Article #3
Unhealthy and Cosmetized American
Health
education should be a part of the preK-12 curriculum, sequenced grade by grade
for focus on particular issues pertinent to developmental stages of childhood,
adolescence, and prospective adulthood.
But
health as a subject area of focus is weakly represented at preK through grade 5
and abominably taught at grades 6-8 and 9-12. Many health education
teachers are overweight and not given to healthy dietary habits or exercise
regimens.
Thus
do Americans go forth as adults ill-educated as to matters of health, with many
never acquiring or acting upon information on healthful living beyond the
school years:
Thirty-six
and five-tenths percent (36.5%) of Americans are obese; another 32.5% are
overweight, for a total of 69% carrying excess body weight.
Americans
consume on average three pounds (3 lbs.) of refined sugar per week.
Seventy percent (70%) of the American diet is derived from processed
foods; fifty-five percent (55%) of calorie consumption comes from
processed foods. Fifty percent (50%) of calories in the American diet are
consumed in the form of pizza, burgers, fries, chips, candy, and soda
pop. Less than one- third (33%) of calories are derived from the
healthiest foods: vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
Fewer
than 25% of Americans get at least twenty minutes of aerobic exercise per
day. As a result of unhealthy diets, lack of exercise, sedentary habits,
and prolonged temporal spans sitting in ergonomically deleterious positions and
chairs, at least 33% of adult women and 25% of adult males have lower back
pain. Approximately 25% of adults have had treatments for back pain in
the last year. Gastrointestinal problems plague the American
population; approximately 16% of all adults and 33% of those over sixty
years of age experience chronic constipation.
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Given
the lack of good health habits and the discipline necessary to maintain proper
physiological functioning, the propensity of Americans to seek artificial means
of attaining popular goals pertinent to physical appearance is striking.
The
United States leads the world in cosmetic surgery at 1,309 per 100,000
population. Ninety-two percent (92%) of cosmetic surgeries are performed
on women. Approximately 14 million women and one million men in the
United States have cosmetic surgery per year. Among women, 310,000 per
year seek breast enlargement, 258,558 have liposuction, and 213,780 have their
noses reshaped.
The
cosmetics industry in the United States generates $511 billion annually.
The high fashion industry generates $759 billion per year. Every year,
women purchase $36,741,000,000 worth of high heels. Men buy $3,000,000,000
worth of neckties.
Thus
do women with garishly painted faces go forth on little stilts that are the contemporary
form of foot-binding, while men even in hot climates hang nooses around
buttoned up collars as they scramble into air conditioned buildings in
artificially and excessively populated areas of the nation.
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And
thus do people go forth from our wretched public schools ill-prepared to live
as culturally enriched, civically prepared, and professionally satisfied
citizens, retreating into lives of poor health, pitiful cosmetization, and
irrational attire, living according to the insidious standards of a society
that only dimly perceives the forces that induce the behavior of a populace
controlled as marionettes by a hidden puppeteer.
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