Lanterna Rally

Author: Sarah Robichaud

Publisher: Ginger Marks

Published: 2011-07

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0986662984

There is a major health crisis in this country—an epidemic of humongous proportions. Currently more than 1 billion adults are overweight, and at least 300 million of overweight people are clinically obese. Obesity accounts for 2% to 6% of total health care costs in several developed countries; it has been recently reported that obesity-related diseases are killing more people than smoking. The situation is out of control. Children are obese and falling ill to diseases related to their weight. We are dying earlier with more illness and injury then we have ever seen in history, but we have the best medical treatment and a plethora of diet and fitness gadgets and food on the grocery shelves. We are harming ourselves. This epidemic is happening because we have lost our way in the pursuit of good health. In our society of instant gratification we have forgotten how to walk to the store or down the hall to talk to a co-worker. We are an online nation. We seem to do all our business on our laptops, phones, and in our cars. We don't even need to go to the store to buy milk. It can all be delivered to our door with the click of a button. We never actually need to get off our derrieres. We have everything we want at our fingertips. Well, everything except good health. And really isn't that the most important thing of all? All the material possessions in the world really don't mean anything if we don't have our health to be able to enjoy it. How did we get here? We forgot how to walk, stretch, and move. Our bodies are meant to be in motion. Look back in history to the hunter–gatherer days. The men went out to hunt for enough food to sustain their strength for the hunt and feed their families. Women had it no easier, working the fields, taking care of the children and running the villages. (Some things never change.) There wasn't much time for anyone to sit around, which is probably why Facebook didn't come until much later. Our ancestors ate, slept, and moved in perfect balance to promote a long, healthy life. Flash forward a few thousand years and we sit. We sit at work, we sit in our cars, and we sit at home on the couch. Our bodies have atrophied; our muscles are weak, our complexions sallow, and our energy stays perpetually on empty.