Sunday, November 1, 2009

An awesome post by Bob Cesca and why we need to stop eating crap


Bob Cesca is one of my heroes and certainly one of the best writers on American Politics out there today. Well, in my humble opinion. His lastest blog for the Huffington Post points out the underlying decay (one of several unfortunately) festering in our health care system.

Everyone is talking about the Health Care Reform bill, and rightly so. Noo one (in their right mind) can deny the fact that its a complete train wreck, and if this chance now isn't grabbed by the balls, we doomed, doomed I say (to paraphrase a fed ex ad). Sounds funny, but its not. And its going to happen. The doomsday thing. And its coming faster than The Day After Tomorrow.

Bob Cesca gets to the core of the issue - our eating habits. A few weeks ago, Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida stated in his gutsy speech in Congress: Republicans plan is for Americans to "not get sick." Or if you do, "die quickly". I think it was either Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow who pointed out, that, in fact, its in the insurers interest to not die quickly. But to keep you alive as long as possible, to milk your illness, delay demise at all costs, thereby increasing their profits all around.

And I tend to agree with that assertion. In fact, I think its part of master plan between the health care (care, actually a blasphemy in this context), pharmaceutical companies and the food industry to create a nation of sick blobs.

Just today, an article in the WSJ, states that during this recession, Americans are getting even fatter because they are buying the cheap foods. Why are bad foods cheap? Well, as we can see, they will end up in your shopping cart and they will eventually make you sick. So, who profits? The makers of this stuff that doesn't deserve the term "food" and contains not only absolutely no nutrients, they contain ingredients Frankenstein might have come up with. And a bit further down the food chain of corporate voraciousness, the insurance companies, the hospitals, the Pharma industry. Thats my conspiracy theory.

And its not really that far-fetched, if you think about it.

Most know, the US is one of the "fattest" countries around. All you have to do is travel a bit to see the difference. I did an experiment once, stood in one place in the center of Seattle, and took photos of passers-by. Not great at statistics here, but I'd say that 95% of the people who passed me by were fat. Obese fat.

America is the land of extremes: anything is possible. Unfortunately, the anything possible philosophy goes both ways. You get the extremely overweight, mostly people who cannot afford (or think they cannot afford healthy options) and the other extreme, the super skinny buffed plastic surged Barbie creations we get to see on all media outlets as the supposed "goal". That's how we are supposed to look like. That's what we are lead to believe is the ideal.

Well, I can tell you, both extremes are just plain wrong and bad for your health. In between these two huge dichotomies, are the evil empires. The afore-mentioned industries. Add to that the livelyhood of fitness centers, sales of diet books, weight watcher programs, sales of magazines and fad crash diets......the list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong, I am not railing against self-help books and articles and endorsement of good health. What I am against is the creepy pervasive stench of intentional dumbing down to keep all these industries growing at an alarming rate and to the tune of huge profit margins.

Why is it that in the poorer areas of cities, the streets are plastered with fast food joints? Giving the residents easy access to the worst options possible? Does the over excessive consumption of fizzy drinks, salty foods, artificial additives manipulate the common sense gene? Can someone explain to me how it makes sense to opt for a bag of potato chips as opposed to an apple or a carrot? That buying a can of diet coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Powerade, Sprite, 7up is preferable to just drinking plain water? What is happening to this country? Why is a burger preferable over a bowl of rice? Or oatmeal? Or vegetable soup? There is no argument that makes any of these processed foods preferable over things that actually grow on trees or sprout out of the ground.

Its not rocket science to chrissake to know this. If it doesn't grow on trees or bushes, if its manufactured, its bad for you. And by bad, I am talking death-threateningly bad. Cancer, diabetes, obestity. The percentage of people with diabetes, cancer and major health problems are one of the highest in the world. In the world. Currently, the US ranks nr. 3 after India and China on diabetes. Certainly, not all diseases can be attributed to nutrition or the avoidance of certain foods. Nevertheless, a decent diet and occasional exercise can only be a positive thing, surely.

The effect of these products do not only affect your physical well-being. US ranks nr. 1 in mood disorders, according to a report . Over-sugared, over-salted, over fizzified........is that a surprise? Healthy mind means healthy body and vice versa.

Use your common sense. Go back to the roots. Take that literally. People, do not let your health be gradually undermined by these Big Brother tactics, because thats what this is. You are nothing without your health. You do not need fitness centers, you do not need Weight Watchers, or Jenny Craig, or Dr. Kildare. You need common sense. And if that gene is recessive, something needs to be done to educate parents and children. If you've got the money to pay a monthly fee to LA Fitness or whatever - great. But a run or brisk walk in the park is free. No excuses.

According to some reports, the USA ranks nr. 1 in people over 15 with a BMI of over 30%. While all this information can be misleading as some state, you don't need to look at statistics. Just look around you.

You know, I totally get it, in times of recession, there is depression. And a lot of us look for comfort food. Hey, I do. I eat cheeseburgers, I eat fries. I drink Coke Zero. I don't work out everyday. Far from it. But I think I have a healthy balance. And I can thank my mom, who was a constant ranter against all processed foods. Anyone rememer Jack Lalanne? Well, I do.

And people, its grassroot time here. Not talking about the retards being led by the corporations out there "tea bagging". I am talking about food that grows........and is not manufactured.

Easy, right? Seriously, you can have all the money in the world, the greatest job, you can have it all, but you cannot buy health. Thats where it starts. Your body is the only thing you've got that is truly yours. And should be treated with the utmost care.

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