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Health & Fitness Redefined
Health and Fitness Redefined with Anthony Amen. Take a dive into the health world as we learn how to overcome adversity, depict fact vs fiction and see health & fitness in a whole new light.Fitness Is Medicine
Health & Fitness Redefined
The Obesity Crisis Killing America's Children
The devastating reality of childhood obesity in America demands our immediate attention. With a staggering 20% of our children—nearly 15 million kids—suffering from obesity, we're facing a generational health crisis that's cutting lives in half before they've truly begun.
This episode dives deep into the shocking statistics and life-altering consequences of childhood obesity. When severely overweight children face four times higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and triple the risk of heart disease by age 39, we can no longer pretend this isn't an emergency. The most heartbreaking statistic? Severely obese children face a 50% reduction in life expectancy. We are literally watching half their lives disappear before our eyes.
I examine the myths surrounding healthy eating, particularly the persistent belief that nutritious food must be expensive. By breaking down real costs and nutritional value, I demonstrate how this dangerous misconception perpetuates unhealthy choices, especially in lower-income communities where obesity rates soar highest. The government's role comes under scrutiny too—from ineffective school lunch programs undermined by food industry lobbying to SNAP benefits that currently enable junk food purchases with taxpayer dollars.
Beyond policy failures, we confront the uncomfortable question: Is allowing a child to become morbidly obese a form of child abuse? When parents introduce infants to soda and processed foods, establishing lifelong unhealthy relationships with nutrition, are we not setting them up for shortened, compromised lives? The solution requires action on multiple fronts—government policy reform, complete overhaul of nutrition education, parental accountability, and consumer choices that drive market change.
Join me in this crucial conversation and share it widely. Our children's futures depend on us recognizing this crisis and taking immediate action. Through our votes, our wallets, and our voices, we can create the change needed to save our next generation.
Learn More at: www.Redefine-Fitness.com
Hello and welcome to Health and Fitness Redefined. I'm your host, anthony Amen, and today we have another great episode for all of you. Diving into the weeds again today with a topic I think every single person should listen to, not only listen to share with a friend blow this up. This is something, especially over the last six months, that has become extremely personal to me and I feel like it's my calling to fix this, solve this issue and really dive into the root cause of what is going on in our society. What is that topic? That topic specifically is childhood obesity and, more specifically, morbid obesity.
Speaker 1:I think there's a fine line to draw here, and not that I really believe in scale weight or anything, but just because it's easy for people to understand. I'm not talking about a kid that's 5, 10, or even 15 pounds overweight. I'm talking about kids being 40, 50, 60, 100, 150 pounds overweight. That's where we're going to have a big issue. That's where a lot of this is coming from, and I'm really sick of society telling people it's okay, telling kids it's okay because it's not. It's not, and I'm just going to say that up front. Your kid being 100 pounds overweight is not okay. There's no excuse for it. It needs to be fixed. And someone needs to say there is a slim minority of people, like a quarter percent of the population, that have underlying issues that they can't control it. That's fine. That is a quarter percent of the population that have underlying issues that they can't control it. That's fine, that is a quarter percent. So not everybody. I don't want to hear it. This needs to be fixed. We need to figure out why. We're going to dive into everything about what needs to be fixed, how it should be fixed, why it needs to be fixed. So you better hold on tight because we're going deep.
Speaker 1:So let's start 2024, 20% of US children, adolescents ages 2 to 19, are considered obese. For reference, that is about 14.7 million kids, for reference sake. In 2014, it was 17%. In 2004, it was also around 17 crazy 20, ridiculously high number. All around the turn of the century as well, to start climbing. Uh, you never saw obesity rates like that back in the 80s and 90s. So absolutely mind-boggling. And why? The question is everyone's going to ask is why are rates so high? And I think it's first important. We're looking at the whole of it. So 20 of kids being obese.
