"Health" in the U.S.

I haven't had regular access to a TV in years so I don't usually pay attention to what's on anymore or what commercials are playing. Being in the States for the past four months, though, I've spent plenty of time in front of TVs.

I swear, every commercial break had at least one commercial devoted to a pill which had a side effects list that took up probably 2/3 of the commercial. Then it would almost always be followed by a commercial for some either fast food or some other kind of processed food sold in grocery stores that are certainly contributors to the diseases all these pills were trying to fix in the first place.

It was such a natural cycle for each of the different channels we were watching. Eat junk. Take pills to lose weight. Eat junk. Take pills for your depression and sluggishness. Eat junk. Take pills for your heart disease. It all seems just a little insane....and a little too close to the Capitol's idea of eating (& then taking pills to vomit) in the Hunger Games.

It's not just the TV, though. This is our actual attitude in the U.S. and most of us like it. Granted, most people have only lived in this sort of environment so it's normal and comfortable for us, but it seems like absolute insanity when you really step back and look at it. I know lots of people with health issues that continue to eat complete junk, possibly because they don't know how bad it is but mostly because they don't care. Multiple people with health issues that could be helped by diet have told me they'd rather "die happy" than have to "ruin their lives by eating healthy food". That is actually the attitude of a lot of people (though I definitely think more guys than girls think that way).

This takes me back to the first time I came back to the States after being in Korea for 2.5 years. I remember sitting in the airport on my layover in Michigan, my mouth gaping as I watched people walk by. Every man over the age of 35(ish) had a "beer gut." Obese person after obese person strode by and many rolled by in electronic wheelchairs. It was especially jarring having come from Korea where everyone is super thin (I think a mix a natural body build and all-around much healthier diets). I was also just telling my friend yesterday that while I was outside reading at the beach, a group of 15 middle school-aged kids came out to play football and six of them were very overweight as well. Middle School!! It's no news that people tend to gain weight as they get older but middle school is so young to have that issue.

As usual, I'm sure this kind of contrast wouldn't have hit me so hard had I not left (and had I been watching TV for the past four years) but it was really quite shocking. Everyone living this way says they're happy so to each his own, I suppose. In the meantime, since I can choose how I live, I'm going to do my best to try to find healthier ways of living.