This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

[Feared]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

What's that Nike motto again? "Just do it" that should be the goal of someone trying to get fit.

Most people know they are out of shape, and have a terrible diet but what do they do about it? Nothing. They then have the nerve to sit and complain about it, displace their anger by blaming others for looking better, or being more successful.

I had to learn the hard way you gotta make things happen for yourself. Don't try working out, go 1 day and quit because it's too hard. It's going to be a long term commitment you have to make but don't think of the long term goal straight away think of what can I do today to help me? Maybe today it's just giving up that 1 extra snack, or I'll run 3 laps around my building, or I'll take the stairs instead of the elevator... and then keep building and working from there.

[Feared]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

I think a large part of the decline in physical education is an over-sensitivity about negative emotional effects on children in regarding the actual physical portion. I loved P.E. when I was a kid but so many people I know and work with talk about how it's one of the great nightmares of their childhood.

I think both the activity and educational components of P.E. are invaluable in a world with so many terrible food options, sedentary leisure options, and career paths sitting in office chairs 8+ hours a day.

Why would it be negative? As a kid I never thought of going outside, running around, throwing, kicking a ball around would be torture?

Or are you referring to those of us that are not as coordinated regarding sports being ridiculed for it? In that case people need to just stop caring so much and just do their best, if you slip up.. big deal it happens to everyone.

That's why I feel it's in the teachers job if they see any bullying or teasing regarding a kid that isn't doing well in a sport or activity they need to stop it right away... but sadly it seems like many teachers are just turning a blind eye and letting this kind of behavior slide now a days.

[Chrisksaint]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

Generally through my experiences, everyone loved PE in elementary school(granted my Grandma was very into her job, one of the better PE teachers i've seen).

When/where I went to elem. school everyone was active. After then in Middle/HS is where PE falls off a cliff, the teachers are a joke and usually only the few athlete kids do anything.

Now that I think of it, everyone I knew that was really active physically in HS were the kids I went to elem school with further giving me the idea that although Middle/HS PE sucks it really starts like most things as a young kid.

Too much focus is being put on other things at a young age and not as much on physical activity. It's also just the way society has evolved, people would rather play a video game or something that is instant gratification then doing something that is worth putting forward some effort.

[Feared]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

Generally through my experiences, everyone loved PE in elementary school(granted my Grandma was very into her job, one of the better PE teachers i've seen).

When/where I went to elem. school everyone was active. After then in Middle/HS is where PE falls off a cliff, the teachers are a joke and usually only the few athlete kids do anything.

Now that I think of it, everyone I knew that was really active physically in HS were the kids I went to elem school with further giving me the idea that although Middle/HS PE sucks it really starts like most things as a young kid.

Too much focus is being put on other things at a young age and not as much on physical activity. It's also just the way society has evolved, people would rather play a video game or something that is instant gratification then doing something that is worth putting forward some effort.

I don't want to turn this thread in a political direction, but really you hit on a point. I think in general the Public Education system in our country is failing.

Now don't get me wrong there are still some great teachers now a days, but I feel like there are also a lot of teachers in our country that don't care about molding the character of children into the quality men, and women of our future... but rather they are there to just punch the clock, read out of a textbook, maybe play a video, get tenured, and earn their pensions.

My sister actually dropped out of her High School, not for academic reasons but because she got bullied and abused by the kids there she just couldn't handle it emotionally anymore. She has some problems with her weight, and they called her fat and some things that I can't even say on here, and the teachers knew about it and did absolutely nothing for her. Can someone look up and find out the statistics for people failing out of High School in our country? It has to be among the highest of any where in the world that has a Educational system.

[Zer0xray]

I think the biggest issue is the sugar and high fructose corn syrup that's in everything. Everyone is addicted to it and they can't help it. Even when people are dieting, there is sugar in all these low fat and fat free alternatives. I mean you can't even buy cow milk that's sugarless.

Also Times are tough and the cheapest food are processed. I feel bad for people who are overweight... I think we are all victims. For example If I were to get a salad with protein... It'd be like 5-6 bucks in my cafeteria. But if I were to get a burger and fries, it'd be like 3-4 bucks.

[Chrisksaint]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

Yeah I don't want to comment much being this already borderline TOS, but teachers have to improve on that front and being that I want to be an elem teacher my goal is to make my kids ready for the future.

My family is full of teachers and i've worked at my old elem. school last year, comparing those awesome teachers to the ones i've had at in middle/HS are well not good.

Heck my sister is feeling bullied by her new teachers(she has gotten a new 3rd grade teacher, PE teacher, and gifted teacher all this year alone). She got a C in something they never really teach anymore, was yelled at both teachers for pointing out kids that weren't following rules and was distracting her,etc.

OT rant but yeah education play a huge role in how this country is starting to play out even health wise.

[oneamongthefence]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

I also think part of the problem is parents letting their kids think its ok to be overweight. Everything is pc. Not to mention many of the out of shape kids have out of shape parents who don't want to go out and play with with their kids. As a parent I can't wait to get out and play with my kids. Also in this day and age both parents work to make ends meet and fast food is the way to go and tv is a babysitter. It really does start with the parents.

[superjames1992]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

Even worse, is it's no longer unpopular to be that overweight. Females are becoming PROUD of being fat. I dig confidence in a girl but come on, fat isn't now nor will it ever be attractive.

