Applied Mastery

Dismay

Geez.  Ok, so I've had this happen to me before, but this time the effect was more poignant for some reason.

What am I talking about?

Basically, this:  I went to a small local beach here on the west coast of Florida yesterday, and as I was sitting and jotting some notes down and doing a little strategizing (love doing that at the beach), I started to notice the preponderance of fat people.

I'm not talking about "a little bit overweight" either.  I'm talking about, for those of you who remember Marlon Brando in One-Eyed Jacks, "tub of guts" fat.

And let me state in advance to any readers out there who have legitimate medical reasons for being overweight -- my intent is not to denigrate you folks or demean your struggle.

Back to the story.  Anyway, as I continued to observe the citizenry on the beach, I was (once again) blown away by what I observed. 

Person after person after person (including children of all ages) around 70 of them -- all significantly overweight.  Every single one of them.  Except one guy.  Finally, after about 70 people into my counting, a guy walked by who looked like he actually did some kind of regular athletic activity and might be able to play some tennis or something without keeling over on his face.

And then I started counting again, and things went back into their previous groove -- fat  -- fat -- fat -- fat....etc.  Eventually, I got disgusted and gave up.

It was pathetic.

At the end of the counting, that means there was one guy out of around 100 people who appeared to have a moderate level of fitness and health.  One.

You can replicate this for yourself -- go hang out at a mall or try it the next time you're at the airport.  Watch the people and start counting and you'll probably be shocked if you haven't done this before.

Every time I consciously observe this phenomenon, I really struggle with it.  I mean basically, if my eyes aren't lying to me, what I'm seeing indicates that somewhere between 95 - 99% of the population are lazy fat pigs, who -- during their spare time -- just sit around on their couch watching TV and eating.

Harsh words I know, but it is what it is -- I'm just the messenger.

Meanwhile, we've got all these anti-cancer campaigns and organizations out there (no disrespect to Lance Armstrong and the like), and all kinds of other organizations focusing on heart disease and other malady's, and I'm wondering if people aren't focusing on the wrong thing -- e.g., the symptoms rather than the cause? 

I mean do people really think they can gobble down Ho Hos and Ring Dings all day long, in between a couple of Big Macs, and not eventually come down with either heart disease and/or cancer?

How stupid is that?

Is the real source of all these diseases, e.g., cancer & heart disease, mainly due to the population being 95% comprised of gluttons?

Harsh words I know, but are these harsh words the truth?

So what do we do about this?  Can we do anything, even if we wanted to?  Should we do anything, even if we could?  Should we just adopt a "hey, that's their problem" kind of outlook?  What about their kids?  Kids who get no exercise, and are hugely overweight by the time they are 7 years old?

I don't know.

But what I do know, is that I feel really bad for a lot of these people.  Not because they are, at the moment, really fat and can't control their unbridled gluttony.  No, not because of that.  I feel bad for them because I know what's coming for them.  I know at some point they're going to be in a lot of pain, and suffering a lot, and so is their family.  In some way or another.  They have an extremely high probability of going down for the count in a really bad way.  And I feel bad for them for that.  And I feel bad for the kids who are going to lose their dad because he couldn't stop eating.  Such a waste.

Drink more water

I'm sure you've heard this before.  There are all kinds of theories on this subject, and I suppose at the end of the day everybody has to make whatever decision works best for them, but in my humble opinion -- drinking enough water is critical to health and energy.

And if you don't have energy and vitality, then you're not going to achieve a lot of the things in life that you'd like to.

What I've learned over the years (and continue to learn whenever I forget), is that I personally do the best when I've had at least 2 liters of water per day.  And of course I'll have a lot more than that down here in the Florida heat if I'm doing a mountain bike ride or playing tennis or some other water-sapping activity.

If I keep the water levels up nice and high, consistently, I've found I receive the following benefits as a result:

• I have more energy
• I sleep better
• I have fewer digestive issues
• I recover better from strenuous exercise
• I have better endurance during sporting activities
• I feel more calm and relaxed
• I very rarely get sick

Give it a try -- do some experimentation and find out what the best level of water per day is right for you. 

Note: I recently read (somewhere which escapes me at the moment) that sometimes people mistake the body craving water as a hunger signal, which can cause them to eat food instead of drink fluid, so keep an eye out for that possibility as well.

How to live to 130

If we didn't have enough evidence that sugar prevents humans from attaining their full potential lifespan, here's some more: How to live to 130 

If I keep posting links like this the sugar conglomerates might send some guys in ski masks to blackjack me in my driveway, but that's ok -- the more articles like this that get out and circulated, the less people will end up with diabetes and heart disease.

Seriously though -- make an effort to cut way back on processed sugar in your diet -- you'll see and feel the difference in a big way in a month.  Also, if you're a guy -- cutting way back on the sugar is probably the best way to get rid of your man boobs.