The_Penguin
Well-known member
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- Dec 26, 2009
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- Political Leaning
- Slightly Conservative
Back in 1946, the original National School Lunch Act was passed in part with prodding from the military. Many American men, especially those who had grown up during the Depression, simply weren’t well-fed enough to fight. As a result of their stunted growth, soldiers who served in World War II were on average more than an inch-and-a-half shorter than young men serving in Afghanistan today.
The problem tied for the first time the seemingly unrelated policy arenas of national security and nutrition.
That link has largely been lost to history textbooks. But now, more than three generations later, it is resurfacing in Washington this year with an ironic twist: More than a quarter of recruitment-age Americans are today “too fat to fight.”
-snip-
G.I. Joe too fat to fight?
Come on, now! Everybody knows that the only serious impediment to his fighting ability is that he occasionally gets too tired from boinking Barbie.
You do realize that GI Joe and Barbie don't actually have boy and girl parts respectively, right?
At my kid's school they *provide* healthy options - like apples - which are often just thrown away by the kids because who the heck has the time or desire to eat an apple when your honey baked sausage in a pancake is taunting you?
Most kids don't choose healthy things unless they have no-choice, and even then, some kids will decline it and just go without.
Good point. However, it doesn't explain why obesity is now an epidemic in this country and not in others. Nor does it explain why obesity is an epidemic now, but wasn't when we were kids.
That's because obesity is a multi-faceted issue with a large number of factors going into it - which is why it's not simple to pick down with just one or two views.
There's a list of different reasons (affecting people in different levels and some aren't affected by these at all).
I've never been to another country so I have no grasp of the average diet/main staple in other places. . . in America I see:
Well, eventually technology will find a way to make food that tastes good and is good for you. After that obesity will be a thing of the past.
Well, eventually technology will find a way to make food that tastes good and is good for you. After that obesity will be a thing of the past.
I completely agree with everything you posted. It is a multi-faceted problem, but I find it interesting that it seems to only be truly an epidemic in the United States. That leads me to believe that processed foods are a huge culprit. The advent of the epidemic seems to coincide with the invention of the microwave oven. Obviously, correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, but I would venture to say that if people swore off their microwaves for 30 days, they'd lose a few pounds. Oh, and that certainly includes frozen "diet" dinners. Those things are awful. They are worse than Chinese food - in LESS than an hour, you're hungry again.
So, now that some of the reasons why obesity is a problem, what's to be done about it? Force everyone to watch a season or two of The Biggest Loser?
We didn't plump up and get fat overnight - on a personal and social level - it happened over time. . . a vast change that slowly came around and we're just now really seeing the statistics on it.
I think that the only way to combat a problem which is widespread and depends on social-acceptance is by giving adequate and FACTUAL information over a lifetime - and to show how to change lifestyles - and then encourage those changes constantly. Just like any other social-issue that revolves around change - you pick at it slowly and steadily to wear down the problem generation to generation.
As much as I like to pine about the Nightwatch state form of governance, when faced with real-world threats where people are unafraid of flying planes into buildings, we need a national policy on nutrition (and exercise) so as ensure a large enough supply of healthy people who can serve in the uniform.
I've got this crazy idea.
When people join the military, let's put them through intense physical and psychological training. Let's REALLY grind on them, kick their ass, and mold and shape them into some semblance of the proud men and women who currently serve.
I call it boot camp.
No doubt when the military reads this it will steal my idea.
I SAVED AMERICA ALL BY MYSELF!
:lol:
I've got this crazy idea.
When people join the military, let's put them through intense physical and psychological training. Let's REALLY grind on them, kick their ass, and mold and shape them into some semblance of the proud men and women who currently serve.
I call it boot camp.
No doubt when the military reads this it will steal my idea.
I SAVED AMERICA ALL BY MYSELF!
:lol:
I support this boot camp concept. Tell me more, sounds promising!
I have another idea, we can call it physical-education, or phys ed for short. Where children while in school get a routine break from 'sit and study, sit and read' and get up and exercise through games - make fun out of it rather than treating it like it's a chore.
Tomorrow’s GI Joe May Be Too Fat to Fight
Seriously, though, the major problem isn't even nutrition.
Is that, as a nation, Americans have been cultivated to be consumers, and reserve our questioning of authority to surface emotions and the daily outrage (which is whatever happens to be spewing forth from the pundits on any given day).
By and large, we're running short on critical thinking skills and common sense. Our diet is the least of our concerns.
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