Weighty Issue

The weight issue has been the hot topic over the past few years in healthcare. A few reasons weight is such an issue in our society is because of increasingly sedentary lifestyles due to technology and the accessibility of overprocessed foods. Some people jump in their vehicle to travel to the store to buy a bag of chips or quart of ice cream instead of walking or riding a bicycle.

If you're in the 30 year old and up range you probably remember parents and grandparents talking about walking two miles to school every day, riding bicycles to the nearby river to fish all morning, dancing on Friday nights, planting and harvesting the garden, canning vegetables and fruits, playing outside for hours, and the list goes on. A majority of people in those days, men and women alike, were lean and slender, and obesity was uncommon in social circles. Remember how tiny women's waists were in the 40's?

We certainly can't bring back those days, but we can certainly learn from history. Get outside and be active - ride a bike, walk, run, shoot some baskets, swing, dance, garden - get the whole family involved. And adopt healthy eating habits like preparing meals with fresh ingredients. After a few weeks, your body will thank you by making you feel so good, and will rebel against high fat, high calorie, high carbohydrate foods found in many processed foods.

So, let's take the challenge to turn a sedentary, packaged food lifestyle into an active, fresh food lifestyle. You and so many others could become the mentors of good health, the weight issue would decline in popularity, and obesity would possibly become an issue of the past.