Canada is fat and unhealthy, and it's not getting any leaner nor healthier. According to Statistics Canada, over 23% of Canadians over 18 are obese, meaning dangerously overweight or exceedingly fat. 36% on top of that are merely overweight. This means approximately 59% of Canadians are fat or exceedingly fat (overweight or obese).
These statistics are frightening. Do you want your children to die of diabetes in their 30s? Do you want them to have heart problems in just a few years' time? That's the legacy we're creating for them.
I'm the proud grandfather of a eight-year-old girl, and I do my best to provide her with a good example in everything, including a healthy lifestyle. Remarkably, for someone so young, she understands the difference between good food and junk. She can even read some nutritional information on food labels.
Everywhere I turn, institutions that are also supposed to be providing life guidance - and have a duty of care - are undermining me.
At school my granddaughter is asked to sell toxic mint smoothies as a fundraiser, while they serve pizza lunches every Wednesday. At Sparks - whose activities include "having fun preparing simple snacks" - I recently witnessed the girls being given fat-soaked, salt-laden pizza ("made" by the older Brownies from prepared ingredients) as a snack. Quite frankly, the overseeing Guides look like they could use some nutrition education themselves. What kind of an example are they setting?
Not for a moment am I suggesting that people should conform to a certain physical shape and size. But I do think that we have a duty and an obligation to live healthier lifestyles, including a better diet and more exercise.
I'm not a doctor, nor a nutritionist. In fact, I'm not an expert in anything to do with healthy lifestyles. I'm simply someone who wants my granddaughter to live long and be healthy, and I'll do everything I can to make this possible while struggling against people who should know better. People who neglect their duty of care are the ones who piss me off the most.
In North America we're better-educated and have more access to accurate information about nutrition than any generation before us, yet this continent is the unhealthiest on the planet. These days, "cooking" often involves nothing more than opening a packet and popping it in the microwave.
