Gooooood morning and happy Monday to everyone!
As I type this, we have all made it though another week of work and we're about to dive into a new one! I kicked off my Sunday at the gym with an early morning run and strength training, then visited with Bud at Starbucks, saw "The Campaign" with Larry, and enjoyed a yummy steak and vegetable dinner with my family. How is that for a day off? :)
Just as an update to last weeks blog, this week my team and I caught a couple of criminals. One was a twenty-something with gauged ears and a back pack filled with stolen goods and one was a young boy who was under the impression that if he bought one shirt, he could help himself to a freebie on his way out. I let him know that my store was not running a buy one get one free deal. Poor thing. I digress....
This week I was also hit on by TWO underage boys that were customers in my store. One, wearing a cowboy hat, asked me, "So, do you want to be my cowgirl?" The second told me that he would pick me up at 7:30. When I asked him how old he was, his response was, "Old enough." Can't and won't.
This week also brought some excitement to one of my best friends in the entire world. Congratulations Carissa Cindric on your ENGAGEMENT! So so so excited for you and Dave! Can't wait to dance my face off at your wedding! <3
Now, onto this week's topic at hand: Obesity.
A couple of months ago I tweeted that 90% of people at Kennywood were obese, and I got some backlash for that. I was only speaking the facts. Statistically, 35% of Americans are obese, and that is a tremendous amount of individuals that just can't figure it out. Some, and few, have health issues that cause them to gain weight. The majority of the obese people, however, will cause themselves health problems because of the weight that they have gained.
I am nothing like a health freak. My favorite food is popcorn, and my second favorite food is wine. Sure, I run a lot. It's something I like to do. Running may help to keep me in shape, but it didn't make me skinny. You know what made me skinny? Portion control. As a country, we lack the understanding of acceptable portions. At the movies today, I ordered a "regular" sized diet pepsi and I swear to you that it looked like a bucket. Next to my small popcorn, they were equal in size. When did that happen? At what point did some hippo come along and say "no no, we need to make the 'regular' fountain drink bigger."
Talk to anyone that has traveled abroad, they'll tell you that all of the food and drinks are much smaller than we Americans are accustomed to. That's because they've got the right idea. Can you eat McDonalds and not get fat? Why yes, you can. Should you consistently order the 10 piece McNuggets with the bucket of coke on a regular basis and expect to NOT have love handles? Well, you can't.
People say "it's so much cheaper to get fast food than it is to get healthy food." Really? Do you know what the going rate for a head of lettuce and a bag of carrots are? People also say, "I don't have time to make dinner." Actually, you don't need to cook fruits and vegetables. It takes 8-12 minutes to bake fish and it takes 25 minutes to bake chicken. I'm sure the average American spends three times that amount of time watching television shows on a daily basis. You have time to eat healthy, don't be a lazy idiot. If you keep eating shit, what you won't have is a surplus of time left on this earth.
Perhaps people don't care about their body weight because we reward fat behaviors. You know, in America, the consequences of being obese are minimal. As long as people keep getting more and more fat, we will continue to make bigger and bigger pants and shirts. No worries! If you're too fat to fasten your seatbelt on an airplane, just ask for a seat belt extension. No seriously, they exist. In America, if you weigh 500 pounds, you get your own television show. It's just what we do.
Remember in the first grade when we learned about the food pyramid? Well, now it's the food plate (Thanks Michelle Obama). But, somewhere along the way people must have forgotten about that concept. You may not care about what you're eating now, but you will care when you're a diabetic or have congestive heart failure.
Do me a favor, next time you are in public, just look around. I mean next time you are anywhere that isn't your house, just mentally generate a fraction of how many people around you are overweight. It's actually terrifying.
Let's vow to eat healthier this week. If no one else, for ourselves.
Here's to dropping the cheeseburgers and picking up an apple,
As always,
xoxo