Speaker 1:This is a multi-faceted approach, so let's start by something that a lot of you will bring up, which is income level, right? So if you just break this out by the federal poverty line, you have 24.1% of kids being obese below the FPL, the federal poverty line. Those that are immediate are about 21.2, and those that are way above are 11.5. So right off the bat, you see a huge discrepancy to those how much money the parents are making, to how obese their kids are. This, I think, has a lot to do with, one, education and, two, a misalign of understanding of how healthy food can be cheaper, which, again, it's probably just miseducation. But when you look into it and you really start diving down of the cost of food, like everyone always brings up, well, I can only afford certain amount of things, and studies have even shown that the average serving cost of, let's say, healthy food is 60 cents versus unhealthy food, which is around 31 cents. So that in and of itself states that what we see as healthy we're already implying is twice the price of that being unhealthy. So it makes easy decisions for those that can afford it to say, hey, I'm going to go the unhealthier options. We tie that in with 46% of Americans believing healthy food is too expensive. And yeah, why, why, why, why and this is I wanted to have one of my trainers on Devin, so I'm going to shout him out real quick, because we had a nice conversation about this. We had a nice conversation about this. His biggest belief is that income level drives obesity, and he showed me all these studies that show healthy versus unhealthy. I just read it to you now, where it's double the price for healthy versus unhealthy.
Speaker 1:My argument is when you look at studies for healthy foods, they mislabel what is considered healthy. And here's an example If I went to the grocery store right, I walk in, got my shopping cart and I see blueberries. I see organic blueberries and then I see regular blueberries. Those organic blueberries can easily be 20% more than those regular blueberries. Well, here's the kick Neither one is healthier. Well, here's the kick. Neither one is healthier.
Speaker 1:Like organic versus non-organic doesn't really make a difference, and this might be shocking to people except my farmers. Why? Because you have organic farms next to inorganic farms. When the inorganic farms are being sprayed with pesticides and all the fun stuff, there's things called wind, and that wind blows it to the organic fields On top of that. For any of you that still have wells, like myself, that seeps into the water supply and then gets easily spread to all the farms in the local area, ends up in the rain. So does it really make a difference if it's straight organic or inorganic? Maybe by a couple percentage, but as far as the nutritional value of that blueberry, no. Therefore, studies might say that healthy food is more expensive because they could be looking at organic-based products.
Speaker 1:Another argument you look at drinks. There was a lot of things showing the cost of soda. My argument is the cost of water. Water is free. In most restaurants. You can walk in and get water for free. If you're getting water from home, it's like a tenth of a cent for a glass of water, as opposed to soda, which can cost a dollar, 20 cents, 20 cents, 30 cents still a lot more expensive than water. So if I took a healthier drink, for example, and then compared that to soda let's say, not alcoholic beer just because I had one earlier, but like not, that's a horrible example because it's not even healthy, but you know what I mean if I took, like, a coconut water and compared that to water, yes, coconut water would be more expensive than soda, but water is free. So right off the get-go water is cheaper than soda.
Speaker 1:Now take that break down rice. A lot of people consider rice to be either unhealthy we're not really sure somewhere in the middle I'll tell you rice is actually extremely healthy for you and it's super freaking cheap. You can buy like a 50-pound bag of rice for like 50 bucks at Costco. That rice, when you bring it down to per serving, costs a few cents per serving and I mean this is how people live for thousands of years. Off of rice. These are rice grain fields. They're super easy to make, super cheap.
Speaker 1:Then you don't use that as protein. Your proteins are where you're gonna get more expensive. There are ways to go about it. Let's say, buying a whole cow if you have the finances for it, or just going to a local butcher. You can sometimes get cheaper meat that way. As long as you're buying bulk, it does add up.
