Blocked . . .

I have been thinking about but stuck, on what to write about today. However one thing has been recurring for the past couple of days.

I heard a report on a radio show - I think it was Michael Baisden - one out of every four American is considered obese. By 2016 it will be one of every two adult American will be obese. So what I am stuck on is  - why? Why are we so grossly overweight? I have struggles with my weight for the greater part of my adult life, and - I have suffered through two heart attacks/heart related issues. So I damn sure know better.

The best answer I can come up with is, because we are lazy. Americans take for granted everything! We justify our slothful actions with because we want to and we can. The worse part is we are passing these horrendous habits onto our children. Thus, they will continue the habits, and because we have not instilled in them steadfast actions, thoughts, and practices, a great many of us will bury our children. Bug on that! We will put our children in the grave before their time and because we were to lazy to teach them better.

I have a 15 year-old nephew that if he does not weight 250 plus pounds my name is not what it is. Senseless. And his parents weigh 100 plus pounds more than that.

I have a theory. I call it "syrup sandwiches". You see I know what it is to eat - and enjoy, partly because I didn't know that it was not so enjoyable - but I know what it is like to have a syrup sandwich. Because that was all we HAD to eat. Somewhere in our psyche we came to believe somehow the premise of syrup sandwiches were beneath our offspring. So what now - the person you brought into this world is better than you?!?! Nope!

Those meager meals made us hungry for more. We got our homes younger than our parents purchased theirs. We went further with our education. We did not have to chop cotton, use segregated bathrooms, or shop before sun down because we were not allowed out after dark. We were made stronger, more determined, steadfast, mindful, respectful and appreciative. And, we ate syrup sandwiches.  We had to earn new everything, new clothes, new things, new gadgets, magazines so we could pull out the centerfolds of Right On magazine and plaster the poster of LL Cool Jay on the wall. And we ate syrup sandwiches. We borrowed $5.00 from our parents to get gas in the lawnmower of our fathers, or our neighbors to earn money for Jordache jeans. And we ate syrup sandwiches.

We knew how to get by on meager. We didn't weight 200 pounds and call it "pleasantly plump". There is nothing pleasant about a fat adult. Even less pleasing for a fat child.

We are addicted to food! As we are addicted to over indulgence, and half assing, and laziness - because we can. Because we lost our appreciation of syrup sandwiches. We have bread a generation of people who we made to believe were too good for syrup sandwiches. Too good for what sustained our lives. We have raised a bunch of fat lazy people who believe they are entitled because we are too lazy to tell them "no",

How do we get on track? Now we have to show them better than we can tell them. Baby steps is how we start. When we drive to work park further away. On our breaks - scheduled or not - return to your vehicle and move it even further away. Get in minimally 5,000 steps a day. Increase those steps from week to week. Eat your food on a smaller plate. Chew slowly. Drink more water. Chase those bad ass kids around the house or around the yard. If you have anything to do on the weekend that is within a one mile radius - walk. It does not require a gym membership. Walking is free.

If our bodes are our temples then lets treat ourselves fundamentally better. Lets create better bodies on the strength of syrup sandwiches, hold the crap and - unblock our minds, unblock bad habits, help unblock our arteries - and give our kids a healthy helping of  a syrup sandwich!  Unlock their potential.