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<\/a><\/p>\nWhilst watching a really depressing show on the effects of the Covid pandemic, a statistic was mentioned that no one has been talking about\u2014- namely that 40% of the deaths from COVID are of those who are obese or morbidly obese.\u00a0 And this is not only of those who are not vaccinated. I realize I can be accused of fat shaming people by talking about this especially during the holiday season, and I realize as well that there are in some cases (xonly a minority of them however), where heredity and even genetics play a role in this problem, but something needs to be said because, this problem has become enormous, super-sized in fact, in my lifetime of 70 years.\u00a0 The percentage of the American public that falls into the category of obese or morbidly obese has risen dramatically in this period. In the 1950s the percentage was about 10%. Today, it\u2019s 42.4%!\u00a0 In short, before long if this trend continues almost half of America will be obese, which of course causes enormous health problems, including diabetes, heart issues, and of course shortens the length of one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
To what do we attribute this horrible trend?\u00a0 There are many factors, but leaving aside heredity for the moment, it has to do with diet, and lack of exercise.\u00a0 A very large portion of this problem can be attributed to the rise of fast food restaurants in my lifetime, otherwise known as junk food restaurants.\u00a0 Americans eat far too many fatty foods, far too many foods with high cholesterol, far too few healthy fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 On top of which many prefer to drink sugary sodas which have little or no nutritional value.\u00a0 It\u2019s so bad in eastern Kentucky, because many babies have been given Mt Dew in their sippy cups, and the end result is it rots their baby teeth right out!\u00a0 \u00a0Talk about starting them out wrong!<\/p>\n
Yet another cause of the weigh gain problem is sedentary jobs.\u00a0 By this I mean jobs that involve sitting at a desk all day answering phones, or working on a computer etc.\u00a0 Obviously, these kinds of jobs have increased due to the rise of the computer age, but it is also caused by working long hours in such brain-draining jobs, leaving one with no energy or inclination to exercise.<\/p>\n
While in the 70s and 80s and into the 90s there was a realization that this was a growing problem, which spawned an exercise craze including a running craze (yes I was always a runner, and ran 3 marathons in the 90s including the Boston marathon. Today I couldn\u2019t come close to doing that. I\u2019m as slow as a three toed sloth, one of my students saw me out jogging and said \u2018I saw you out power walking the other day\u2019\u2014 ouch!)\u00a0 \u00a0This craze is no longer \u2018a thing\u2019 especially during the Covid pandemic when gyms have been closed.\u00a0 Instead of a craze more and more people are taking the attitude of Oscar Wilde. When he was asked whether he was ever tempted to exercise he said yes. And then said nothing else. The Times reporter then asked \u2018Well what do you do when the temptation to exercise comes over you?\u2019\u00a0 He smiled and said \u2018I lie down until it passes!\u2019<\/p>\n
Needless to say increasingly large, abnormally large humans have created huge problems for the transportation systems of America. Airplanes have had to make larger seats (euphemistically called comfort seats), trucks and cars have had to super-size themselves, and so on.\u00a0 \u00a0I was at an SBC convention (yes folks I was once asked to speak at a Southern Baptist Convention), and when I got up on the stage and looked out at the audience what I saw was that the majority of pastors and wives were obese and in some cases morbidly obese. I was shocked, considering pastors are supposed to set a good example of living healthy lives for their parishioners.\u00a0 I know personally how stressful ministry can be (I pastored six churches long ago), but the way to deal with that is not eating more \u2018comfort food\u2019. I suggest exercise to decrease the stress a bit.<\/p>\n
Because I spend a lot of time abroad, I can tell you that in the Middle East, and in the Far East, and in most of Africa, this is much less a problem, and it has to do with\u2014 wait for it, diet and exercise.<\/p>\n
My prayer over the holiday season is that more of us who are committed Christians will \u2018get religion\u2019 about this and set a good example in the New Year.\u00a0 We live in hope.\u00a0 Let\u2019s try this coming year not to fulfill Isaiah 55.2 according to the old KJV\u2014 \u2018Delight thyself in fatness, drink wine on the lees\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whilst watching a really depressing show on the effects of the Covid pandemic, a statistic was mentioned that no one has been talking about\u2014- namely that 40% of the deaths from COVID are of those who are obese or morbidly obese.\u00a0 And this is not only of those who are not vaccinated. I realize I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
A Pandemic of Pulchritude<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whilst watching a really depressing show on the effects of the Covid pandemic, a statistic was mentioned that no one has been talking about---- namely\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Pandemic of Pulchritude\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whilst watching a really depressing show on the effects of the Covid pandemic, a statistic was mentioned that no one has been talking about---- namely\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2021\/11\/29\/a-pandemic-of-pulchritude\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-29T06:53:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" 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