Speaker 1:But I don't know what the unhealthy alternative is to buying meat. I mean, maybe if you're going to Taco Bell and you're buying grade D ground beef from Taco Bell compared to going to Costco and getting a tube of ground beef from there, maybe theoretically that's where you'll see that it's cheaper. But if you put it all together and you take, let's say this is theoretical purpose to state that meat is twice the price. So let's say that meat is coming in at five bucks if I'm getting the healthy option, or compared to 250 if I'm getting the unhealthy option. The unhealthy option they're adding soda that bumps to 350. They're adding fries that bumps it to 450. You go over to the unhealthy option. You're at 350. You're adding water, which is zero rice, which is about 25 cents, so at the 375. So you can actually see that it's how you're eating. It really determines if a meal's cheaper as opposed to not cheaper.
Speaker 1:But the lack of education that we push in our society really is what's driving people to believe that unhealthier options are actually cheaper than healthier options. Because it's easier to go to McDonald's. Even take a McDonald's example. Right, so it might be a little cheaper to get a burger and fries, but it's a lot healthier to get two burgers. If you go up the dollar menu and you get a cheeseburger, it's cheaper, it's better for you to get two cheeseburger deluxes than it is to get a Big Mac and fries. Fries are one of the worst things for you, so you just avoid that. You're already doing better, don't get the soda and then you're even better than you were before. So the argument that it's cheaper, I just don't believe.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to break that into SNAP benefits. Who don't know what SNAP benefits are? Basically, it's benefits given by the federal government to help people pay for groceries. That's the simple version for those that don't understand what it is my issues with SNAP benefits. It really plays a lot and it's really coming to limelight now about what they are. That's because just this year alone, texas is one of the first states to ban junk foods purchased with SNAP benefits and it's getting a lot of kickback, which to me is weird. This is how I see it and in society we need to see it as a whole. We can all agree if the government's paying for it, they can restrict it, period. If you're paying for it out of your own pocket, meaning if I'm going to the grocery store, I can buy whatever I want. People can't tell me what to do with my money. That is my choice to determine what I want to buy Honda, healthy, healthy, etc. If the government meaning the government taking from my tax dollars right, it doesn't just come from the money for the government. It means I'm paying for somebody else.
Speaker 1:I want that person to eat healthier. One they're going to be a burden on society if they don't take care of their health. And two, if they're going to feel better. Three, they're going to live longer. Four, they're going to be able to work more. So many benefits. Five they'll be happier. So many things and reasons about why I want that person to eat healthier. So I want to tell the government hey look, listen, if you're giving SNAP benefits to people, there needs to be bans on certain things. It took years to ban cigarettes and alcohol off of SNAP benefits and that finally went through. But now you can still go in and you can still buy junk food with all of your SNAP benefits and call it a day. Why can't the government step in, like Texas is trying to do, and say hey look, listen, you can't buy junk food off of these SNAP benefits. We'll give you more money through your SNAP benefits if you need it to help cover that cost. But you need to buy healthier food so that in and of itself, can help teach people what's healthier. Right If they go into the store and they don't understand nutrition from a hole in a wall, but they know that their SNAP benefits only cover certain types of foods. They're going to have to start slowly learning. Oh, this must be good for you, because this is what I'm getting covered through my SNAP benefits.
Speaker 1:So could childhood obesity be a government-solving issue by putting restrictions on SNAP benefits? Absolutely, I think that is a great place to start. I think Texas trying to ban junk food with SN snap benefits needs to pass and go through across the us. Federally needs to be done 100 all for it. Anthony, you're very passionate about this. I know why. Well, there's a few reasons. Let's talk some stats. Let's go back right. We mentioned 20. Let's talk some stats. Let's go back Right. We mentioned 20% of kids are considered obese.
Speaker 1:Did you know the health risks of childhood obesity? I mentioned them, but I didn't really mention them. So let's talk about them. You are four times higher to develop type 2 diabetes. You know type 2 diabetes is a slow, grueling death. Do you know that? Think about that next time you see somebody that's working their way on insulin and loses a leg and has blood sugar issues. It's not fun to lose their eyesight. That's something I really want to do the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:Did you know there are three and a half times higher risk of developing heart disease by the time they're 39, not 60,. 39, you have a 50% reduction in life expectancy for severely obese children. 50% it is higher actually in women. That is absurd. You are basically telling your kid I am going to cut your life in half because I'm not going to teach you how to eat healthy, or the government because I'm not going to restrict to make sure you're eating healthy your foods. 50% On top of all the other fun risks of risk of asthma, sleep apnea I have it, it sucks. Liver disease. Risk of asthma, sleep apnea I have it, it sucks. Liver disease. And, of course, the kicker of all, mental health issues, because we all know obesity leads to depression and, in severe cases, suicide.
