The Four Health Hoaxes That Are Destroying Society and How to Stop Them Series
| It may seem a bit outrageous that a few fitness fallacies could crumble our society but a little bit of ignorance on a long enough timeline can go along way. If you’re like me, you enjoyed watching the film WALL-E and the light hearted message it sent about the dangers of over-consumption and underactivity. Good thing for us it is only a children’s film that is set seven hundred years in the future… or could this be a future reality closer than we think? The fact is that Sixty-Three percent of Americans are overweight. In the 1980’s this percentage |  |
was around 42% so the trend line of this weight gain doesn’t seem very encouraging for averting this epidemic. But why are people so fat? My grandpa is lean with biceps that are near granite and he’s pushing 80. But he never exercises and he loves himself a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. What is happening to the next handful of generations? Victims of probability? Unlucky draw out of the gene pool?
Technology would be the main culprit to blame in leading us toward a future filled with humans on motorized hoverscooters consuming power smoothies for sustenance. The hard labor which kept our older generations in shape has been outsourced by our innovation. Inventions like the computer have vastly increased productivity but require much more sitting and snacking than physical activity. With all these new solutions for modern living our instinct for survival has been waning. We end up taking our technologic prowess for granted and match it with an equal amount of procrastination and laziness. As Albert said “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
Just as the Buy n’ Large Corporation in WALL-E depicted, a healthy society is not the goal of big business, turning a profit is. Cheap alternatives such as high fructose corn syrup and trans fat are pumped into your food for big savings. Consuming high fructose corn syrup is exactly the same as putting sugar in your gas tank. Your body is your vehicle for life so who would want to do that? Along with your gas tank, each tire on your vehicle would be a different facet of your fitness that helps move you along your path. These facets are your diet, your resistance training, your flexibility, and your cardiovascular activity. Your diet obviously has the most significant impact. If you don’t lift, run, or stretch for a week you might feel a little sluggish but a week without food and you’re toast.
The tricky part of this is that when people finally discover an impetus despite all these impedances their ideas on how to get healthy are coming from clever marketing strategies and skewed exercise tactics from the seventies. Not the most intelligent places to look for advice, especially when dealing with your livelihood. Society needs to change these trends before it’s too late, so here are the four health hoaxes that are destroying society and how we can stop them…
The full series of Health Hoaxes is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, & Part 5.