These stats should scare you:

• Just over 1 in 3 young adults (17-24 years old) are too heavy to serve in the military.
• Of the young adults who meet the weight requirement, 3 of 4 report physical activity levels that would prepare them for the activity level of basic training.
• As a result, 2 in 5 young adults meet both the weight requirement and are adequately active to serve in the military. (1)

And we can continue to go further down the rabbit hole of excluding factors: criminal or drug abuse records, educational deficits, etc.

This isn’t just a health issue. This is a national security issue.

Unfortunately, society seems to have strayed so far to the side of body positivity and body acceptance (instead of calling it what it is – neglect), that totally revamping physical education and school nutrition programs will likely be met with heavy resistance.

For the purposes of brevity, I will only note the economic threat of the obesity epidemic due to rising healthcare costs and the impact on work force readiness.

Instead, this is intended to focus on military readiness.

The way in which we consume food has changed significantly since the 1970s, resulting in weight gain and increases in adiposity (having too much fatty tissue).

• Daily caloric intake has risen from just over 2,100 calories to over 2,700.
• We’ve gone from eating 3 meals per day to 6.
• Snacking has become a major source of calories. (2)

And we of course have to mention that foods are significantly more processed and calorically dense than they were 50 years ago, presenting additional challenges to the American family in seeking out the right options.

But I pause for a moment as I write the word “challenges,” and have to wonder…is it actually a challenge? Or does anybody really care?

Surely, the parents buying Happy Meals three times a week and then sticking a screen in front of their kid’s face has to know it’s not good for them. At least I’d hope…

Or does our society have our heads so far in the sand that we ignore the fact that this is a significant problem and value personal convenience over doing the right thing?

I fear the incessant need to accept every single belief, shape, and size has caused us to stray so far off the path of what is best for society that we are completely lost in the woods.

And not to turn this into a rant, but I have to mention that it’s not only hurting society, but parents are hurting their own children who don’t have a say in the matter.

The kids don’t know any better. They trust that the person who brought them into this world isn’t hurting them by setting them up for a life of health complications.

What Do We Do About It?

There are all sorts of debates we could have on policy and regulations around food that could help move the needle….that’s not what we are doing here.

Because the major point that I want to make is that…

It starts in the home.

Don’t be a low T dad (or mom) who gets home from work and kicks their feet up on the couch until their kids go to bed.

There’s a quote by Charles F. Kettering that goes like this: “Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example and not his advice.”

We need more parents to take a look in the mirror and ask if that’s what they’d want for their kids? And if not…what are you going to do to change it?

Kids will eventually reject any advice you give them on living a healthy lifestyle if you’re not even doing it for yourself. Just like on an airplane where you have to put your own oxygen mask on before you can help others…YOU need to understand, and show, what it looks like before anybody will follow your lead.

We need to stop being apologetic about rejecting values imposed on us that don’t meet the commonsense check or that we are morally opposed to.

I’ll flat out say that spending years feeding your kids nutrient deficient foods while keeping them sedentary and hooked on dopamine by shoving a screen in front of their face is a slow burn form of abuse.

I don’t say that because I want to stand on some platform and preach at people. I say it because we’ve just normalized things that were never intended to be normal.

If you’re the oddball for asking your kid’s daycare if there’s an alternative to the daily sugar filled snack, or you tell them to go outside and play, rather than just sticking a movie on…then so be it.

I guarantee you that there are more people out there who feel exactly like you do. Sometimes it’s just hard to see them while there’s so much other noise about needing more acceptance and understanding.

If we are fed up, then it’s up to us to stand firm in what we believe in without feeling the need to be apologetic about it.

We need to call things like we see ‘em and reject other people’s morals from being shoved down our throats.

It seems that everything in our society today is aimed at what we can do to make everyone more comfortable and devalues the importance of a blue-collar work ethic.

Stand against it and set the example.

Don’t continue to erode the backbone of our society, which is fit, dangerous, hard-working individuals with a strong moral code.

It starts in the home. It starts with a personal example.

And it’s up to you to be the example…for our nation’s security, for your local community, for your family, for yourself.

And to bring it back to the original point of the post, we will reach a breaking point where society has gotten so fat and out of shape that we can’t fill the ranks of our military with able-bodied Americans capable of performing military duties.

We will continue to weaken ourselves from the inside out.

So, while policymakers debate the merits of physical education programs and nutritional recommendations, don’t sit around and wait for somebody to tell you what to do.

Take the responsibility for yourself. Show what right looks like to your family and your community.

Do your part in showing what personal responsibility and a healthy lifestyle looks like.

 

• (1) Unfit to Serve | Physical Activity | CDC
• (2) Is The Obesity Epidemic A National Security Issue Around The Globe? – PMC