Work makes my ass fat!

No .  .  .  Not MY ass .  .  .  HER ass!


Some background .  .  .  A perfect July day in 2010, with lots of sun and heat .  .  .  A few friends got together for "Happy Hour" in late afternoon .  .  .  Everyone was a little naturally high to begin with, and then proceeded to get a little happier as drinks flowed and food was consumed .  .  .  At one point, the topic of conversation got around to body types, and there was discussion about this body type and that body type .  .  .  Then, out of the blue, Maria blurted out, Work makes my ass fat!  Good thing I'd swallowed my red wine two seconds before her bold pronouncement!  Maria is on the shorter side, with a tendency to gain weight easily .  .  .  She also seems to lose it easily .  .  .  She attributes her occasional weight issues to her southern Italian heritage, and references it often .  .  .


What made me think of this?  Yesterday I came across an article on Yahoo News about the sad state of health of the majority of Canadian adults .  .  .  In a nutshell, two thirds of Canadian adults are overweight or obese .  .  .  It's even worse in the USA .  .  .  Resulting from this is a spike in Type II diabetes, and of course, more cardiovascular disease, more cancer, more this and that .  .  .  the list is endless .  .  .  One of the things mentioned in the article is that so many people are working such long hours, then go home tired and often to kids who need attention, housework and so on .  .  .  So, no desire or motivation to be terribly active after a long, hard day on the job .  .  .  And, as my friend Maria so eloquently stated, some jobs in and of themselves (a lot of sitting) contribute to fat asses .  .  .


What to do?  Clearly, the general adult population is under-exercised and underactive .  .  .   I wrote an entry in December titled Gym Rat, in which I made a plea for people to get active in 2011 (if they aren't already) for the sake of overall well-being, and also improved quality of life .  .  .  Yesterday at the gym, I saw exactly what I knew I'd see, which was, a packed place and lots of new faces .  .  .  Happens every January for the first two weeks, then it's back to normal as most of the new bodies fall away .  .  .  But of course, I DO hope that most of them won't .  .  .  The truth is though, most of them WILL .  .  .  It's a sad state of affairs where the overall health of our adult population is concerned .  .  .


All we can control is ourselves .  .  .  We make the decisions to exercise or not, smoke or not, eat healthy or not, and so on .  .  .  We can't do that for others .  .  .  But, if we start with ourselves, our behavior may have a positive influence upon just one other person, and motivate him or her to make some positive changes in activity level, diet, or what have you .  .  .  We should never underestimate our power to influence others by setting a good example!  We never know where or when something we say or do will plant a seed in another's consciousness, and then a profound change begins to take place over time in that person's life .  .  .  The power of ONE!!  Never doubt it!




Life is beautiful baby!


Peace and love .  .  .


Until next time .  .  .  Ciao!!