The culture we grow up in determines our framework of the world. It shapes our thoughts which cause our actions. Without culture, it’s impossible to have a sense of identity. Culture can be looked at through many different lenses. Some are broad while others are narrow. A broad one would be American culture. While a narrow one could be an individual family’s culture. Both have huge effects on the way a person thinks and acts.
Sometimes it’s easy for these different layers of culture to coexist, but other times it’s not. A few big aspects of American culture are freedom and convenience. Americans value freedom because that is what the country was founded upon. Both our capitalistic markets and abundance of guns are signs of Americans valuing freedom.
Convenience is also a pillar of American culture. We live in a world where if our Uber is even 2 minutes late, our entire reality is flipped upside down. Amazon Prime has placed everything we will ever need to be just a few clicks away. Between Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and other streaming services, our entertainment options are limitless. While these fruitful tech inventions are great, there is a dark side to the American love for convenience.
Our convenience obsessed culture is killing Americans daily. It has caused many families to stop cooking healthy meals and depend on fast food instead. The consumption of processed food is at an all-time high. Yes, it's easier to order a value meal or bake a readymade pizza! But is easy always better? In terms of food and nutrition, the answer is obvious. Easy meals consumed over a long period of time are detrimental to the human body. In a sense convenience causes disease.
Some would even argue its part of American culture to eat carb rich oily foods. That doesn’t mean it has to be a part of every families’ culture. The only way which we can overcome this convenience obsessed ideology is by changing one family at a time. The change has nothing to do with the family members disease process, weight, or appearance. Rather it has everything to do with changing their behavior patterns.
We cannot influence a family culture to change, without first influencing at least once family member to change. So, what does this change in culture look like? Rather than seeking the easiest possible meal, we need to teach individuals how to buy healthy foods at grocery stores. We need to educate people on meal prepping once a week so they can save time. We must show people how to cook low carb meals with adequate protein. We must rewire society person by person to understand that the body was not made for easy meals. Rather it was made for nutritious meals.
By educating one person at a time, families will slowly adapt to this new way of thinking. They will value their health over saving time and energy taking the easy way out. Slowly a new culture will emerge, which values health over convenience. Accomplishing this would be a big step in treating the Obesity epidemic across America.
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