U.S. Life Expectancy Rates and Obesity

When it comes to life expectancy, the U.S. is the best in the world, right?

Wrong.
We’re 44th.

44th!

That is how bad our country is at taking care of its citizens. Granted, most people would be happy with 78.14 years of life, but the United States is supposed to be #1. Why, oh why, are this country’s people dying at a faster rate than 43 other countries in the world?

One answer would have to be our lifestyles. Spending forty hours a week at a desk job, followed by another forty in front of the TV is not good for the old circulatory system. And have you seen the fast food menus these days? Hardee’s sells a thousand-plus calorie burrito -- FOR BREAKFAST!!! Macaroni Grill has a twelve hundred calorie salad. Don’t worry, it has to be good for you, it’s a salad right? As long as you run a marathon after you eat it.

Now I’m not the type of person to recommend suing McDonald’s for your ballooning waistline, nobody forced you to eat there eight times a week. What I am calling for is a return to common sense. Temperance is a virtue that is seldom used these days. So you had a Big Mac for lunch? Go hit the gym! It is time Americans take responsiblity for their own health. For the first time in years, our current generation of children may not live as long as their parents. This is unheard of, almost a devolution of sorts. Our society is plagued with a disease that we can fight but choose not to: our own appetites. Our hardworking doctors and nurses are already stretched to the limit fighting cancer and meningitis and a myriad of diseases, and here is our greatest killer, our own laziness.

Wake up, there is not going to be some magic pill which is going to let you eat all you want and stay healthy. It takes work. Previous generations had the drought and famine of the dust bowl, polio, and smallpox.

Our generation’s biggest threat is the Great Plenty…or at least the Good ‘n’ Plenty.


Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html