Lifestyle diseases are, more than anything, killing those of us who live in all the nations touched by the spread of "progress".
Two thirds of U.
S.
residents at the epicenter of this epidemic are overweight or obese.
Obesity, to any extent, is often a marker for learning who has been affected by this problem, though many people of normal weight are also suffering internally from these diseases of civilization.
Our diet and our increasingly lazy lifestyle are the two principal vectors that spread this plague that is, at varying speeds, killing us.
What are the lifestyle diseases? Heart disease, cancer, stroke, dementia, diabetes are some of the major ones -- and all of them have been strongly correlated to two basic food groups that play a major part in our so-called Western diet or Standard American Diet.
Some small lip-service is paid in out-of-the-way public health information Web sites, urging us all to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less red meat, but other culprits go unmentioned -- or are even applauded.
And few of us, anyway, can resist the temptation that is all around us, even though we know we should.
When fat is publicly demonized, food manufacturers turned to sugar to help them sell "fat-free" products.
When cholesterol is (finally!) identified as a major source of this problem, the pharmaceutical industry steps in to offer us a pill that will let us continue eating our favorite foods while reducing our cholesterol levels -- and our energy levels in the process.
When high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is identified as a health threat, the corn processors are quick to defend it with commercials featuring actors pretending to be "real people" making witty repartee putting down HFCS's detractors.
The funny thing is, we seem to go to great lengths to avoid dealing with the root causes of this illness cluster.
Question: What has been one of the most popular diets in the U.
S.
? Answer: The Atkins Diet, because it lets us eat all the fatty foods we crave.
Health-wise, it is insane, but it sells -- and that is all that matters.
(And yes, it works to some extent, but what is it doing to our internal organs?) The fact is, we love the foods that are making us fat and eventually killing us.
We love our cars, motorcycles, ATVs, jet skis, and other mechanized toys.
We take pride in not forcing our kids to walk anywhere.
Yet all these toys and the pleasure we get from foods engineered to make us uncontrollably hungry are the root cause of our lifestyle diseases.
We want to lose weight, but usually not if it means we can't have our fun foods and our freedom not to exercise.
U.
S.
residents have it the worst and nowhere is it more entrenched -- this love of foods and beverages that make us fat, and our national aversion to physical exercise.
It would be comical if it weren't so damaging over time to our health and our looks.
There is a lot of money riding on keeping us addicted to our processed food diet and our motorized lifestyle, so the food, auto, and oil industries keep up a war of disinformation to prevent us from breaking our bad habits.
Americans, with their idolized freedom to eat and travel wherever they want in a personal automobile, should be seen as the poster children for what the rest of the world will look like soon.
Most other nations, particularly the poorer countries, have been able to resist the unhealthy allure of the lifestyle diseases.
As they progress economically, this will no doubt change.
Two thirds of U.
S.
residents at the epicenter of this epidemic are overweight or obese.
Obesity, to any extent, is often a marker for learning who has been affected by this problem, though many people of normal weight are also suffering internally from these diseases of civilization.
Our diet and our increasingly lazy lifestyle are the two principal vectors that spread this plague that is, at varying speeds, killing us.
What are the lifestyle diseases? Heart disease, cancer, stroke, dementia, diabetes are some of the major ones -- and all of them have been strongly correlated to two basic food groups that play a major part in our so-called Western diet or Standard American Diet.
Some small lip-service is paid in out-of-the-way public health information Web sites, urging us all to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less red meat, but other culprits go unmentioned -- or are even applauded.
And few of us, anyway, can resist the temptation that is all around us, even though we know we should.
When fat is publicly demonized, food manufacturers turned to sugar to help them sell "fat-free" products.
When cholesterol is (finally!) identified as a major source of this problem, the pharmaceutical industry steps in to offer us a pill that will let us continue eating our favorite foods while reducing our cholesterol levels -- and our energy levels in the process.
When high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is identified as a health threat, the corn processors are quick to defend it with commercials featuring actors pretending to be "real people" making witty repartee putting down HFCS's detractors.
The funny thing is, we seem to go to great lengths to avoid dealing with the root causes of this illness cluster.
Question: What has been one of the most popular diets in the U.
S.
? Answer: The Atkins Diet, because it lets us eat all the fatty foods we crave.
Health-wise, it is insane, but it sells -- and that is all that matters.
(And yes, it works to some extent, but what is it doing to our internal organs?) The fact is, we love the foods that are making us fat and eventually killing us.
We love our cars, motorcycles, ATVs, jet skis, and other mechanized toys.
We take pride in not forcing our kids to walk anywhere.
Yet all these toys and the pleasure we get from foods engineered to make us uncontrollably hungry are the root cause of our lifestyle diseases.
We want to lose weight, but usually not if it means we can't have our fun foods and our freedom not to exercise.
U.
S.
residents have it the worst and nowhere is it more entrenched -- this love of foods and beverages that make us fat, and our national aversion to physical exercise.
It would be comical if it weren't so damaging over time to our health and our looks.
There is a lot of money riding on keeping us addicted to our processed food diet and our motorized lifestyle, so the food, auto, and oil industries keep up a war of disinformation to prevent us from breaking our bad habits.
Americans, with their idolized freedom to eat and travel wherever they want in a personal automobile, should be seen as the poster children for what the rest of the world will look like soon.
Most other nations, particularly the poorer countries, have been able to resist the unhealthy allure of the lifestyle diseases.
As they progress economically, this will no doubt change.