By now, you’ve probably read the latest headlines on the Coronavirus that “Most coronavirus deaths have occurred in countries where majority of adults are overweight.”
Ever since I converted to plant-based/vegan eating 32 years ago, I’ve believed that being overweight is the common denominator for 90% of the metabolic diseases we suffer from in this country. In the Washington Post article, it says, “The report found that in countries where less than half of the adult population is classified as overweight, the likelihood of death from covid-19 was about one-tenth of the levels in countries with higher shares of overweight adults.”
If that’s the case, why aren’t we focusing on a serious campaign for everyone to drop twenty pounds or so to get everything under control or at least moving in the right direction?
Sorry to say, but that’s just not the American way of getting things done. We don’t solve problems. We design workarounds to live with them. Our food production system, rife with animal products and highly processed products, fuels the obesity problem. The food industry has created a monster that many people are profiting from, which probably won’t change for a while.
Why?
Because instead of slaying the monster, we create ways to toy with it so we can maintain the status quo. For instance, about 65 to 70 percent of African-Americans are lactose intolerant. Wouldn’t it be prudent for African-Americans to stop drinking milk? That’s a solution you’ll never hear about in mainstream media, but you will get products dangled in front of you, like Lactaid, to help you digest milk so you can drink more of something that’s dangerous to your system. Of course, why would you want to drink milk after infancy—but that’s another fight for another day!
That said, with bated breath, we’re waiting for the Coronavirus vaccine to come and save the day so we can get back to normal, but the better thing to do would be to promote health excellence so we can fight it more effectively.
For the record, I am not saying that we should not take the vaccine.
That would be foolish. But it’s more foolish not to take control of your health through diet and exercise, regardless of the vaccine being available or not. That’s in your best interest, but it’s a proactive approach that big business will not promote because it goes against their bottom line.
However, your bottom line—healthy living—is in your control. I’m asking you to slay the monster instead of toying with it, which takes a little discipline. I know it’s a big ask, but the power is in your hands to do it.