Speaker 1:So not something I really want to go around pushing that I'm okay with my kid being 100 or 140 pounds overweight. It's just crazy. It's crazy to think about. You don't want to restrict what your kid's doing. You don't want to go out of your way to teach your kid, so you're going to take their lifespan from potentially being 80 to cut that down to be 39 years old, have a heart attack at 39 and die, Die.
Speaker 1:I couldn't imagine setting my son up for that. I really I want my son to outlive me. I want my son to have a great life. I want to be able to do things that I've never been able to do. I want him to be better than I ever was, and I know every parent wants that for their child, and if we share this and we blow this out and we get people to start talking about this issue, we can slowly, slowly, start to change. It is, my feel, hard, this is hard. This is hard. This is why I keep jumping around. This is hard to talk about. All right, we talked about snap benefits, we talked about the health issues. For what? What else has the government done? You've heard me talk about this for and I have to make a slight correction in something I said a while back I I was misadvocating for the group that was sued back in 2011, so let me talk about that in 2011 for those that don't know.
Speaker 1:So it all started in 2010. It was Michelle Obama, and as much as you care about politics, I'm going to say this about politicians they have good policies. They have bad policies, irregardless of what aisle they're from. This is a great policy, michelle Obama started the let's Move campaign and the Healthy Hunger, free Kids Act of 2010. The Healthy Hungry, free Kids Act was a big push to Congress to say hey, look, listen, we need to increase the amount of vegetables that we have in school lunches.
Speaker 1:Congress was being lobbied. Congress is being lobbied by a bunch of different groups. I have them over here. Here we go. So we have the american frozen food institute, as well as the con agria foods and shawain food company. They were lobbying congress to say hey, congress, don't pass this. Why? Because it's going to cost us a lot more money and we don't want to change what we're doing because making money in public schools. So here's a bunch of money for you to make sure you kill this deal. If you don't think that was happening that, then that's not true. Instead, what they went public to tell them is hey, congress, what's up? I want to let you know my name, this guy's name I'm going to call him out Corey Henry. I am the AFFI's Vice President of Communications and I want to let you know that we can't add more tomato paste to our pizza because no kid's going to eat it, and that's the only way that we can increase the amount of vegetables that kids get through school is by increasing the tomato paste that you serve on pizza. So they convinced Congress to kill the act because they didn't want to overdo the tomato paste on pizza. They didn't want to overdo the tomato paste on pizza, and this is where the running joke came from that pizza is now a vegetable because it has tomato paste on it, because it does count as a serving as vegetable A kid's lunch. Think about that next time you're giving them food there.
Speaker 1:So all these companies pushed back to say, hey, we want to keep serving this really shitty food. I remember personally in high school it was pizza on Fridaysidays. It was fried chicken. Uh, the vegetables were doused in shit, ton of sodium as well as like who the hell knows. It just tasted like jarred. Nothing about it was appealing, and the only time I ever wanted school lunch was the pizza and was the fried chicken. There was nothing that, as far as I can remember, that was considered healthy. There was meatloaf some days, but who knows how that was cooked. I mean, it's meatloaf, it's literally just a mix of everything, right. And then we had our options of juice, milk and soda. For those who listen to the show. No, juice is just as bad as soda, but they were pushing it as being healthier because they thought the food pyramid was viable back then, as we learned that it is not. It is a load of shit. So just crazy. So that got killed back in 2010, thanks to the American Forest and Food Institute. Just call them out one more time so everyone knows.