You have a point there. There is no stigma for being fat like there was 30 years ago.

I'm not exactly a physical specimen myself and my eating habits are sketchy at times, but I generally limit my portion sizes (which is a big deal, IMO, as way too many people eat way too much these days). I've hovered around 6'0" 175 lbs. for the last three years or so (no freshman 15!!! ). I could stand to lose a few pounds, though, and plan on it.

You do have a point about PE in school. We had some limited PE in elementary and PE in 7th, 8th, and the first semester of 10th grade, but that was it.

[12]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

I haven't read many replies and will probably babble a little bit, and maybe not make sense, but oh well. I hope I don't violate the ToS here as that's not my intent. I am not going to be political...

The biggest culprit is bad parenting. I am sorry, but if a kid is obese, it is on their parents. It's not on the schools... Maybe they have their hand in it, but the bottom line is that kids are home more than they are at school and steps can be taken to raise healthy children. Maybe "bad parenting" is the wrong wordage because the truth is, many good parents love their kids but are simply not educated on the ill effects that certain foods can have. It's our responsibility to educate ourselves. I mean, we have the internet, and nutritionists... All the information is at our disposal and it's on us to become educated so we can teach our children good nutritional habits.

I grew up on boxed, processed crap. My parents worked all of the time so having a healthy dinner at the table with my family did not happen very often. I was lucky in that I was also very active, but battled chubbiness until I was in high school. I don't want to make the same mistake with my kids. I am not feeding my son crap. I am not saying that my wife and I are perfect, because we do have times when we slip up and have an unhealthy dinner... For the most part, we care what goes into our son's body. That's a great benefit to having a job where my wife can stay home and raise him, rather than putting him in a day care. I am not putting day cares down at all, but I can't really imagine that kids get fed nutritious meals.

I am getting more and more interested in the crap that is put into the food that we buy. We try and buy organic on as many products as we can, but who knows if you can really trust all of that? We buy chicken that is hormone-free. We buy eggs that are hormone-free and cage-free. It's hard, and maybe a bit more expensive, but I think it's worth it.

Schools could do a better job... Educating on the effects of food and the importance of physical education should be paramount, but at the end of the day, it all starts at home. We've become lazy as a society and that includes food as well. It's too bad and something that I am going to try my best to not do.

[12]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

...and I'd agree that the obesity rate is as big of a threat to our nation's future as anything else.

70 percent. That number should scare the hell out of people.

[FlyingFinn]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

Also Times are tough and the cheapest food are processed.

Not true at least at the grocery store. Our grocery bill is always pretty low (under $90/week for me and my wife) and most of our shopping is done on the outer isles of the store. When you go into the middle isles you start buying processed crap that is not only bad for you but is also more expensive.

[seasprite]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

I can deal with fat adult people....I guess, it is their choice, but when I see an 8 year old that has back rolls it upsets me to no end. It makes me want to ask the parent why they are killing their child.....its just lazy parenting.

[NDAlum]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

I don't have an issue with an individual's personal choice to be overweight. It is their body so they can do with it as they please.

Without getting too political, I would simply like to see the burden of health care costs be passed on to those people.

The easiest analogy is car insurance. Those who drive crazy and get in accidents, drive drunk, etc. have much higher premiums.

I simply don't want to carry the burden of those who make the conscious decision to be overweight and increase their chances of health complications.

[NDAlum]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

I don't want to turn this thread in a political direction, but really you hit on a point. I think in general the Public Education system in our country is failing.

Now don't get me wrong there are still some great teachers now a days, but I feel like there are also a lot of teachers in our country that don't care about molding the character of children into the quality men, and women of our future... but rather they are there to just punch the clock, read out of a textbook, maybe play a video, get tenured, and earn their pensions.

My sister actually dropped out of her High School, not for academic reasons but because she got bullied and abused by the kids there she just couldn't handle it emotionally anymore. She has some problems with her weight, and they called her fat and some things that I can't even say on here, and the teachers knew about it and did absolutely nothing for her. Can someone look up and find out the statistics for people failing out of High School in our country? It has to be among the highest of any where in the world that has a Educational system.

Personally, as an individual who lives with a teacher, I believe the responsibility needs to be more on the parents. I'm not trying to discredit that some teachers are worthless because I can guarantee you that there are bad apples in every profession.

The burden is too large on teachers/schools in general. I'm not making any political statements, just observations with the following:

The school has become the parent

That's sad. The school should be to further the development of the child, not to start from the ground up.

Finally, let me say that I do not intend to paint all public school kids as the above.

Oh and I missed the part about tenure/pensions but here in NC that is definitely not the case. They actually don't let teachers clock in/out anymore. You want to know why? The teachers were working too many hours and it looked bad for the school system. Once again, I can only comment on what I see.

[DickDalewood]

Re: This country is dying a slow and painful death health wise.

Even worse is when you see these "quick fix" commercials, with testimonials from people stating "I just don't have time to do it the right way', etc.

I work 11 hour days with a fiance and dog at home who I need to make time for as well, and yet somehow I still manage to make it to the gym 5-6 days a week and not shove fast food down my face... weird how far a little thing called discipline will take you isn't it?

Nothing bothers me more than an overweight person saying "I don't have time" or "it's a disease" as they shove a quarterpounder and fries down their throat. At the very LEAST you can eat healthy without using any extra time out of your day.