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The American Dream of Wellness
by Carl Densiel
http://www.feelwellness.com
Wellness revolves around how good you feel. Obviously,
exercise plays a key role in having this great feeling, and
so does eating the right stuff. Often, the lack of exercise
and proper nutrition transform wellness into sickness.
One knows about or have heard about the CICO dictum
(Calories In, Calories Out), but how many people care
about it? To have a clear idea let us see through a
simple example, if a person consumes some known toxic
substance he may immediately feel nauseous, but the
effect will take days or even weeks to show up
if one is eating a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts daily!
And when the effects come to the fore, people tend to
blame it on something else!
This explains the obesity of America although experts
discovered it as an epidemic for the last few years. For
decades, United Nations has been raising alarm bells for
the growing weight and underbelly of developed and the
developing nations. Through its health arm, the World
Health Organization (WHO), the world body has been equally
concerned about the burgeoning malnutrition in
underdeveloped countries. In a January 2005 report, WHO
emphasized that "one billion people--one sixth of the
world's population - live in extreme poverty, lacking safe
water, proper nutrition, basic health care and social
services needed to survive. Almost 11 million children die
each year, six million of them under five from preventable
diseases."
On January 18, 2005, WHO highlighted health in its year
2015 development blueprint, also coined as the Millennium
Project. It likewise underscored the need for the world to
"immediately and massively increase the investment in
health programs."
The recent WHO report admonished the American warnings that
proven solutions are likely to turn the tide towards
achieving health goals. It also added: "We have the means
to achieve those goals. We have the technology. What we
need are the resources and the political will. We cannot
wait any longer to do what we have promised to achieve in
the coming decade."
It is interesting to note that such notice of the world
body rings a bell in the solutions recommended by both the
American Institute of Food Technologists and the American
Institute of Medicine towards combating the obesity
epidemic in North America. Both are intervening to change
its infrastructure policies towards food distribution and
production. One speedy method is that U.S. can balance its
subsidies towards farm products in a way that vegetables,
fruits, and whole-wheat production are given their due
importance in the food chain.
Such steps will help in making these staples more
affordable for the working masses. Some other things
that the government think over is to mandate schools to
bring back Physical Education in the curriculum, ensure
properly integrated bike routes and parks in housing plans,
and make national advertising focus on healthy eating
instead of fad snacking.
Hard to swallow but true that today about 20 percent of
Americans are both malnourished and obese. Nationwide some
33 million Americans are affected by food insecurity,
meaning lack of regular access to healthy foods, a large
contributor to malnutrition in poor communities. These
statistics indicate that to attain wellness for at least
33 million Americans remain a dream. This fact seems more
harrowing when we know that the key to wellness is adequate
exercise and proper nutrition. So, this example aptly shows
that knowing does not necessarily mean doing. Despite so
many advertisements repetitively showing Abs and Carbs on
American television during sitcoms and soap operas, so many
people are unwell. Or can we say that there is some
stubborn virus that is immune even to the Baywatch culture?
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