OK, maybe it is the Olympics, maybe I am getting old, but it is time for another soap box. Seriously people am I the only one who looks around and is shocked by what I am seeing our children and adults looking like? It seems like every time I turn around there is a new medication being shown on TV, I am getting emails constantly on how to get prescription medications online, and the latest thing I have read was that they are designing a drug so we don't have to actually work out.

Seriously people come on! How in the world can we expect to be considered a World Power when the majority of our population would absolutely have a heart attack if asked to run a mile, heck a block! The latest study I have seen is that by the year 2048 EVERY American Adult will be overweight. OK don't lynch me I didn't do the study, and I know that there will always be some out there like our Olympians, but when I look around I can honestly see them being the very small group.

Last week I went to the beach with my daughter. I have been REALLY working on losing weight and getting in shape since her. I am proud to say I have lost 20 lbs this year! But back to the issue at hand. I looked around the beach and I remember growing up and thinking how I wanted to be in shape for the summer so I could look good in a swim suit. It seems like even the 14-16 year olds have let themselves go! And I am not talking about a pound or two, I am talking about 15-45+ lbs overweight.

I go to the amusement park with my daughter and they actually have scales for the CHILDREN'S rides! I am not joking here! Curiosity got the best of me and I had to go and ask what the weight limit was... I almost fell over for the ride I asked about it was 125 lbs. THE HEIGHT LIMIT WAS 52 INCHES! I am 63 inches tall and weigh 124 lbs at age 32 after having a child. It clearly was an issue if they had to put a scale there, they don't do that for one child. What kind of health issues are these children going to have?

Diabetes, self esteem, productivity, ADD, obesity, hypertension, these are all things that children are being diagnosed with! And the solution? They are not being told to go on a diet, or work out, or change their lifestyle... No heaven forbid we do that! We are putting them on medications to falsely tell the body that there is nothing wrong.

We are creating a pattern that cannot lead to anything good. See our bodies are actually designed to work a certain way. An interesting fact that I have learned is that when we feel something wrong with one of our organs liver, gall bladder, heart, etc that organ is already damaged and working at less than 40%. The general consensus now is to get a medication so you don't notice the symptom anymore high blood pressure, heart pains, etc. This creates a cycle.

When you give your body something artificial to mask the symptom even something as simple as a fever you are preventing your body from doing what it needs to do. Even more dangerous is when you take something for blood pressure etc. What happens is your artificially tell your body something is working that isn't. After that you go and take your blood pressure which says everything is good so nothing in your life changes. You continue on and when you realize it again they up your dose. This cycle continues until the body can no longer continue.

I understand at times the need to take a certain medications while you get yourself back on track. But it is a horrible habit. We have to change our habits to get rid of the problem not mask it. It is amazing when you look at the research that shows that Americans take over 75% of the prescription medications in the world, yet we are only 4.5% of the world population (as of 8:33 EST 8/12).

During the Olympics again I see advertisements for Tylenol. It amazes me that in other countries Tylenol is a regulated medication, yet in the US we take it like candy. We hear all the time in commercials how Tylenol will protect you from a heart attack and to take it daily. Yes, this is true, but it also significantly raises your risk of a stroke!

Continuing on, on my rant is cold medications. There is a reason we get fevers, coughs, throw up, and sneeze. Lets look at these alone... A fever is the body's way of killing unwanted bacteria. Bacteria and viruses thrive at guess what temperature? (Shock 98-99 degrees!) We are an incubator! Coughing and sneezing is the body's way of expelling things from our bodies. And throwing up is the body's way of getting out something that we have eaten that we need to get out of our body.

So what do we do? We take fever and cough suppressants, and things to prevent us from throwing up. Yes I know these are not fun! But we are only exacerbating our issues by suppressing the issue.

We are literally killing ourselves and don't even realize it. I see children who are obese and on more medications than I can count, I see adults spending the end of their days incapacitated and taking 15-30 medications a DAY just to live. I can't understand what has happened or how we got this way! As many of you know I have a young daughter who will be growing up in this country and I do believe we are a wonderful country, but if we don't do something I can't see how we will be able to continue with the medical problems alone that we will be facing.