Speaker 1:After that, the Trump admin came in and then later wrote back those standards in favor of those groups, and I think this is like mind-blowing how like people look at politics right and they say I hate this guy, so hate all his policies, or I love this guy, so love all his policies, but when humans I love some things, when humans I love some things people do and I hate some things people do. And he comes from the same exact person. So why not politicians? I think it's the same exact way. So Michelle Obama pushing a really good act, and then Trump came in and rolled all that back, and now that we're in 2024, with Trump being president again, he's actually doing the exact opposite of what he did in 2017, with throwing an RFK and now actually physically attacking the school lunches coming after petroleum-based food diets that we talked about a bunch in this show and really trying to raise the bar of nutritional standards of what we're serving our kids, because he sees as much as I see it, we're literally killing our future. We're destroying what we set up as a country. If we don't take care of our kids, we're fucked like that's it. Our nation is going to fall apart.
Speaker 1:I mean social security of its whole, like just to take a big argument going on now. Everyone wants their social security benefits. Social security was designed to have the people that were working always be a greater population than those that weren't working, and that's how they got funded. Well, now people are having less kids and all the people less having these kids are having sicker kids, they're having fatter kids, they're living shorter lives, so that work population is now way less and becoming even greater, less than those that are going on social security benefits. And that's why it's going to run out right, because we're we're treating our kids like so if they die by the time that they're in our attention, crippling disability issues by telling them their 30s, they can never join the workforce and fish social security issues. Obesity of itself is 186 billion dollar a year problem in america alone that could fix our deficit right, or it would help $186 billion a year just fixing our obesity.
Speaker 1:I think we need to start with the kids. I think that needs to start with education. So to start wrapping up the government side, because I really think this is a twofold argument One, the government needs to step in and change our food standards. On snap benefits, you should not be able to buy junk food. You should not be able to buy uh petroleum-based food diets at all period, and so we're going to change snap. We're going to change certain ingredients that we're serving in our food period. Trans fat needs to be banned. It was banned seven years ago and it's still in the final peanut butter today. They just relabeled it as partially hydrogenated oils.
Speaker 1:The government's are going to stand in an up-theater curriculum in schools. It shouldn't be. Nutrition, shouldn't be a quarter of a year and that's all you get in high school. And on top of that it's old science Like wake up, change the textbooks, change what we're teaching people. Nutrition should be its entire course that you learn in high school. I just find it more important than calculus. I find it more important than physics. I find it more important than so many other avenues for the entire population to learn. I understand that people want to go above and beyond with a certain curriculum, but you know what. They can take those courses if they'd like. I think a requirement needs to be an entire year of nutrition and that needs to start in middle school and then do another year again in high school, at a bare minimum. On top of that, the government needs to step in to public schools and change how often PE is Every other day and then to make PE a year full of tests and I'm talking about physical education here for those that don't know is disgusting. Pe is about activity. It's about getting us out of it. It has to be every single day. It has to be 45 minutes a day period and you can't miss it, barring severe issues. You have to participate, you have to be physically active period no getting out of it, no parents complaining that the kids can't get out of it. You need to do this as a whole. So that's the government side. I'm going to jump into the parental side of this. I think this is important, the parental side.
Speaker 1:I was running for those that follow me on Instagram and Anthony Amon Fitness. I had two polls that I put out that week One was what age do you think is right to give your kids your first junk food? Junk food meaning candy soda, whatever. Was it zero to two or three to four, or five to six or seven plus? 12% of people said zero to two, 25 said three to four, 25 said 45. And then everybody else said seven plus.
Speaker 1:I have gone to stores like restaurants and I've seen newborns and I mean like no older than three months parents feeding kids soda because they think they want it. Kids, three months old kid doesn't know what he wants, can't talk, can't speak and you're feeding them. Study, you're literally wiring their brains at that age and you're wiring them to be addicted to sugar before they even know how to say mama or dada. I don't get it. I really don't get it. I don't get thinking your kid wants junk food when they can't even speak. Thinking your kid wants junk food when they can't even speak. It's all about teaching, it's all about educating and we are here to educate our kids and show them how to live a life.
