Weight of America

In the last fifty years, our lives have started to resemble high-speed video games. Americans have lost touch with their bodies. Why is that? Has life sped up to the point where just taking a moment to evaluate what we're consuming is an event one must put into the calendar, with auto-reminders to boot?

Are we so consumed with our ever increasing responsibilities that we neglect our selves? Life has sped up to the point where we have neglected our own personal needs. How can we fulfill our obligations to our family, friends, jobs and all the chores in between, when we barely have the energy to keep up with our own needs?

Obesity is the next epidemic... Well, it sure took a long time to finally get the national attention!

And why is that? Obese people are bound to suffer from a myriad of diseases, cancers, even dementia. This will not only impact the people suffering from obesity, but will take a toll on the nation as a whole. Health insurance is hard enough to get, and even when we have it, we're seeing more and more restrictions and less coverage.

But more importantly, with all the advances we have made in the last 100 years, our quality of life is diminishing by the day. We live to work to pay our bills, since we just love those credit cards. People are filling the void in their lives with consumption.

For who is going to tell you not to buy that, not to eat that? No talking back means it's a low stress activity followed by instant gratification. Though that can always be immediately followed by guilt. And what is the point of guilt anyway?

Guilt fosters stress and stress is a killer. They've even shown that bad stress held in the body shortens 'telomeres' and thus one's life span. We're more prone to immune problems. Not being able to heal ourselves efficiently - we start to live with pain or unhappiness. Guilt.

But we're the instant fix culture. It all started with frozen TV dinners perhaps, then fast food spoke to our obsession with doing more, expecting more. I heard of an expression a while back: "Slow Food."

It makes me think of our degrading quality of life. Europeans and other cultures still take the time to sit down, enjoy their meals, enjoy the company and conversation. They're eating food that was prepared with care. I am more and more convinced that eating fast food is like being poisoned with commercials.

There's energy in everything. Even the act of thoughtfully preparing and eating food will enable people to eat calmly. Whereas, eating on the run, and I see this all the time, is stressful for the body. How can one digest properly when one does not even give the food the courtesy of chewing it before swallowing.

We're not cars at a gas station. Pump and go. We are humans. We need to act like it. Live like it. We can heal ourselves if we only gave our bodies and minds the attention they needed. Fed them a variety of nourishing foods that taste great. Fed them exercise and enough sleep. Eliminate creating stress beyond what we already have thrown our way. Throw guilt out the window. Make a commitment to life.

For when we are on our death beds, are we going to wish we'd worked more? Consumed more?
I doubt it. I think the average person will wish they had spent more time appreciating life, living in the moment, nurturing their families and relationships and personal interests.

To do that, we must be healthy. We must take responsibility for our bodies. We must find time every day to be physical and keep that heart strong. Still the mind with our own form of meditative, centering activities. Ultimately, we must learn to love ourselves.