[These are all just my personal feelings.]

I’ve been thinking a lot about my physical fitness lately. For most of my life I’ve been overweight and it’s affected how I see myself, and how I’ve seen others. For a long time It’s felt like a moral failing. That this is entirely my own fault, and the escape has been futile due to my own weakness. In part, of course I understand that my own actions and choices have a direct correlation to the outcome of my life. I got here due to the options I chose, and choices I was given.

But lately, with the world how it is, I’ve been wondering which exactly choices were offered to me – and why I chose them, and the greater choices we are given as a whole (at least in the United States.) I don’t think we’re truly given the proper tools to understand what we’re eating, and how to manage it. I’m not sure about others, but counting calories, macronutrients, protein content was so far away from how I used to eat. It meant nothing to me, and in turn didn’t factor in to how I lived my life or how I treated my diet. I ate whatever was available.

And what’s available is what they want to be most available, most recognizable.

Now as far as I can the market we live in that dictates what kind of food is available doesn’t care or actively want us seek out that information. They’d rather us *not* know what kind of things we’re putting into our body, and not know how slowly they’ll reduce the portions, cheapen the ingredients, and raise the price. They’ll pump millions into advertising you garbage to make positive connotations with it, all while keeping it cheap and unhealthy.

Think of the most recognizable food brands. Coca-Cola is most successful food brand of all time, recognizable in every part of the world. That doesn’t make it the best, or good for you. It makes it available, in your mind and of course stocked in virtually everywhere you can buy food. A single can has 39 grams of sugar, 3 more grams than the daily recommended amount – for a single serving. With sugar being addictive, it’ll make sure your body craves more. There’s hundreds of other examples that follow the same thing. The most recognizable fast foods, cereals, even down to the basics like bread. What’s advertised most is never what’s best for you. It’s the cheapest product that can maximize the most profits.

There’s an apathy when it comes to the 'free market'. Whatever it is that makes money is what they follow. Corporations that create the products we consume do not care if it’s quality. They don’t care if it’s good for you, or makes your life better, or easier. If it does that, it’s simply a byproduct to making their capital. Maybe a few names still try for quality, but that’s few and far between – especially now a days it seems. Things are only getting cheaper, and the most trusted brands and names are being stripped down due to corporate profit-seeking rot. Boeing passenger planes comes to mind.

Personally I feel the best way to combat this, for your own health, (and to spite the people selling us garbage) is know what you’re putting in your body. Take a moment to calculate the specific needs your body might need, read the labels of what you are eating, and manage it within the margins needed. You owe it to yourself to keep your body healthy, to know what you’re fueling it with, and to find fuel that will give you the best benefits possible. Your body is the only one you have, and only you are capable of maintaining it correctly.

For those who struggle with being overweight, it’s *not* a moral failing. Personal choices has affected your body and your weight, that’s undeniable. But there are greater systematic pressures that have influenced you as well, as it has all of us. Sugar addiction is real. Being unaware of the nutrients what we’re eating is a real. Having cheap, terrible foods being advertised and influencing what we eat is real.

But being aware is the first step to combating against it – to fighting the influences that corporations wish to continue to puppet us with. With the upcoming administration in 2025, corporate powers will only be increased and invigorated, and important regulation whittled away in every aspect – including food safety.

If you’re a minority in the states, this should be doubly of interest to you. Being a minority in the States statistically means higher rate of health disparities – diabetes, obesity, heart disease, you name it. I personally have had family members effected by all of these. There is a lot more to say about that, but that’s for another time.

At the end of the day, race, ethnicity, nationality doesn’t matter to the people who want to shovel us garbage. Our dollar is what makes them rich. Don’t let them continue to have power over your body just because it’s what they want to be most available. They’ll make it convenient, they’ll make it everywhere, and they’ll make it cheap. (Though even fast food is getting more expensive than cooking at home.)

Know what you’re eating. Try food you didn’t think you’d like. Learn some recipes and how to cook. Even if you don’t know how there are countless resources on the internet. Cooking is an amazing and invaluable life skill that will save you money, your health, and impress all your friends. (And it’s attractive too, who doesn’t like someone who can cook a tasty meal! Really!)

If you buy your own food, to the grocery store more than you eat out at fast food or restaurants. Keep it balanced, find the nutrients you may be lacking and fill them in. Make sure you eat greens! Veggies and fruits! For the picky eaters, there are countless (easy) ways to prepare them that make them delicious and satisfying. Don’t settle for convenient if what’s convenient is poison.

Exercise is deeply important too. It’s not necessary for weight loss, as counting and keeping track of calories is the most forward way to do that, but it’s benefits are countless. It keeps the mind healthy, your body healthy, keeps you using energy more efficiently, and will make you overall happier. A gym membership is not required, as something as simple as a daily walk can help you meet your goals.

I just wanted to say that we have to be more aware. I’m not saying never eat out or to never enjoy a tasty, sugary treat. God knows I am tempted constantly. I still struggle with it on a day to day basis, and sometimes it is exhausting to. But it does get easier. I'm writing this mostly to remind myself what I've been doing what I've been doing, and to continue to follow my path towards a healthier life - and maybe someone else can find some strength in it too.

We can’t let external factors that were highly manufactured and targeted to us control our bodies, how we feel about it, and how efficiently they are run because of it. The people running the world are apathetic to how they hurt us. We can’t keep letting them take advantage.

As far as I know, we only have one body. Treat it with the care and kindness and love you deserve. And after that, do it to spite the bastards that think they can tell you what you want. Only you can decide that.