We don't all need six packs and a gun show. But the average American has a body fat percentage up over 30%. Couple that with lack of exercise and you have obesity related illnesses as the #1 cause of death in the United States, as well as a falling life expectancy for Americans.
/emphatic cough.
After a good year sabbatical from from the working world to decompress and recharge, I started a new job this week with the largest organization (in number of staff) that I've ever worked for. Today I had lunch in the cafeteria for the first time. Passed on the pizza, burger & fries, brats with fixings and even sushi (had that for dinner earlier in the week) for a spinach salad with grilled chicken, olives, eggs & BACON! with a cookie since I'm mucking about with the carb intake/blood glucose levels and how that impact my hearing issues.
Looking about the cafeteria, most of my fellow workers in other departments are on the rotund side of things, or outright frelling obese with the reserves hanging flacid well over the belt. Now I'm not cut & ripped in any sense, so I rightly have little room to criticize. I just have to wonder about what happens when the day comes when us GenX'rs become geriatrics and the health systems have crashed & burned from <insert cause of choice>. Ain't gonna be pretty.
On a side note, after a week I REALLY miss my daily walks and am a bit amazed about how a work day (not even that strenuous) leaves me more wiped out than pounding out 20+ km/day on my feet ever did. Guess it speaks to the efficiency of our going about on two legs and why it helped our kind become planetary apex preditors before we learned to tame plants & other animals for our food.