Friday, April 24, 2020

Obesity: An Epidemic More Dangerous Than The Corona Virus


     First and foremost, before I start the rant, Coronavirus is deadly, it is dangerous, and it is tragic. This article is in no way meant to disown that. My heart goes out to the survivors, the families of the lost, and of course the deceased. This is something no one would have ever wanted.

      Now that we got that out of the way.... As terrible as the virus is, I can't believe how little coverage as usual is being pointed at pre-existing conditions, one of those principally being obesity. According to this study nearly 300,000 die from obesity in US annually.  That is just the USA. As I have written about this before here, and this study as well here the worldwide estimates for obesity related deaths are up to 3.4 million in a given year. To put that in perspective at the time of writing this the current number of coronavirus deaths is about 200,000. Less than the total USA annual deaths from obesity, and only 5 percent compared to the world deaths from obesity.

     Now, we can argue that coronavirus is not a choice, and obesity in most cases certainly is. But we really don't need to, because as more and more studies are coming out, these two diseases are not separate warring nations fighting against each other on the battle grounds killing people, rather they are close allies, that are working together quite synergistic, and terribly deadly together.

     It is being highly reported that elderly are one of the main victims, but it's also being highly reported that underlying health problems are the other culprit in this pandemic. What bothers me, is that underlying health problems is the tip toeing, nice way of not touching on the real problem, obesity. Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, to name a few big ones can be in many cases completely preventable with diet, nutrition, and exercise. Yet this is BARELY being mentioned.

     One of the scariest images I personally saw in this epidemic was the one below:

                           

      This grocery store was depleted of course of toilet paper, depleted of paper towels, frozen pizza, boxed foods, TV dinners, chips, and soda... But in this grocery store, and every single one I was in, the fruits and vegetable section were abundantly stocked well. My favorite meats were out of stock, but a nice chicken breast is easily ruined by frying it or adding too much to it.

     To me this shows the real problem in America, it's not the coronavirus or masks or toilet paper. It is our blatant disregard of health, diet, and exercise. I started this blog almost 10 years ago, and have been writing about this for 10 years, and even now in the face of the deadliest epidemics in our lifetime, we do not see the true disease being called out, and no plan to stop it.

      We will cancel concerts and festivals. Stores will restrict how much TP we buy. We will have police actually arrest and fine people for playing outside. We will close schools, retail stores, and of course gyms all for the "safety" of the American people. But for the last 25 or so years as obesity has been deadlier than any of this we make no measures to curb it, we don't close fast food chains, we don't encourage eating natural, we pump billions into pharmaceuticals to medicate our health problems, rather than solve our health problems. The death rate of coronavirus for a young or even middle age person healthy and in shape is painfully low, yet the death rate for obesity grows larger and larger with each passing year, and this year in addition to the estimated millions it will kill it has in no doubt aided the coronavirus in killing countless more.

      The coronavirus has hit us all hard, and their are well deserved fears that it can be here to stay or can come back again and hit us even harder. But it doesn't have to be this way. While there is a lot of crap on the internet about diet, there are also countless great places to read and learn, you have youtube to learn training, healthy eating, even healthy shopping. We have digital body fat scales, tape measures, fitness apps, calorie counting apps, step watches and more. While the coronavirus has broke us down on some level, it has never in the history of the world, been easier to come back stronger, and healthier than ever before.

           

     It's my hope and dream that tomorrow I will wake up and this was all a nightmare, life will be like it was a few months ago, I'll be heading to the gym as a dark memory fades into something that was just a dream... But a more realistic hope, is that this is the wake up call. This is the time we can turn around and know that obesity doesn't just cause chronic long term health problems, it also puts you at life threatening risks for something short term like COVID19. I hope that we can join together to help our weakest, and our most vulnerable people to come together as one and get in the best shape we can be in. So that we can wake up tomorrow, with or without coronavirus, and breathe the air of hope and joy as we would know that we have done everything in our power to be the fittest and healthiest we can be, and a little virus is not going to knock us down. My home workout tomorrow is dedicated to all those lost, but more importantly all those that are going to fight this, get healthy, and not be amongst lost. Thanks for reading.


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This article is solely opinion of the author and written for entertainment purposes only.
Consult a doctor or medical professional before beginning any fitness, diet, or weight training program.

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