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__**Weight of the Nation Podcast Transcript**__ media type="file" key="Memo.m4a" width="300" height="50"

The eating habits of kids in America are driven by price and convenience and shaped by a lack of self-discipline. Meaning, for five dollars a kid can have a full meal in a few minutes at McDonalds or Burger King but are also neglecting how healthy the food is and to exercise / maintain proportions. I feel that the solution to our nation’s weight problem will be found at home through parenting and education.

In today’s day and age kid’s have adapted a passive mentality and are intimidated by hard work. In America, if you were born in the 1930’s / 1940’s you were said to be part of ‘Golden Generation” because they had an incredible work ethic. These are the people who put us on the moon, were drafted into the military, and if asked to jump they would say “How high?” The obesity rate of this generation was also very low – especially compared to mine. If you look back at old photos or old videos from the time period you will see that a majority of the people are in very good shape, today nearly two thirds of the nation is over weight and I believe that the difference is not the rise of fast food but rather the result of a different sense of self-discipline. Unhealthy food has always been around, whether it’s international chains or local stores. If people today would take the time to learn what they are eating and to take the initiative to eat well then today’s problems would be different. No one is making people eat unhealthy, we aren’t required by law to go to McDonalds so to say that the fast food industry is to blame would be ignorant. Today kids choose to sit in front of a TV and play video games because it requires less effort than going outside and playing with friends like kids of previous generations. Granted video games didn’t exist back in the day but don’t let that detract from the subject. If kids understood the benefits of playing outside at the park and would put down the video games then I’d be willing to reckon that the discussion on weight control would be different and for the better. Kids need to accept that staying in-shape requires them to take initiative, this mentality of taking the easy way out is plaguing our nation, and we need parents to step up to help their kids develop a stronger sense of self-discipline. Every great accomplishment and success story starts out with some one saying “I can do this” and if start getting more kids and more parents saying “I can do this. I can stay in shape. I can lose weight”, much like the people of the later generation then we will begin to get back on the road to becoming a healthier generation.

The second facet of our nation’s weight solution will be education. Kids simply eat what they want to without taking into consideration what they are eating or that what may seem unhealthy is actually incredibly bad for you such as Fridays’ mash potatoes with 930 calories, Quizno’s veggie sub with 2500 mg of sodium, Friendly’s grilled cheese burger with 92 grams of fat, California Pizza’s Ceaser Salad with 1600 calories, PF Chang’s fried noodles with 7500 mg’s of sodium, or even Dairy Queen’s Double Fudge Sunday with 250 grmas of sugar – the food offered today is incredibly misleading and unhealthy and kids are often not aware of this. If kids today had an idea how unhealthy some of the food they eat is then maybe they would seek out the alternatives. If before this course you tried to tell me the dangers of diabetes, high blood sugar, or heart disease I would give it thought but not too much because I never been exposed to the problems and didn’t have a strong understanding with their correlation to unhealthy food. Diabetes can result in amputations and blindness. High blood pressure can lead to heart disease result in death – all of this the result of what we eat. This year alone about 500,000 people will die from heart disease, that’s more people than the population of Wyoming. School health classes do a decent job of explaining the importance of nutrition but it’s not until you teach kids the dark side of eating poorly that the message really gets across. This is why education is important for combating our weight problem, kids will be motivated and developing that sense of self-discipline will be easier.

Of everything that I learned from the documentary, the most shocking revelation was the connection between wealth and health. In the United States, the states with the lowest per capita income are also the most obese states in the union. More that one-third of the people living in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Kentucky are obese. Due to the low incomes, people naturally try to make their money goes as far as possible and given that fast-food is very inexpensive that’s where people turn to. Unfortunately the food that is cheapest and most convenient and cheapest is also the most unhealthy thus people are faced with a decision – devote more of your budget to food or accept that the food you are eating is unhealthy. My first thought was that if you were in a position where food made up a large portion of your budget that you would eat less, wouldn’t go out to restaurants, and likely get more exercise from walking or riding a bike instead of driving. After learning the statistics and the health factors associated with being overweight, it was sad to think that later in life the people who are living off fast food because they can’t afford otherwise will possibly have to spend a large portion of their income on medical expenses.

In closing, after watching the documentary I believe that the best way for Americans to get on the road towards being healthy is to understand the effects of being over weight, learning why and which foods are bad, taking responsibility for our poor eating habits, and developing a better sense of self-discipline so that we can achieve our goals and keep the weight off. In addition, we as a nation need to find a way to make the right food available to people of all incomes because it’s not fair that your wealth be tied to your health. Personally I feel that the best solution to that problem would be a government subsidy or voucher that could only be redeemed on products deemed health. At the end of the day it’s important to realize the dangers of excess weight and not too toss the subject aside because it has the potential to profoundly affect our health care system and the well being of our nation.media type="custom" key="23328796"