A lot of us at KOS are busily occupied explaining to the Israelis how they're doing everything wrong, how they're making their lives more difficult by not thinking through the consequences of their actions.
Warning: If you're thin-skinned about thick bodies and thick-headedness, read no further!
For dinner last night we ate pickled jelly-fish and white bean salad, served with peppers, garlic, cabbage and corn. In the same meal we each had a small bowl of cold noodles and sea-weed; and about 4 ounces of grilled fish. Dessert was a single piece of chocolate, cheese, raisins and apricots served with strong black coffee and fresh cream. My wife puts a lot of time, energy and thought into preparing our food and we thank her every single meal.
How is the rest of the world faring? Well, menu choice is the least of the problems facing folks identified by nation in this World Hunger Map. If you've skipped the link, don't; the map is clickable and a superb resource. The bottom line? 16% of the world goes to bed hungry. One child dies every five seconds from hunger or related diseases. Of course the distribution means the percentage in poorer countries is much higher, with 35% of the population in Afghanistan, for example, suffering from all the joys of starvation and malnutrition on a daily basis. Roughly 20-35% of the children in Iraq go hungry even now.
Western nations, led by the US, are trending in the other direction, with folks tipping the scales at levels where the amount of fat in our bodies is actually impenetrable, rendering x-ray machines and ultra-sound useless in disease detection.
Increasing numbers of Americans are becomeing too fat to fit into x-ray machines, US researchers report. The nation's rising obesity problems mean many citizens are not only too large for scanners but they have too much fat for the rays to penetrate. Over the past 15 years, the number of failed scans linked to patient obesity has doubled, Radiology journal reports. BBC
And lest anyone delude themselves that this trend towards obesity is a uniquely American problem, doctors in the UK confirm that the percentage of folks carrying far too much fat for their own good is increasing there, as well.
The US government says 64% of the population are overweight.
Dr Colin Wayne of the UK's National Obesity Forum said the UK was showing a similar trend.
"The obesity rates in the US have been going up relentlessly. Sadly, in the UK we are following in their wake.
"The UK is now the fastest growing country in Europe for rising obesity.
"It's worrying if people can't get the necessary investigations. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. It is the epidemic of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases that will follow in the wake of obesity that is even more worrying."
Unlearning bad habits or preventive intervention.
Refugees in Chicago are being taught how to eat properly in a program that underlines the pervasiveness of the dietary disaster in the United States.
Many of the new arrivals suffered from malnutrition and came from places where food was scarce. Some want to make up for a lifetime in which they were denied meat. Others gravitate towards the fizzy orange drink and crisps, believing they are a great source of vitamins.
What does all this mean? Here are some numbers: "Updated to 2003 dollars, the 2001 US Surgeon General's report on obesity stated that annual indirect costs of obesity total $64 billion". Small potatoes compared to the money going down the toilet in Iraq. The difference is in the actual damage down to Americans. Where casualty rates approach 3,000 dead and PST and other injuries ranging in the tens of thousands since the war began 3 years ago, recent studies scaled back previous estimates that put the number of American deaths from obesity at 400,000 to a mere 112,000.
Given the current administration's preference for positive numbers we may want to view this reconfiguration with a grain or two, no more, of salt. Yet, 112,000 deaths and $50 billion plus far surpases the death toll from terror and the war in Iraq, at least based on the numbers to date.
Solutions? Go look in the mirror. Run up and down the stairs. Do twenty jumping jacks or try to touch your toes. I could use more exercise myself and I'm in pretty good shape. This isn't a contest or an attempt to make anyone feel bad. Quite the opposite. My own belief is that the key to good physical health is good mental and spiritual health, although my own mental health might call that thesis into question.
The point is that we can do something, all of us, to improve the quality of our lives by eating better, by learning more about the food we do eat and why we choose to eat foods that are so unhealthy for us.
Don't torture yourself. Start with healthy foods you like. Buy the candy bar as long as you buy and eat the apple first. It's doable, it'll improve just about everything in your life and it won't happen over-night.
But if I'm eating two kinds of fruit every day at two out of three meals, the odds are I'm well on my way to a much healthier life-style. Small changes are better than big "promises". The time to change is today. That's all the advice I have.