This is an excellent take. If one thing comes out of this covid period, I would hope it's a focus on physical health (and mental health, too, but I'll save that one for another post). The vast, vast majority of people dying from this have other underlying conditions, or "comorbidities". Many of which are obesity and heart disease, which of course are frequently linked. I travel often to Europe for both work and pleasure (well, I did before Americans were banned), and it's striking to see the differences in body types. There's simply less obesity there in most countries (the UK is more like the US, though). Go take a look at pictures from your family members from 30-40 years ago. Everybody looks relatively thin by today's standards. We've become a nation of fatties, which has horrible health consequences. Some people will say "yeah, but Europeans walk everywhere" - I don't buy this...and it certainly doesn't explain why the US has gotten fatter over the past 30-40 years. It's all about what we eat. We eat like total pigs. Dining out frequently, including a lot of fast food is truly awful for our bodies. Loads of butter, salt, and sugar everywhere, not to mention comically huge portion sizes. My hope is that there is a renewed awareness on diet and exercise coming out of this pandemic. Learn to cook healthy meals at home and exercise 3-4 times per week. This would help people tremendously.
Wish I could like that X a million! Also, stay away from Walmart even if wearing a hazmat suit, that place is a cesspool to begin with even before the pandemic! Pay the extra and get your necessities at Whole Foods; out of shape shoppers there are folks that skipped leg day or missed one of their double Soul Cycle sessions.
Actually I wished more lower to middle income people bought their food at Walmart. Instead they're going to McDonalds, Taco Bell and KFC.
You're quite polarizing on many of your worldviews, but this is a post that everyone should read. Good stuff.
That's because it's cheaper and more convenient. You can literally feed your family for around $20 at McDonalds. If you were to venture into the areas where these people live, you simply don't see regular grocery stores with an array of fresh fruits and vegetables and the like and you most certainly don't find Walmart or their Neighborhood stores. Up here, in Southern Dallas and East Ft. Worth, there are no Whole Foods, Sprouts or Natural Grocers. Nor will you find Tom Thumb, Albertsons or Krogers. In areas with large Hispanic populations you may find the occasional Fiesta. Instead you have the corner convenience stores, mom and pop restaurants and fast food places. It's far easier to find beer, wine and fried chicken than fresh fruits and vegatables and other healthy food items. People who grow up on in such an environment eating lots of fast food develop an affinity for sugar, carbs sodium and saturated fat because said food is saturated with them. They literally have no idea what natural food tastes like. But going to Walmart isn't much better - if you look at the prepared dinners in the refridgerated isle, those too are loaded with sodium, MSG and carbohydrates while the quick boxed dinners are also loaded with the same. And let's not even talk about sweet teas, colas, juices and other drinks loaded sugars and the like. Eating healthy is very hard to do AND expensive.
I was suggesting they buy groceries at Walmart, not the prepared dinners or other junk. Actually if you even have a tiny bit of ability to cook or prepare food, eating healthy is far cheaper than even buying fast food. However, it does require some time to cook. ....so you've got to "want" it, otherwise the lazy or time-poor will default to the convenient option - which is fast food.
Like I have mentioned before, I am in good health. Eat well, exercise. And since I value my health, the idea of getting Covid, which is something out of my control to an extent bothers me. Others do not value their health the same as I do mine. And that's fine. Until it affects ME. Zinc and vitamins aren't going to save you from a virus. Oranges and a jog wont stop HIV - lulz. I don't care at all what people do. Eat at McDonalds everyday? Whatever. But once their actions start affecting me, it's a different story. I care more about MY health than THEIR "rights". Sorry.
Many gov are good at doing their job. See aboard and here at some local gov. That’s a perception and it’s one that is self defeating as we are witnessing here in the US. We can absolute be good - but we got to first rid of a view that it’s not possible and then get people in office that do a great job at governing (not politic-ing).
We started off horrible. We have gotten much better. What the gov failed miserably is that they didn’t see and be prepared for today test needs (and tomorrow)... and that can be attributed to denial that opening up the way they did has a good chance of blowing this thing out of the water. Caught flat footed again. 1st time was already unacceptable. Root cause is similar - denial of situations, preparedness, slow reaction. Same for trace and isolate system. Many states and cities are going to have to dig themselves out again. I know some people think and hope it’s not the same this time - would be less deadly. Yea maybe, but it’s would be another denial and a gamble.
The PhD Biochemist lady that has been on Rogan’s podcast said a majority of people are deficient in Vitamin D. And that was the majority of people in the hospital also for the virus. I forget the exact numbers. I’ve taken a supplement off and on for years of Vit D. Between that and daily soccer outside with my son I should be good hopefully. This is another wake up call for American society to take their health more seriously. With adequate exercise and a better diet.
Nerdy read on herd immunity. Most seem to believe we’ll need 40-60%, but these numba crunchas avoid the question of whether or not recovered cases have persistent immunity. https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-tricky-math-of-covid-19-herd-immunity-20200630/
First death of a friend, FWIW. Friend of Mrs B-Bob died of COVID last night, and just want to reiterate how sad these cases are. Woman has two preteen kids and had to go to a NY area hospital for cancer treatment. Caught the virus and battled it, in hospital, for last two months, never seeing her family or any friends in person for the last weeks of her life. Just imagine that for a second. can only imagine her husband will now be declaring bankruptcy too. Just horrible.
Appreciate all the big brain discussion in this thread -- I've railed for years on the AMA/ etc. for not having a unified message of living a healthy, non-sedentary lifestyle and having some sort of annual check to catch problems early on such as vitamin d deficiency, pre-diabetes, and other health issues like cancer. An affordable insurance plan to make these annual checkups easily accessible would be helpful as well, but the powers that be will have none of this type of pie in the sky thinking.
Sadly, his posts make a lot of sense. Much like Europe, America is having multiple uneven outbreaks, and each state is like an American equivalent of a different European country. Italy (New York) got hit much earlier than Texas (UK?).
