In the San Marcos Daily Record July 28 edition there was a cartoon by Jeff Koterba that had a “humorous” look at the present level of fitness in the United States. The cartoon showed two middle aged men jogging down a road and looked to be struggling with the effort. One gentleman said, “Now they say we shouldn’t take a daily aspirin to prevent a heart attack.” His jogging partner gasped a response with, “I wish they’d say we shouldn’t exercise!”
Having been in the fitness field almost all of my life, the cartoon highlighted what part of the problem is with the health of today’s population. With two out of every three people being overweight and obese (more obese than overweight) and a very critical epidemic of opioid addiction, the cartoon related to the fact that a majority of people would rather take a pill to solve a problem than go for a run. It seems like pill taking is the answer to almost everything bothering us. We take pills to lose weight, to go to sleep, to wake up, ease aches and pain, to feel better, and give us energy and many other reasons. I have seen people I know with a pill case that has close to a dozen different pills to take every day. A few are necessary, but many are to counteract the side effects of the others. Too many people think that a vitamin pill will give them better health. Instead of a multi-vitamin pill they take a pill for every vitamin and mineral listed on the label of the bottles. Some vitamins, like vitamin A, can be toxic and result in serious problems if the recommended dose is too much.
Most health benefits can be attained by eating a variety of food sources. Meat such as fish, chicken and beef, vegetables, fruit, and pasta will provide almost every vitamin and mineral the body needs. Vegetarians can meet the protein requirements by combining a few foods. It seems too many people would rather swallow a vitamin C pill than eating an orange. Others would rather drink a protein solution than eat a nice baked salmon, or catfish meal.