Speaker 1:I don't think that junk food and processed food needs to be locked away in a fridge and put away with a special key. I think it's something that we need to introduce slowly to our kids' lives, but their life doesn't have to revolve around it. It could be given as a treat, it could be given as a reward, but not every single day, like we do for ourselves, right? We talk about treat meals when we're working out with clients. Treat meals mean six days a week. I'm really freaking good. I'm on point that seventh day I'm going out for dinner. I'm going to have baklava, I'm going to have ice cream, I'm going to have soda. It's fine, and we can teach our kids those exact habits and do it with us. Monkey see, monkey do is the name of the game, especially for those that have young kids. So kids are going to pick up your habits as a parent. So therefore, if you want your kid to replicate certain habits, you need to be doing that as a parent.
Speaker 1:Exposing your kid to a gym at a really young age is freaking awesome. Getting them in there, getting them to see the environment so they're not embarrassed, to walking in and doing it with them, or doing things at home. I love videos. I can see a line like dad's doing push-ups and and the son's like two, three years old and he's not doing it right, but he's trying to, like, do push-ups with dad because he sees how cool dad is. Because, right, when a kid's two years old dad is the coolest person in the world and he just wants to imitate him.
Speaker 1:Or a six-month-old, like he can't speak but he reaches for food that we put in her mouth, like he doesn't want his own food, no, no, no, he wants the food you're eating. He doesn't know what that food is. He doesn't. Sometimes doesn't even grab real food, it's just inanimate objects like napkins. But he sees you put in your mouth, so then he says I'm going to put that in my mouth. So if you, as parents, are putting good food into your mouth, your kids visually getting that feedback and then over time they could actually start eating the same way that you eat, because they're attracting you. Your kids want to be you and that's the beauty of having kids is they want to mimic mom and dad. Mom and dad are their lives. So if you teach them good, healthy habits, if you show them how to reward themselves we're not doing it by neglect or starvation, just literally yeah, once in a while we can have this You'll teach them that when they go out on their own that it's okay.
Speaker 1:This is the argument that kids always have with their parents when they're 18. And for those that don't know what I'm talking about yet, it's alcohol. It's some parents want to give their kid a beer at 16, 17, 18, because they know when the kid goes to college they're just going to drink a shit ton and they want to teach them what alcohol does to the body at home. I'm not saying getting your kid trashed, but showing them how to actually enjoy a drink or showing them what alcohol actually does to you like, to your mental state, to your physical state. I've actually been shown to prevent that kid from abusing alcohol in college. It's those that are told at this young age stay away from it, don't touch it, it's the devil, don't touch it, it's the devil. Blah, blah, blah, blah. They go to college, they get boozed, they get trashed the first time they're in the ER. So it's really just having a relationship with it, kind of like it's having a relationship with Not an unhealthy stuff when you're facing the couch or watching TV. So I see a lot of that as apparent, as imitation.
Speaker 1:On top of that, it gears into a really big question and I want you to think about this before you answer. So I'm going to do a little pause after I ask this question. But is childhood morbid obesity and I'm going to clarify like I did in the episode, I'm talking about 50 pounds plus overweight considered child abuse? I'm going to repeat that just so you can think about it, because I really want you to just sit there and think Is morbid childhood obesity considered child abuse? I asked this question on Instagram. A lot of people just ignored it, but I did get about nine answers. I know it's not a good sample size, but the majority was yes. I did have some people private message me a kickback of no, but majority of people think it does, which is interesting, and there's arguments to both.
Speaker 1:One it could be lack of education, the argument of lack of education. Before I dive into that, I totally think it is. So I think I should state what side I'm coming from. But let's talk about a lack of education. I am not educated in how to feed my kids, so I underfeed my kid. They end up starving. They end up in the hospital for having issues of malnourishment. They look very anorexic.
