The American people have redefined the word food. It used to be that food meant nourishing to eat, drink and consume wholesome fruits and vegetable. Now it means fatty, tasty processed, refined and just plain bad.
Obesity has become an epidemic in our country plain and simple. You read all the news reports, clinical reports, they all read about the same. We have the distinct title of being the most overweight country in the world. Not a good title. We should be the best in the world, but we are not. We have the best medical care, best food sources and we are still fat.
Around 33% of adult Americans are obese. Not to mention the children. Hawaiians have the highest rate. The puma Indians in Arizona and Mexico come in behind Hawaii. So why are we so overweight? Who can we blame for this? Americans are good at pointing the finger to others for her problems.
Let’s start with the food manufactures. They get us to eat their processed food, full of refined sugar, hydrogenated oils, and stuff that you can not even begin to pronounce. Shelf life they call. It will last until the next century and beyond. Packaged, processed foods are the norm in most kitchens in our homes. It’s easy, kids love it and our lifestyle is so busy there is no time to cook good wholesome meals. Remember mom cooking three square meals a day? They were good solid meals. Always full of the good stuff our bodies needed.
I realize that moms are like they used to be. And I am not downing any mom that has to work and not have the time to cook good meals. It’s just become a way of life in America. To me it is very sad.
On to the fast food restaurants, or maybe any restaurant today. The fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, burger king, etc have supersized their meals. Just look at the menu and what people are ordering. Good grief how can you eat so much at one time? Sure the prices are cheap and it’s fast, but it’s just no good. There are no nutrients in most of the food they serve. All they have in them is saturated fats and highly refined carbohydrates. That sounds good doesn’t it?
Why can’t the fast food restaurants go back to the normal size and say enough is enough. Of course they wouldn’t think of that. Obesity is not there problem. No one holds a gun to your head to make you eat their food. True, no one is. If people would just cut down the portions they eat and order, you would see a drastic difference.
Our children are starting to become so obese as well. They see thousands of ads on TV telling them to go and eat all this good food. The fast foods are now in our schools and the kids love it. How can you compete with that? It’s almost impossible for our kids to get away from the food in schools, though they are trying to get better foods. Let’s hope the schools continue this effort.
