Irene Pastore Fitness

July 4, 2012

Dear America:

This letter isn’t meant to hurt your feelings, especially on your birthday.  I know how busy you are, working long hours, taking care of yourself, your family, paying bills, food shopping, doctor’s visits, and all.  The main reason for this letter, is to let you know how concerned I am about your health.  Please realize it might be difficult for me to express my worries, without being blunt. 

I know that exercise isn’t high on your to-do list, because national health statistics say otherwise.  You’re not exercising enough, and it’s showing around your mid-section.  Only 22 percent of your citizens take part in regular exercise, while 68 percent are overweight.

You’re confused about nutrition.  You think that complex carbohydrates are bad for you.  What you don’t realize is that whole grains, baked potatoes, and whole wheat pasta is not what makes you fat.  You just plain eat too much.

Overeating leads to overweight, and obesity.  I think you’re killing yourself with a knife and fork.  You better turn the TV off, and stop watching cooking shows. Preoccupation with food is a really big problem with you.

Your sugar cravings cause overeating.  And what you need to learn, is that sugar is added to most packaged food.  It’s time to start reading food labels, and cut down on sugar. It’s in salad dressing, canned soup, cereals, frozen food, baby food, veggie burgers, and a whole lot more than I can list here.   You have to start doing your homework.

America, you’re gaining more weight, and getting fatter by the minute.  Your health isn’t improving either.  It isn’t that you haven’t tried to lose weight.  You found out the hard way, that crash diets just don’t work.  Instead of losing weight, you’ve gained it back, and then some.

Awhile ago, someone told you to let it all hang out.  You took their advice to heart.  Have you looked in the mirror lately?  Aren’t those rolls of fat around your middle, making you really uncomfortable?  Wouldn’t you rather be svelte?  You’ve taken to wearing extra-large tee shirts to cover it up.  But really, everyone has noticed.  You don’t care about how you look anymore, and they’re calling you Jabba The Hutt, behind your back.

Your excess fat is causing you health problems galore, plus you can’t move or walk properly, because you’re carrying around all that unnecessary girth.  Your cravings for sugar-laden food hasn’t helped either.  Every year you’ve grown wider, so much so, that oversize coffins are built to accomodate your ever-expanding frame, supersizing you right into your grave.

May I point out that you consume between 68 to 90 pounds of sugar per person, yearly.  That’s about 22 teaspoons daily.  Sugar addiction has made you into a hopeless glutton.  You’re supposed to eat to live, not the other way around.  Food isn’t a status symbol, and gluttony isn’t sexy.

They say you’ve become a nation of slobs, not caring about how you look, in the throws of an obesity epedemic, that’s got the CDC very worried.  Someone has pointed out how fat you really are, by a chart, called The United States Of Obesity.  It’s not a pretty picture.

All this mess, isn’t really totally your fault.  Your work hours are long.  The 40 hour work week is a distant memory.    It looks like you’re working yourself to death. You’re the most medicated country in the world, and the one with the least time off.  You have no time for your health.

You’ve been accused of being stupid, and lazy, and not in the least interested in taking preventive health measures, through exercise and nutrition.  But the cards are stacked against you. Only a handful of your cities are walkable, and have stellar means of public transportation.  You’ve become hopelessly car dependent, and spend way too much time sitting.  How can anyone expect you to walk more, or start bicycling if the means to do so aren’t in your favor?

Take a long look in the mirror.  You’re going to have to make some changes, and soon too.  Put down the chips and dips.  Take the initiative to change your ways. Otherwise, you’re going down like the Titanic, drowning in your own fat.

In closing I would like to wish you a Happy Birthday.  Skip the cake, and ice cream.  Have fresh fruit, and a shot of wheat grass juice instead.

Yours truly,

Irene Pastore
Blue Moon Personal Training
New York City

Information in this post is educational.  It should not be used to replace medical advice from your physician, or other healthcare provider.

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Copyright 2012 Irene Pastore, and Blue Moon Personal Training