I teach school. One of my jobs is to make sure that students get out of cars safely in the morning.(It is amazing what you get to do with lots of education!) It saddens me when I see children who are so obese that they struggle to get out of the back seat. They are stiff like old people. There is a particular child who grieves me. I have watched him as he advanced through school and got larger each year. One morning he tried to get out of the car and his feet got tangled up in a Tupperware cake plate and he fell. His mom had a cake in the floorboard of their car! I have watched him get out in the mornings with donuts and carbonated drinks that he shoves back into the car. One day I got behind him as he tried to climb the stairs at school. I intentionally stayed behind him because his breathing was so labored that I wasn't sure that he was going to make it. This is beyond tragic.No 10 year old should become exerted to get up stairs. Instead they should be reprimanded by old teachers like myself for running up the stairs.
We really need to rethink how we eat and spend our leisure time as adults. We are in charge of making decisions for our children. When we are sedentary we are modeling for our children a lifestyle that promotes catastrophic disease. No one wants their child to have a future that is limited in anyway. When we dream for our children we dream without boundaries.
It is time for us to begin to dream that way for ourselves. We have got to begin to take those necessary steps to improve our own health. Our futures shouldn't be limited either. I just read a must read-life changing book, Younger Next Year by 71 year old former attorney, Chris Crowley and and wellness doctor Dr Harry Lodge.
It points out why we are becoming such a sick nation. The writers suggest that since the beginning man was forced to scavenge for food. This simple, but necessary act made humans stronger and more resilient. It is true, "The fittest survive." Fast forward millions of years.
We are in an age of being comfortable. We don't even get up to change the channel on the TV anymore! We have sofas that have multiple recliners. We spend complete days leashed to computers for our livelihood. We get food through drive in windows. We spend hours of family togetherness watching movies in the dark and not speaking. Then on special days we sit on those same sofas with multiple recliners and WATCH sports!
All of this sitting has sent a message to our brains, says the writers of Younger Next Year. This sitting tells our physical brain that we are done with living. This causes the decay and deterioration of our bodies to begin. The body actually begins the dying process when we engage in a sedentary lifestyle. We aren't living!
We gotta get moving Georgia! So what did you do today? Better yet what are you and your family going to do tomorrow? I am meeting my trainer tomorrow at 4:30 at My Fitness Solutions. Think I will get up early to go run before work just to be on the safe side! Life is good, Georgia! Let's start moving!
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