It is now the 21st century in case you have not heard. Yes, we all have new pressures our grandparents had never heard of! Back when my grandfather was young, men were expected to work hard to earn a living. There were not too many white collar jobs.
I believe people were more fit as they were a generation or so from living on farms and many of them were first and second generation Americans! Women had to cook from scratch! Even in the cities! Morbid obesity was nearly non-existent in the 1800’s. According to Lorens Helmchen of the University of Chicago,
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the fraction of Americans considered to be obese has reached “epidemic” levels, as a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association put it (Mokdad et al. 1999). “National survey data show that between 1976-80 and 1988-94 the age-adjusted prevalence of obesity … increased by 8 percentage points, from 14.5% to 22.5%, in the U.S. adult population ages 20-74.” (Flegal and Troiano 2000). According to the study, the percentage of Americans considered obese ranged between 12.5 for males ages 20-29 to 35.6 for women ages 50-59 in1988-94.
Ok by now you must be wondering where I am going with this post? I am going to highlight how being out of balance in ones life can lead to obesity! Take a look at this neat photo I found of Ying and Yang, a concept we will explore.
From the opening I tried to make the case that we are out of balance in this century. We have wealth, food, luxury but not balance in our lives. When things are out of balance, one part you your life can run uncontrollably where others seem to be in check.
One activity in my life that seems to always take a back seat is working out. I find that when I work out I feel better about life in general. When I do not work out often I start getting aches an pains from sitting too long at a desk. I find that I eat more when I am lazy, then I start to think I cannot get fit!
As you can see working out has a correlation to how much I eat. Another great thing about trying to achieve a balance is that stress is greatly reduced. Whatever happens during the workday is soon forgotten while I am punching the bag. I remember why I am not pigging out whenever we go out for dinner. I like feeling fit.
Now sometimes things will get you down and if eating and being lazy is how you deal with things… you will have some setbacks! No big deal I say! You are still in the game until you are not… meaning if you gain back some fat and lose some hope… just think – you have it way easier then probably about 50% of the people in the world.
Count your blessings and get back up and try to bring your life back in balance. Ying and Yang is a concept with many meanings. Click the link to see some of them and if you truly try to balance your life’s activities – you will be successful! There is simply no way you can fail. I heard one of these self help specialists once that said, “A person will be about as happy as he makes up his mind to be.”
So wake up tomorrow, count your blessings and go be as happy and balanced in you life as you decide to be tomorrow!
Feedback