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Originally Posted by linen53
I haven't read this entire thread and for that I apologize. But I wanted to comment on the diet part.
Gem, Americans are spoiled and don't want to change their diet. It's as simple as that. With a fast food joint on every corner (2 burgers, an order of fries and a supersized soda for $5! is the latest ad I saw on tv today) they are happy to slowly kill themselves with diseases like Alzheimer's, cancers, fibromyalgia, MS, etc. I'm not saying all cases of disease are a result of poor diet and processed foods, but the statistics are alarming. Believe me, when I try to explain this to people I get the glazed look and no response....from many different people. I've learned for the most part to just shut up.
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The issues with the Standard American Diet aren't really simple, but because the 'freedom ideology' is based on 'it's your choice' it seems simple: People could just choose to eat something else. 'Your choice' is the mantra of the fitness industry as well, but the success rate is under 10%. What we are doing doesn't work because we are too narrow minded to see the entire scope of the issue. We don't look past the individual and their personal choices, when in actual fact, a person has personal (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual), social, cultural, political, ideological and historical dimensions.
For example: if there is an obese 10 year old boy, we don't say them, "It's your choice, mate. You are responsible", because the child is dependent on what parent choose for them. The parents are not 'independent' either, because adult people are dependent in ways on the larger society, and just like children are not responsible for their obesity insofar as they are dependent, adults are not responsible for their obesity insofar as they are dependent on society.
If it was true that 'it's your personal choice and responsibility' we would see random people becoming obese here and there, but in fact, we see statistical patterns in families, in communities, and as a society at large. Since we have these clear statistical trends, and not random scatterings of individual choices, we have to accept that ideology, socio-economic policy, social systems and the structural built environment are strong drivers of obesity rates.
The ideological statement 'you are free so it's your choice' is over-simplified because it overlooks the greater expanse of an individual's social life and environment - and as long as we continue the narrow 'personal choice' mentality, adverse obesity and fitness rates will continue to climb - and that is a neglect of an unimaginable scale of harm!
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My issue is with the corn in the American diet. Manufacturers are literally putting it in everything.
Here's a very smart author who penned an excellent article explaining it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/...n=p ockethits
As for the way I live. I don't 'should' on myself anymore. I'm here to learn and I can only do that by making mistakes. Nuff' said there.
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That's good, because too much 'should' makes us ignore 'is', and we really have to be aware of 'what is' and start from 'here'. Then we are present with our actual life and can make measured, mindful decisions based on what is doable now.
Thanks for the article. I'll read that and come back with a comment, but for now I'll say, if there is corn everywhere, in everything, are people 'choosing' to eat corn? This is a good example of what I was saying above.