August 5, 2013

• Report # 1029

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great start to the week. Once again I’ve walked up to Mc Donalds where I’m taking advantage of the free internet and a/c. On Friday my roommate told me that she had done the contract for the internet, but they won’t be able to install it until the 20th. I really could never imagine that a company could be that slow with their service so it’s certainly frustrating. On the bright side the washing machine has arrived and hopefully in the next week I get an answer about the visa. So things are coming along, but a lot slower than I would have liked.

  On Friday afternoon I went to Cinépolis and I saw Now you see me, which was actually a very good movie filled with surprises. I came home in the evening and just had a sandwich and that was about it for the day. I went to Las Galerias on Saturday and met a friend at the mall. We had lunch at Wok and walked around for a few hours. She got a new cell phone, so I waited with her in the store for a long time and after we had some ice cream. It certainly isn’t as easy to get to that mall as it was when I was living in the area before. I had to walk for about 20 minutes, take two metro lines, and then a bus, and then walk some more. Maybe there is a more direct route, but I haven’t figured it out yet.

  Yesterday I went to Parque Fundidora and walked around Paseo Santa Lucía and the park with a friend and we just sat and talked for a while. It was cloudy for a bit, but the majority of the day was super sunny. Basically most of these days get up to 38 C (100 F) so they are very hot days. It will be nice once the summer ends and the days cool down at least a little bit. We went to Café Punta del Cielo and had some frappes and took the metro train and the bus to get home. So today I just plan on doing laundry finally, and maybe going for a run in the evening. A few weeks ago I heard that Mexico has passed the United States and is now the fattest country in the world, and of course this is very troubling news.

  No country should be happy to have a title such as that, and it shows that things really need to change. I was talking to someone and she told me that exercise just isn’t in the culture for most of the people here. This really didn’t seem like  a great answer for me, because last I checked, getting exercise and staying healthy is just as important in any country in the world. Now I can understand that no one is going to want to be outside when its super sunny and 38 C (100 F), but there are early mornings and the evenings, when the sun is down and it feels a lot fresher. Also there are lots of gyms and fitness centers that people could go to as well.

  Now I understand that a lot of people won’t be able to afford fitness memberships, but a person could easily stay in decent shape just by running daily for a bit, or even walking regularly. Another problem I find here is the working schedules for a lot of people. Many people work over 10 hour days, six days a week… they just don’t have time to exercise much, as they are obviously very exhausted after working so much. The government should really work on putting more labour laws out there as people are getting worked to death almost, and their health is taking a major hit because of that.

  I believe that if these people were able to work a number of hours less each week, and devote some of that time to exercise, they would not only be healthier employees, but happier, making them more productive and allowing the companies to reach their goals even with their employees working less time as they would be far more motivated to do well. No one can take shortcuts when it comes to fitness, and a healthier country is a more productive and happy country. So I hope someone in the Mexican government is paying attention to the news and understands that this is a major crisis and something that needs a resolution.

  Now Mexico is number one, but that doesn’t mean the majority of the other countries are healthy either. I would expect the U.S. now to be the second fattest country in the world, and from what I read, Canadians haven’t been so healthy either in the past few years. So the whole battle with obesity and exercise is a global epidemic. And every government from each country should be coming up with a plan to combat this problem. If nothing is done, I can only see things getting worse and worse, and in another 50 years, we will just be a society with mostly obese, unhappy, unhealthy and unproductive people and there are no positives from that.

  Technology probably hasn’t helped much either. With internet, cell phones, and a connection to social media, a lot of people are just staying at home and communicating with their friends that way instead of going out like they would have done in the past.

  I’ve met some people who are even texting when they are out with me…. that bothers me so much ! I wish people could just leave their phones alone sometimes ! Now that doesn’t have too much to do with what I was talking about, but I just had to through it in there. I just strongly encourage everyone to find time to get exercise everyday… half hour is good enough really. Whether it is going for a walk, running, bike riding, going to the gym…. I just say to everyone, please do something ! If no one does any of this, their bodies will pay the price, and whether they realize it or not, they won’t be as healthy as they should be and it would be a tragedy.

  And to some of the people who say that they always stay skinny, no matter what, well just because they are super skinny doesn’t mean they are all that healthy either. There is no substitute to good exercise, and eating little doesn’t take the place of getting that exercise… in fact its a terrible idea to just eat less in an effort to get healthier. So in case anyone has missed my point, the most important lesson for everyone here is to get exercise ! I don’t care how you do it, just find a way to get out everyday and do something ! Your body will thank you, and chances are you’ll add many more years to your lives by living your life in such a healthy manner. For the next question:

  Do you think governments have a responsibility to deal with the obesity problems in their respective countries or should it be just something that everyone worries about themselves ? What can be done to better promote healthy living a healthy lifestyle ?

  Well that is all I have for today. I hope that the week goes well for everyone. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

   

  • 11:49 am
  • 3 Comments