If I see one more article or watch another news special about how Americans are so overweight due to fast food and all the other foods now available to them, I think I’ll be sick to my stomach from the stupidity alone.

I grew up in the 1970’s, and if my memory serves me correctly, there were fast food outlets, diners, TV dinners, donuts, desserts, and the same food available to me then as there is now, yet I’m hardly an overweight sloth. In addition, we had television, video games, and computers, albeit not to the extent we do now. The difference was that if we did go to a McDonald’s or Burger King, we went maybe once or twice a month and mainly because our parents were either too lazy to prepare dinner that evening or just plain exhausted. The other important factor as to why we did not gain weight was because I had a mother who wouldn’t let me in the house before dark and had to do work chores and remain active. I couldn’t manipulate my mother like 9/10 kids today are capable of doing, but that’s more a function of bad parenting.

Nevertheless, according to the “experts,” we and our children are over weight and unfit because of three main reasons: we only have fattening foods to choose from when hungry; technology is so advanced that we spend countless hours in front of computers and television sets and, we are not active enough.

Well, I’ve got some bad news for you, and then some more bad news. The bad news is that, yes, as a country, we are 20 pounds heavier today than 20 years ago. The other bad news is that, as a country, we are doing nothing to stop this epidemic aside from telling ourselves we need to make better eating choices and try and be more active.

Here are a few other statistics that add to the issue:

• Nearly 80 percent of our children are overweight and out of shape, yet just 20 percent of our nation’s schools have a mandated daily fitness period.
• The number of individuals who have joined a health club in the past 10 years has doubled.
• Only 10 percent of adults over 18 years of age exercise regularly (two to three days per week for one hour).
• As a country, we spend billions of dollars annually on weight-loss products, diets, exercise equipment, supplements, etc.
• The number-one killer in the U.S. today is inactivity.
• Insurance costs have reached billions of dollars due to low back pain and resulting absenteeism from work.
• Our elderly are becoming more and more immobile, causing them to lead even more sedentary and unproductive lives.

In short, we are lazy; we overeat; we don’t prioritize what is truly important to us in our lives; and we don’t have a clue as to the steps involved in making proper fitness a consistent part of our daily and hectic lifestyles.

Another thing I am tired of hearing about is our poor children and how we need to do something about their sorry state of condition and get them in better shape. How do we rationally expect our children possibly to be in shape when their parents are so out of shape? What do we expect from them?

There’s an expression that goes something like this: Before we can expect great things from others, we first need to expect greatness from our ourselves. I can just see a youngster having a guest speaker one day at school, specifically a fitness advocate the school has asked to come speak to them about the importance of daily exercise. The child returns home that evening and says, “Mommy, Daddy, I need to start exercising and taking better care of myself.” Hey, son, shut up and get me a beer and the potato chips.

We have it backwards. Before we can dream about getting our children in shape, we need to get ourselves in shape. Just as we teach them manners, good study habits, and social skills and hobbies, we must teach fitness by example. If we (the parents) don’t exercise and don’t spend quality active time with our kids, how can we expect them to develop these skills and be able to carry them over into adulthood?

The need for knowledge
A major part of the reason why we’re not fit is the fact that, as in any exact science in life, there is a process or precise protocol to follow. Without the knowledge or proper education of what it takes to become and stay fit, we are merely wasting our efforts in trying to better ourselves physically. Just as we educate the general population on drugs, alcohol, and AIDS and other diseases, we need to educate ourselves properly not merely on the benefits of regular and proper exercise, but, more importantly, the process as to what fitness is comprised of? All we ever see or read is that we need to be more active.

What does that mean?

By exercising properly and consistently, you will start to make small dietary changes and will be able to maintain this behavior. Starving yourself or “dieting” will not help develop the habit of exercising and will set a bad example for your children. Remember, just as it takes time to develop bad habits, it takes time to develop good ones as well. Just as we need to earn the right to be good at our jobs, we also need to earn the right to look and feel our best!

I, myself, am not a great flyer and because of this, have turned down many a speaking gig or book signings across the country. But, I can tell you one thing, if I was one of those survivors from that plane crash in the Hudson River, I would be sending them money instead of the opposite, I can assure you.

First off, who travels with $5,000 worth of valuables in their luggage? And, if you did, your insurance company would have covered whatever valuables you were transporting that particular day. Yes, while it’s true that everyone on that flight was scared out of their wits and were definitely inconvenienced, aren’t they all alive and able to carry on with their lives today as we speak?

