‘Obesity is not because it runs in the family, it is because no one runs in the family. – Anon

All across the planet there are groups working to make our world a little greener, to slow things down so we can enjoy home-cooked meals and the pleasures of outdoor living.

But counteracting everything the green movement is accomplishing, are other harsh realities that stand between you and a smooth-running body machine.

Let’s start with the oversized food portions in many of the neighborhood diners of the world. Good value is equated with lots of food, so that platter of fish and chips you order is piled so high it could feed one family instead of one person.

But you don’t want to waste it; after all, you work hard for your money. And it is deep-fried and tantalizingly good, so you eat it all.

You order popcorn at your local movie theatre and you need a wheelbarrow to carry it to your seat. Your regular size hot dog at the local filling station is now a foot long instead of six inches.

When you eat portions far in excess of what even feels comfortable, you are taking in far too many calories.

Doggy bags aren’t just for doggies. Ask for one and eat the second portion they so generously provided at home on another day.

At the same time that some places are over-feeding you, you may have trouble gaining access to farm-fresh foods that will enhance your health. Fresh fruits and vegetables are plentiful at major city supermarkets, but if you live in rural areas where there are only small grocery outlets, they will have a tendency to rely on packaged foods with a longer shelf life.

Make an effort now to secure a source of fresh food. When cost is a factor, and that is usually the case, lower your investment by always purchasing fresh foods that are in season in the area where you live.

If you are living in northern countries and you want to buy blueberries in May, you will have to pay an outrageous price for them. But if you want the taste and flavor of fresh spring, local rhubarb will be showing up in the stores soon and will make a lovely substitute.

Keep in mind that the foods that are supported with the most advertising are likely the foods you should avoid. There’s a reason for the hard sell. Sugar-laced sweets and drinks presented attractively to lure you and your children to purchase them are often just full of calories and contain very little of the actual nutrition that your body needs for fuel.

Pre-packaged snacks seem like a saviour to the lunch-packing parents of the world, but the processed foods and sweets they contain are just setting up your child for a life-long addiction to the wrong tastes.

Effective repair

1. Take control of what you eat in restaurants. Ask the waiter to remove the bread. Get a side order of veg or have two starters instead of a main meal. Don’t feel obliged to eat everything on your plate.
2. Secure a source for fresh vegetables and fruit and purchase and eat them every day. Buy local foods in the season they are plentiful.
3. Avoid sugar-laced, calorie-heavy, over-processed foods that are well advertised.
4. Cut down on all fruit juices because they have no fiber and they have high sugar content.