Health Craze?

Lately it seems everywhere you go there are "alternative options". For example you're walking through the grocery store looking at produce, you're feeling pretty dang good about yourself for just pulling yourself away from the cookie and chip aisle long enough to grab some bananas. Success! You've gotten something healthy to balance out the rest of the junk food in your cart, then just as you're rounding the corner you notice the organic foods section. This is like the healthy of healthy! But it costs so much more. So do you go with the healthy bananas, or the super healthy organic bananas?

Upon leaving the grocery store still upset about the prices of the organic bananas (if there's less done to the product making it more healthy then why do they charge twice the price?), you hit up a fast food restaurant for a quick dinner fix. You look at the menu and try to decide between the nuggets or the double cheeseburger, but then haunting you on the next menu panel over is the "healthy choice!" panel filled with milks, juices, salads and fruit.

After being guilted into the salad and milk option you head home and get ready to pop in a movie after a long day. Well what's a movie without popcorn, right? You open the cupboard to grab the salty treat pop it in the microwave and head to the dvd shelf to pick one out. There in plain sight you see your old work out video you bought a few months ago, still wrapped in plastic waiting for you to fulfill that promise to yourself. 

You reluctantly head back to the microwave and toss aside the bag popcorn so that it doesn't distract you while starting your routine.

Sound familiar? Lately Many Americans are being heavily influenced by the media to count their carbs, calories and snacks during the day. There's just about every type of diet imaginable out there. Health in America is hitting an all time high. Suddenly the price of health food has sky rocketed, and newer healthier options are being brought out all the time. People are becoming more self aware of their health and strive to better themselves. It only seems natural that this nationwide epidemic will continue to spread, and more and more healthy foods will become readily available to one and to all. 

Enough is Enough

Rough & tough, big and bad, give up your lunch money! Thats what comes to mind when you think of a bully, right? It seems like as time goes on bullying has become more and more acceptable, maybe not when put in terms that way, but think about it! The violence in our society is rising, and at what cost?

Movies? If there's no fighting, no blood, no gore, it's not a good movie, right? No one wants to see the movie about little bunnies in a world where nothing goes wrong! They want action, horror and humor (which is sometimes a little too crude).

Music? Listen to the lyrics we're so into! Most of the pop/rap/hip hop music is not only demeaning, but can be just ruthless! 

Even TV! The news is just awful, everything is about missing children or college students. Violent attacks, robberies, etc. Sitcoms? Someone gets into a fight at least once a week...

As the years pass these things just seem to become more acceptable. It becomes the normal! Well what kind of message does this send to the younger generations? If parents don't screen what their children are watching they're going to catch what is going on. Even here, my two year old nephew got beat up by another little boy at daycare just last week. Two! He went home with a black eye and a gash out of his mouth! 

The violence in our society rises more and more every year, but what can we do about it? It's impossible to screen all violence from little children, even half of their TV shows have bad guys and bullies! But what cost will this force our families to pay in the long run? Recently in Cambridge was a guest speaker talking about this topic, what it's like to grow up being bullied. Although there is no outright solution to bullying and violence I think it's time we start to tone down! Lets take care of our future generations. They shouldn't have to pay the cost for our actions!

(Just over a week later black eye gone, but still sporting a lovely cut on the mouth)