Wake up, Americans!

Ok, I've got to vent.... I am so tired of hearing people around me (on television, in person, on the radio, etc.) complain about aches, pains, health problems or anything else they can find to gripe about even though they've put themselves in the "painful" situations. Are people in such denial that they can't admit their back problems, their internal organ malfunctions, their chronic pain-associated symptoms are due to a general lack of taking care of themselves??? I guess denial is the answer otherwise we wouldn't have the rising health care crisis in our nation due to obesity and smoking-related illnesses.

Wake up people!!! What types of food do you put into your body? Are you a smoker? What are you drinking? How much of those things are you actually consuming and how much of those calories and fat are you actually burning off? I'm tired of the excuses.... "I don't have time to work out," "It's my body and I'll live how I want," and other ignorant statements like that. Guess what, people....your choices are affecting our nation, and on a more micro level, our families.

I aboslutely hate to see parents smoking around their children. It's bad enough they want to smoke at all, especially in public where people like me (non-smoking, do not have a death wish, life-loving individuals) have to walk past them to get into or out of a building.

Yes, it's hard to make changes that stick in our lives. I'm a commuter with a very busy family life so I know how hard it can be to find the time to exercise. However, I'll tell you this for sure...when I know I'm not going to be able to exercise then I make sure the food and drinks that I consume are as healthy as possible for that day or so. I'm not going to stick my mouth around the tailpipe of my car to inhale toxic fumes therefore I will not smoke cigarettes. I'm not going to dine at Mickey D's or even Chick-Fil-A, or even just make a bowl of mac and cheese, if I know I won't have time to work off some of what I've consumed. And, honestly...is there really a need to eat the donuts that people bring to work? I respect my body and I want to do all that I can so it will last me a long time. I'm not going to take it for granted that this body will hold out for as long as I need it to...who knows what genetic mistakes or age-related issues will be in my future. Why would I want to increase my chances of perishing at an early age?

People, we owe it to ourselves and to each other to be healthy. Stop taking it for granted that just because you got away with eating like a little pig and smoking like a freight train when you were a teenager that you can continue to do that as an adult. We have resposibilites to ourselves and to each other to not cost our society tons of money in rising health care costs, and to not increase our mortality rate so that other people are left to take care of our children, or that our overweight children will be left for our medical industry to fix.

Be watchful of what you're eating and drinking and how much exercise you are getting. Don't be a moron and smoke! Stop the complacency and be proactive. And, stop expecting everyone else to feel sorry for you or to take care of you when your body stops functioning. Wake up, unhealthy people because you've done it to yourself!