Declare Your Independence This Fourth of July

This coming Monday, America will celebrate its independence.  It was 235 years ago that America adopted the Declaration of Independence declaring its independence from Great Britain.  While America as a country is no longer dependent, individual Americans and families have become grossly dependent on unhealthy food, technology, and comforts.  These dependencies have lead to a devastating obesity crisis which has led to further dependence on prescription medications to control blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure.  Today, the average American eats approximately 570 calories more EACH DAY than they did thirty years ago.  To put that into perspective, those additional calories could lead to a weight gain of about a pound a week.  That is 52 pounds a year! 

What is so astonishing about this is that we can make a change.  We do not have to risk our health and our future – obesity is widely reported as the #1 preventable cause of death in the United States.  With two out of three adults and one out of three children are overweight or obese, we are literally killing ourselves.  The majority of Americans are affected by being overweight or obese.  The main causes of this appear to be our dependence on supersize fast food meals, packaged “convenience” snack foods, sugary sodas & coffees, as well as our aversion to physical activity.  We are eating more and moving less.  Thirty years ago Americans were not only eating 570 fewer calories each day, they weren’t sitting with an iPhone in one hand and a video game controller or remote control in the other.  They entertained themselves by dancing in discos, playing in the cul-de-sac, roller-skating, playing Pac-Man while standing, and walking the streets with the ever-popular walkman.  Today, our entertainment typically involves us sitting down with fatty and/or sugary snacks on the couch or car seat next to us.  We very rarely enjoy our meals at a table with a knife and fork.  We want everything – information, dating, food, pleasure – instantly and single-handedly.  Rather than eating a bowl of cereal & fruit, we eat a processed cereal bar, we send an electronic invitation to meet instead of walking over to ask in person, we order food while sitting in a car only to consume it on the couch using our hands as utensils and laps as plates.  American families rarely cook a healthful meal for the family, let the kids set the table, and sit down without the distraction of some type of technology. 

The good news?  We can make a change today.  Use this Fourth of July as your day to declare your personal independence.  We can sever our ties to processed foods and inactivity.  We can make decisions that will help us lose our excess weight and gain our lives back.  We can eat less and move more.  We can declare our healthy independence and discover how much freedom we actually have – freedom from prescription meds, artery-clogging foods, and sedentariness. 

If you or someone you know needs help developing your own Declaration of Independence, I will be your congressional coach and motivator!  I will sign on with you and “we the people” will find your independence.  Go to http://www.coachdconsulting.com/Services.html to see all the ways I can help you and those you love.  And see http://www.coachdconsulting.com/Camp_Champ_for_Kiddos_July.pdf for July’s Camp Champ for Kiddos flyer.  Obesity is 100% preventable – “We the People” can declare our independence!