Friday, October 16, 2009

Go small and save the world- and yourself!!

Blog Action Day 09!
I've been thinking about preventing cardiovascular disease and associated problems like diabetes (which follows obesity) and kidney failure (which follows diabetes)...etc. SO much of the medical and scientific literature is about what they conveniently term "secondary and tertiary prevention"- but that is all AFTER THE FACT! The community seems to be abysmally slack in stopping it all from starting in the first place- even with adults who are already headed down the heart disease track we say "It's your individual responsibility to exercise and eat properly" as though that absolves everyone from worrying about it any more. I've come to the conclusion that we have to stop all this Anglo-Saxon protestant crap about responsibility- TELLING us what we SHOULD DO...and BELIEVE humans are basically neglectful sods far more interested in "The Moment" and start SHOWING US WHAT TO DO!
Give us a bl**dy DEMONSTRATION every day and keep showing us. Encourage us to join in ALL THE TIME, come walking and playing in the park with us and tell us we're doing OK. Where are the personal trainers for every neighbourhood? PLEASE MR RUDD! Why don't we do it first in Australia and show the rest of the world we will not fall into the Western black hole of fat and sloth!
It frankly gives me the creeps when people my own age are having stents in their coronary arteries, being investigated for mini-strokes and have been put on drastic hospital-directed diets and prescriptive exercise programs they find deadly boring!
I know that lots of so-called "cost effectiveness" studies have shown that many heart disease and obesity prevention programs are not "worth it"- but I think they've left something vital out of their equations. What about all the wasted resources teenagers and adults have put into getting fat and clagging up their arteries?? Can't we count that as a potential saving for the future? As a small person, (though no longer sylph-like! LOL), I have always been pissed off with the wear and tear caused by larger people- not only do you consume more than your fair share of the planet's food, you also wear out the environment faster- paths, roads, lawns, carpets, furniture, cars- everything- you great galumphing sods!! Your clothes are bigger- taking more earthly resources (cotton and linen) and more petroleum (synthetic fibres), there are kilometres more sewing in your seams, tonnes more rubber in your shoes, less space and more load in your fridges! An article in the New York Times seems to agree with me a lot!
GET SMALLER AND PREVENT CLIMATE CHANGE!!!!!
Here's someone else who seems to have cottoned on as well!

2 comments:

  1. Short people always seem like they are up to something... I don't know what it is... they just seem that way.... ;)

    You make some great points!

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  2. Much (too much) food for thought. I agree that current strategies aren't working (though they do seem to generate a lot of guilt).

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