Fit for Life: Convenience is a Risky Thing
Saturday, June 06, 2015
Matt Espeut
Drive-throughs – keep driving.
Let me give you some examples, and hopefully you’ll think twice before opting for the easy way. Fast food restaurants. Yes they are easier and faster, but a majority of them sell nothing but processed, commissary produced garbage foods, shipped frozen in boxes and plastic containers. They shouldn't be sold for human consumption. Burger places generally sell frozen industrial farmed raised beef loaded with byproducts and fillers. They hire our teenagers to work in assembly lines and assemble your pre made food from compartments in a make unit. Cheap and fast. Until it all ends up stored around your waist. Then it becomes a long and cumbersome chore to burn it off.
If it's chicken you are in the mood for, and you have been disillusioned into thinking that it will be healthier, I have bad news for you. It's not. In fact the biggest fast food chicken chain doesn't even use the word chicken in its name anymore because it isn't really chicken. They too use unethically raised animals, raised on unsustainable farms, and load their “chicken” products with by products and fillers, and produce it in bulk to cut costs so you can buy it cheap and fast. Yum, right? Even the rotisserie stuff chicken you buy from fast food places is loaded with coloring, and nitrates, and the side dishes aren't any better because they are loaded with butter and cooked in cheap GMO canola oils. Yes, it’s true, you can go grab lunch for under $10, and in about 4 minutes, but what does it cost in the long run?
Convenience stores:
I run out of coffee on occasion, and need to stop at a convenience store for my morning fix, and with the exception of a basket of bananas, there isn’t anything really edible in the entire store. I cringe when I see school kids come in before class, and load up on colorful processed chemical poison in a wrapper, or the construction workers that grab some sort of “breakfast” sandwich in a plastic package, and then toss it into the microwave. Little do they know that the food, alone, is causing harm to the body. And when you microwave items in plastic it transfers right into your food, so you are not only eating processed garbage food but getting a large dose of xenoestrogens, a neurotoxin in the body that causes cancer and harms the neurological system. Even the yogurt and granola bars they disguise as healthy will put unwanted inches on your waistline. Again, not very convenient when you save ten minutes but cost yourself countless hours in the gym to undo the damage.
Technology
The last “convenient” thing I want to talk about has nothing to do with food, but has a lot to do with some of the social, and economic demise of this great country, and that is - technology. Yes it has its place, and can make our lives easier and more efficient. We can even save lives with the amazing new medical technologies. But, like many good things, we can abuse them. I do believe we have come to that point where our technologies are causing physical, and social dysfunction to society. It also has impact on an economic level. Tech companies do employ people with skills in the field, but go to a bookstore today (if you can find one) where you can actually touch the pages and read. The results that come from lack of a reading society are obvious. But, also there is the commerce that came from the book industry – empty real-estate in strip malls and larger shopping centers, real estate sitting empty and people losing income, along with those who have lost their jobs throughout the industry. In addition to the simplicity of ordering books or reading books online, there has been a bigger effect than meets the eye. And, it’s having a ripple effect. Look what its done to us, physically. Bad posture from having our heads down looking at a device, or sitting all day, inactive children who used to play outside, but now choose video games as an option for entertainment. We used to have to get up and go somewhere, have human interaction with someone, and physically exert some effort to purchase products, but now, everything is on a screen at our fingertips, and as a nation, we are paying a steep price for it.
Cost of all this convenience.
We all need conveniences in our lives. We all get busy, and like to simplify certain things, but we need to stop and start analyzing what it is costing us in the long run, and decide if most of these things are conveniences, or a quicker means to an end. Dishwashers are a great thing, trash compactors even better. But driving up to a window for your food isn’t. Step back and figure out what’s more important to you, saving five minutes now might be just costing you and your family your health and vitality later.
Related Slideshow: New England’s Healthiest States
The United Health Foundation recently released its 2013 annual reoprt: America's Health Rankings, which provides a comparative state by state analysis of several health measures to provide a comprehensive perspective of our nation's health issues. See how the New England states rank in the slides below.
Definitions
All Outcomes Rank: Outcomes represent what has already occurred, either through death, disease or missed days due to illness. In America's Health Rankings, outcomes include prevalence of diabetes, number of poor mental or physical health days in last 30 days, health disparity, infant mortality rate, cardiovascular death rate, cancer death rate and premature death. Outcomes account for 25% of the final ranking.
Determinants Rank: Determinants represent those actions that can affect the future health of the population. For clarity, determinants are divided into four groups: Behaviors, Community and Environment, Public and Health Policies, and Clinical Care. These four groups of measures influence the health outcomes of the population in a state, and improving these inputs will improve outcomes over time. Most measures are actually a combination of activities in all four groups.
Diabetes Rank: Based on percent of adults who responded yes to the question "Have you ever been told by a doctor that you have diabetes?" Does not include pre-diabetes or diabetes during pregnancy.
Smoking Rank: Based on percentage of adults who are current smokers (self-report smoking at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and currently smoke).
Obesity Rank: Based on percentage of adults who are obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher.
Source: http://www.americashealthrankings.org/
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