According to a report published last fall by the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development, by 2020 75% of America will be overweight or obese.
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By 2020, 75% of America will be overweight or obese.
I like to laugh and have fun. I like to be silly. But I can’t find the humor in this. This isn’t good kids.
Now as you know, gentle reader, I’m a glass-is-half-full kind of guy. I am an unapologetic optimist. I believe in a benevolent universe; I believe in the inherent decency of humans; and I don’t really go in for gloom and doom prophecies.
But, we need to take a moment and consider this seriously. The most obvious problem here is that this translates to an impaired quality of life for a large percentage of our population. But if that doesn’t make you pause, perhaps you’ll be swayed when you appreciate a looming financial disaster. While I’m not sure where the numbers come from (and I hope they’re wrong), this same report estimates by 2025, obesity related diseases will account for a health care expenditure of up to 3% of our GDP. For non geeks, this translates to a huge crap load of money. HYOOOOGE crap load.
Now I’m not an economist. I can’t say this is going to tank our economy. Common sense, however, tells us that this is probably not the best use of those funds.
So what do we do?
We eat less and move more. Simple. But sadly not easy, as it seems our very civilization has conspired to help us move less and eat super sized portions of crappy, processed foods with high calories. Now, lest anyone think I’m a zealot, I’m totally not. I’m all about embracing the brevity of life and balancing smart training and nutrition with reasonable indulgence. But I think we can all agree that the current ratio employed by much of our population is going to (very shortly) present a major problem both individually and at the societal level.
The good news: it may not be easy, but it IS simple. If you have any questions, email me. If you can’t afford to train with me, no worries. Advice is free. I can answer random questions. I can recommend books. But you gotta get after it my friends. The future of our nation might literally depend on it. Our kids are gonna have enough problems. Let’s not make a tidal wave of preventable health issues one of them.