Speaker 1:Is that child abuse Starving my kid? A lot of you would have jumped to yes than that one right, because you're physically causing harm to your child? Maybe you don't know better? Is giving a kid a weapon, letting them play around with it and without properly teaching them, just handing it to them, walking away that child abuse you, I don't know. I think that's something that society we have to think about, because I really do believe that you need to educate your kids, the actions your kids take, especially as the age is obviously their own, but it comes from an understanding of educating those parents. And obviously accidents happen all avenues and if a kid just something, that's a kid just doing something, because kids are stupid, especially teenagers. But we need to take it as an understanding that there's certain risk factors and we need to help our kids.
Speaker 1:A good example if I see my kid getting bullied, I'm going to take every avenue I can to help my kid get over that depression, to get over that anxiety. I'm going to just show him and educate him in ways that I know to get over that. So that should be the same for seeing my kid becoming obese. I'm going to do what I can to help that kid. I mean, maybe I can't If they're old enough to go grab food and shove it in their mouth. I can't physically block them from doing that. I don't know if it's a healthy way of doing it anyway, but there are avenues that you can get them around for more physically fit people. I mean law of averages. If you just put them with a group of four active people, they're going to start getting more active. If so, just go to the gym, go work out with your parent. Create a positive relationship with food with your parents.
Speaker 1:I don't want my kid to just cut his lifespan in half. I'd rather him double it. So I don't see how it's okay to allow parents as a whole to let your kids get that overweight, and I think it's something we need to really sit down and think about as a society, about whether or not we're going to allow it to continue, because I'm not okay with it. It really sits me like sits the wrong way with me. I really think that people need to step in. People need to say something. I mean, it's one thing for an adult to eat themselves to death, but it's another thing for a kid who just doesn't know better. Anyway, this is hitting hard. I know that I'm kind of feeling it, so I'm going to end on that note, but I think it's something to think about.
Speaker 1:We went through a lot. We talked about where we are with, uh, childhood obesity, where we're going with it. We talked about controversies, talking about it's income level driven. We talked about the health risk associated, snap benefits, things the government could do to help change, and I just think it's important as a takeaway note for summarize this episode in one sentence. There's two ways we could change society. One in a free market market. It's with our wallets. If you buy healthier food, company is going to be forced to sell more healthier food. If you stop buying shit food and bringing it around and thinking that you're going to a birthday party so let's just bring junk food and desserts, maybe try to start changing the culture of parties to bring a vegetable or a fruit or something along that nature. Just don't make it all dessert based. I don't know. Just an idea. But anyway, if you stop buying chip food, company's going to start selling it. If you start buying the more the peanut butter without the trans fat in it, companies are going to stop selling it. So you can talk with your wallet, so you do have a say in the society and a free market in the us, and that's the one of the best parts about this country.
Speaker 1:Second part you can vote. You can go, have a say in what you want your kids to have and don't have. You can vote in local school boards. You can show up at local school boards and lobby to serve your kids healthier food. You can vote for congressmen, congresswomen, you can vote for governors and presidents, and you have to just consider. Unfortunately, this is the way it works. We have to consider the policies that you think are the most important for the people you're voting for. You might not like some other things they're saying when it comes to their fiscal policies or their social economic policies or their social issues, but you find the things that are the most important to you the most impactful in your life and the lives of those around you.
Speaker 1:I think this this is one of the most important topics that's not even talked about in the media, but I think it is should be. I think this is something that's to be blown up more than everything else going on in the news right now, because this is our future, and then, if we kill our kids and we hurt our kids, we're screwed as a country. We're screwed as a species. So it's time to start now. Share this comment post, talk about it. Don't stop until everyone is talking about it. Go vote for those that are going to make a change and don't buy shit. That isn't good for you. That in at least some whole big purchase orders. Start buying healthier options. Start making your change. Thank you, guys, for listening to this episode of Health and Fitness Redefined. Don't forget, hit that subscribe button and join us next week as we dive deeper into this ever-changing field, and remember fitness is medicine. Until next time, thank you. Outro Music.
