We Are Not Fat, Lazy, and Stupid

colinchamp July 8, 2021 4 Comments

Well, it is official – there are an insurmountable number of forces trying to wreck our health, dissuade us from living a healthy lifestyle, distract us from activities that are beneficial to us, and spoon-feed us magic to make up for all this mischief. The push to make us fat, lazy, and stupid (FLS) is everywhere and anywhere, and impossible to avoid. It is in our homes, local communities, and yes, it is in our hospitals. It tells us to ignore any responsibility when it comes to our health, forget about meaning (ikigai), and civic duty (fare bella figura and arete). It tells us to ignore the importance of being healthy for ourselves, and also for others.

In medicine, this racket is well-known, though we pretend it either isn’t happening or we are merely helpless cogs in the giant wheel that continues to grind our over-nourished and under-exercised population through its gritty gears and provide the occasional oil (some chronic medication) to make the process less uncomfortable. Yet, throughout the process, the gears continue to crush the health of our patients. The antidote that they provide for the uncomfortable realization of acknowledging this fact is some mindless news feed hand-selected to make the smartest of us stare at the screen and drool from the excessive overload of mindless propaganda.

On a societal level, never was this clearer for me than when I was driving down Hillsborough or Churton Road during COVID lock-downs. All the local gyms, small businesses, and small restaurants were forced closed, while cars backed up on to the freeway at all the local fast-food joints. Policymakers can argue all day about what were the best actions during this time (a topic that is tangential to this discussion, nor of any interest to me as that is certainly not my field of knowledge), but the inconsistency tells us everything we need to know. The stomach-turning stench of fried grease that one smells while cruising down Churton to enter I-85 never left for a second during the pandemic, and the frequent car accidents continued from the line of vehicles snaking onto the main road extending out of Biscuitviille and Krispy Kreme, blocking the right lane and leaving the frequent texting driver having their quest for a warm doughnut interrupted as they rear-ended the parked car in front of them. I witnessed so many of these accidents on my drive home from work that I often thought I was living in a post-apocalyptic scene from a bad movie where gas and water had run out.

The media sources continue to spew filth to incite us against one another, and keep us inside watching more. Thankfully, sanity still lives within the beautiful aspects of life, like learning, sharing, spending time with friends and family, and pushing ourselves physically and mentally.

On a medical level, the proof is in the pudding and a study we published years back hit the nail on the head. Our government-run VA hospitals are loaded with vending machines owned by Coca Cola and Pepsi. The latter two companies – who have done their fair share of wrecking our health over the past several decades – believe-it-or-not, own these vending machines and mandate what products are sold in our hospitals. You read that right. Pepsi and Coke decide what goes into vending machines in our hospitals. These are, of course, overflowing with sugar-filled soda, candy, and snacks. However, where this bites the VA hospitals in the behind is the fact that these foods directly contradict their own dietary recommendations. Actions speak louder than words, and this message once again tells us to be FLS, as they spoon-feed our vets those same foods that they tell us wreck our health. Thank you for your service, now please fund Coke and Pepsi and wreck your health in the process. If this doesn’t make your head explode, I don’t know what will.

An interesting side-note: when we tried to publish this article in several high impact journals, we got quite the interesting response. Any researcher who publishes articles is familiar with the annoying and typical rejection letter from journals: “Thank you for submitting your research. However, we get many submissions and cannot publish them all. We regret to inform you that this work has been rejected for further review, blah, blah, blah.” Yet our response was different. I received multiple personalized letters written by the journal lead editors explaining why they couldn’t publish it, or even stranger, they shared very specific criticisms. This rarely happens, if ever, yet I received many of these from our top journals. The editors certainly know this is a sticky situation, but the puppet strings from above would certainly have their heads should they publish something like this…I suppose we struck a nerve.

While the fat and lazy is obvious, this is where the stupid sets in; they think they can inundate us with endless banter and worthless chatter and that we are stupid enough to ignore the bigger picture. Well, it is clear we are not. It took a while for many of us to catch on, but when our own hospitals and organizations who are supposedly out there to “protect” our health are the ones destroying it, we caught on. This is no conspiracy theory; it is out in the open, all around us, in our face, and nobody is trying to hide it.

The only solution, of course, is to turn off the madness, ignore the constant FLS message, and, upon coming to this realization, continue on the path to health. This is not an easy task, as it is a rocky path that detours from the message that is constantly poured down our throats by talking heads and committee leaders. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but much like the very clear message our research paper above illustrated, once we realize that they want us fat, lazy, and stupid, that they sell us the same foods in their hospitals that they boisterously condemn, and that the racket is obvious, a feeling of liberation follows and we find ourselves on a clearer path to health. Difficult tasks produce greater rewards.

This article is not meant to be negative, or even a wakeup call, but merely a reminder that when we read books, stay active, eat food full of actual nutrients and vitamins, and push to stay healthy, we are not the insane ones. Quite the opposite. We are succeeding, we are thriving, and we are directly going against what they have been spoon-feeding us. While those following the FLS advice are finding themselves rear-ended on the highway while texting, we are on the right path – albeit a long one – to health and happiness.

As you constantly read the message pushing us to be FLS, and criticizing us when we aren’t, you can find solace in the fact that you aren’t alone. There are millions of us in the same boat. Millions of us that live a healthy lifestyle, push ourselves and others to be good people and neighbors, practice honesty, engage in group heavy lifting sessions in our garages at 7am while some of our neighbors look at us like we are crazy, and read books to learn more as opposed to watching the news and political theater. I know, this all sounds crazy to many of the drones out there, but the results speak for themselves. Keep on the path and ignore the detractors along the way. Many of us are walking along right next to you, cheering you on.

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