McDonald's, Burger King, Carl's Jr., etc. Are Killing Us

 Of the 2.4 million people that die yearly in the United States, the six leading causes of death include the following: 1. Heart disease 2. Cancer 3. COPD 4. Stroke 5. Accidents and 6. Alzheimer’s disease. Not only that, two thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese and about 20% of the people continue to smoke cigarettes causing another 45,000 deaths per year. Further, nearly 11,000 people per year are killed by drunk drivers in our country. And, our own lifestyle habits are the largest cause of morbidity. Many of these risky behaviors develop in childhood and adolescent and continue to be problematic throughout adulthood.

Let me repeat, our behavior is governed by that 3.3 or so pounds of brain located between our ears. I know it’s hard to believe that fact but it’s true. The federal government publishes nutritional recommendations called “My Plate chart” in which a plate is divided into four portions. About 25% of the plate is made up of proteins, 25% grains, 25% fruits and 25% vegetables. Latest studies show that only 2% of us eat in this healthy manner roughly 70% of the time. Of course, a lot of us eat vegetables, but really not the healthy ones. Instead, the most commonly eaten vegetable in our country is a potato and it’s usually in the form of French fries, or potato chips; while, the second most commonly eaten vegetable is a tomato and that usually eaten in the form of ketchup, pasta sauce or pizza sauce. While onions are the third most consumed vegetable, the fourth is iceberg lettuce, which has little nutritional value and is mostly water. So it’s obvious that our citizens engage in poor diet and nutrition decisions that generally start at a very early age.

Not surprising is that over two thirds of Americans don’t exercise regularly and yet 75% of us distort reality by believing they we are in fair to excellent physical condition. And exercise can be 30 to 60 minutes per day attaining 60 to 90% of maximum heart rate [220 bpm] minus age. For me, the number of beats per minute would be approximately 130 at 90%; 115 at 80%; 100 at 70% and 85 at 60%. And I easily accomplish the recommended beats per minute.

More recent studies suggest that sedentary people may benefit the most by starting to exercise. In fact, one study found that exercise is about as effective as drugs in preventing death, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Another study found that inactive people who increased their physical activity by just 15 minutes per day, reduced their risk of death by 14% and increased their life expectancy by 3 years. And for each additional 50 minutes of exercise per day, the risk of death was lowered by an additional 4%. Now of course if one has a healthy lifestyle and is healthy those numbers are appealing. However, if one has an unhealthy lifestyle, poor health and is he won my advice miserable, then why would they want to increase years of misery?

Remember that the hunters and gatherers averaged about 6 to 22 miles per day in their survival mode and consumed unprocessed, vitamin filled foods without pesticides. In other words, they exercised and eat healthier than us civilized types. If you want my advice, keep moving, smiling, laughing, bonding, loving and appreciating.