God Bless America vs. God helps those who help themselves

We live in a pretty great country. The first amendment alone is something worth getting behind. But speaking of "behind"... we've got big ones. Behinds, rumps, butts...they're big. I'll admit to never having been out of country except for Canada, but I look around and I see the statistics walking around the malls and getting the LoveIt at Cold Stone (hey, I get it too). I have also asked friends who have been to European countries and they say they didn't see as many over weight people during they're trips and I'm sure it's not just Europe. Maybe everywhere is doing better in the petite department than we are. I have purchased a book (see picture to right) and found it hilarious and more true than I would like. The author's first experience in America was during a summer study abroad (she's from France) from which she returned 20 pounds heavier. The perspective she gives on our life styles is just hilarious (you should really check it out). One of the things she points out is that Americans eat like they still work in the fields 8 hours a day but instead sit in office jobs all day. She also talks about our exercise craze. She still lives in France and sometimes on our East Coast which gives her the benefits of a more easily walkable community than the wide open spaces of the West, but she pointed out random things like how she's seen Americans in France take the elevator to the gym on the top floor of a hotel. Why not take the steps instead of doing the StairMaster? Her whole philosophy is wonderful and for me, one who had done enough gym time by age 20 to last her a lifetime, I love the idea of using the natural ways of working out that come in an everyday life. She includes simple things like doing one's own laundry and ironing instead of sending it out as a way of keeping in shape. I was at Barnes and Noble today, applying for a job (yeah being a student again) and picked up a book (to the left) and found it highly entertaining and again, too true. I can't give all of the stats in it from memory but it's whole point is that the way food is offered to us has changed. There was a series of pages that showed the plate size at a restaurant increasing with a 9 inch plate being placed before Americans in the 1950's to the now 12 inch plate piled high. This book had horrible/hilarious statistics having to do with the number of Americans who can fit comfortably in an airplane seat to the average coffin size and it's dramatic change. Apparently the average female dress size has changed from an 8 to a 12 in the past 50 years as well. I'll admit to being somewhere between those two sizes myself. It also made a good point about medium not actually being a stable thing because what was medium then is now large and what is small was medium and small then is now child size (something like that)...haha! Another good plug for not comparing yourself to others because I'm tiny compared to the fattest man on earth (who is actually surprisingly from Mexico) but for me and my body, I could be a bit healthier. Both books were very uplifting and made it seem easy to be healthy. It's not about starving or crazy workout trends but about unlearning bad habits that have been adapted as the norm in our culture. No big deal right? Ha! It just takes some thinking to not take every sample offered at Costco or every free doughnut that comes with your dozen at Krispy Kreme or go to ice cream or some variation for every night out with the girls. When your body is full let it be full and when a couple extra steps are possible instead of taking the elevator or the first parking spot, take them! A great thing to think about in the new year! Change is possible...one fatty American at a time! Move over Europe, we're wearing man bags and man-pris and taking your great actors and getting fit! Whoot whoot! You got nothing (except great art, great architecture, and "new" things as old as our entire country...ah well!).