diet is? Or have they established false nutritional guidelines to garner the most profit? Money runs the world right?

Genetics? This is a bullshit excuse. Obesity is a modern day problem caused by modern day behavior.

How about looking in the mirror? I mean, we are the ones putting the food in our mouths, we are the ones choosing to stay at home instead of hitting the gym. Well, with about 40 million people in the US living below the poverty line, it's much cheaper to purchase a burger and fries instead of steak and broccoli. It does take motivation to follow a diet and workout program, but there are so many out there that it can be hard to know where to begin. As americans, we tend to give up when the results are anything short of instantaneous so Id say a good percentage of the total reason why we are obese lies here. Self control and self motivation.

So the question remains, who is responsible? The answer is D. all of the above. We cannot pin point it on one certain factor, but must combine alittle bit of everything. Now, A new question arises. How can we fix it?

WOD:

Weighted Pullups

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