I’d like to see and read that each and every survivor who received money from US Air give $2,500 to the widows and families of 9/11, or perhaps even to the families of the recent Buffalo plane crash because, I can assure you my friends, they would easily trade any amount of money in exchange to have their loved ones back.

Sometimes in life, there are circumstances and happenings that are not avoidable and just because it’s so, doesn’t mean that anyone has the ethical or moral right to sue or yes, even complain.

I hope that the idiots from US Air crash that have hired lawyers, to please take a step back and think about what they really want out of life. I’d like them to kiss the ground they walk on that they are here today to appreciate the invaluable ‘value’ of life. If it weren’t for the competency of the pilots and other staff members of US Air that afternoon that saved their lives, their families would be suffering right now just as every member of anyone who has died in a plane crash is still suffering and will do so their entire lives!

Steroid Use Among All Athletes - The real sin here is that it teaches our today’s youth that’s it’s okay to use steroids as long as you fess-up after you been caught with no negative ramifications associated.

Companies That Accept Bailout $$, Knowing That It Will Not Save Them - It’s quite simple, if the money you are taking in is not enough to pay off your debt, you will eventually need to restructure or shut down, so be honest and let the small to mid-size firms be able to get some debt relief so that they can strive once again.

The Outrageous Amount of $$ That We Keep Paying Professional Athletes - Forget that few one can afford to go to these games, who wants to even go and watch most of these entitlement-laden people anyway.

These Same Companies That Took Debt Relief Who Paid Bonuses Yet Laid Off Thousands - Instead of paying out bonuses, wouldn’t it have been more prudent to have given $$ to those who were laid off to help them and their families out.

All The Heads Of These Companies That Are Ripping Off Consumers & Investors - In addition to these greedy bastards ruining thousands of lives, now the government is willing to plea bargain with them.

The Growing Number of Diabetes Among Children & Adults - Here’s a tip: Stop eating and start exercising, otherwise your life will be difficult.

People Who Are So Lazy That They Would Rather Diet And Starve Themselves Rather Then Eat Sensibly and Exercise In Order To Lose Weight - Think about it logically: If any “diet” you are currently following worked, no one would be overweight.

More importantly, for the new Met stadium, $850 million is being spent, with about half being funded by NY State taxpayers. And get this, the name of the stadium is Citi Field, the same company that has been laying off many thousands of workers from Citibank. Now let me get this straight…Let’s say I used to work for Citibank and I have two children who want to go see a Met’s game. Do you really think in a million years I will take my family to a ballpark whose name represents the same company that just laid me off? I don’t think so…And sure, there are bleacher seats and other seats way up in the section that you need x-ray vision in order to view the game that are somewhat affordable (between $12-$75), that does not include the extra $100 you need to feed yourselves as a hot dog is about $10.00 and a bag of Crackerjacks is at least $5.00.

Citi Field though looks like a bargain though compared to Yankee stadium. Its cost is $1.8 billion with half being subsidized by taxpayers with an additional $400 million being subsidized by taxpayers for a new transportation system being built. No one, other than the wealthy will be even able to think about going to the ballpark, trust me…and that’s assuming that these wealthy individuals don’t lose their jobs anytime soon. Plus, they need to be doing very well in their current job or work situation…And don’t forget, because not everyone can afford the seats near the dugouts, that means the children cannot interact with their favorite players either because I don’t recall the ballplayers climbing through the bleachers and bleeder seats signing autographs.

Are you telling me that we couldn’t have upgraded these stadiums for about $250 million or so and then taken the rest of this money and help wipe out poverty in the respective cities Flushing and the Bronx in NYC? It’s not as if these stadiums had structural damage to them where they needed to tear them down and build new ones. For nearly a hundred years, the fans at Fenway Park in Boston, and Wrigley Field in Chicago seem to be doing pretty good filling their stadiums…

If the owners of these teams and their marketing “gurus” want to attract more people to their respective stadiums, building a new and shiny stadium is not the answer and given the economy, unless you are going to let me in free, I and many millions will not even contemplate spending our hard-earned money to do so.

Here’s a tip to all owners of any sports team: if you want to increase your fan base, stop paying these ballplayers millions of dollars to merely show up. Hire the ballplayers who want to come to work everyday (playing) and who want to achieve with a great attitude and passion for their respective game. Have the ballplayers interact with the fan base, and with the children every game like the old days and then maybe, maybe, you’ll get the loyalty from fans that you are so desperately seeking.