As most people know by now, cancer is a disease which goes hand-in-hand with a typical Western diet of junk food, too much alcohol and cigarettes and sedentary lifestyle. As African countries get wealthier and adopt the same living patterns, the cancer (and heart disease and diabetes type 2) rates start growing.
About a week ago I came across this Daily Mail article discussing the problem. One thing especially caught my attention:
After Rose underwent a mastectomy of
her left breast, watched her hair fall out and nails grow black under
chemotherapy, she was declared cancer-free.
But her troubles were not over.
Her
64-year-old mother was already suffering from diabetes but was "wasting
away", and Rose encouraged her to get tested. It turned out she had
pancreatic cancer.
"I think
maybe mum's lifestyle has brought about this. She lives in Nairobi, she
is not moving a lot, she is not going to fetch water like the lady in
the village," said Rose.
(Emphasis mine). It just happens that some time ago I got charity folders urging me to donate money so that poor Africans wouldn't have to go fetch water as it's supposedly degrading or whatever.
I just wonder, when did people in the West become so soft that they see physical activity as a plague to be avoided and manual labour as degrading and something to be saved from? No wonder we are going the way we are...
Physical activity is acceptable only if it happens indoors, brings money to some fitness entrepreneur and includes semi-nudity. :)
ReplyDeleteI think stress is the biggest reason for cancer and many other illnesses. Keeping women at home would reduce stress from both men and women, but that would not help Big Pharma to make any money...
I think I must buy a tin foil hat. ;)
Stress and diet which messes our hormones. Agree about physical activity, nowadays everything has to be structured, preferably with some government official overseeing the process to ensure everything goes according to the rules and EU regulations:)
ReplyDeleteI like structured and non structured activity. I walk on the treadmill every morning to maintain my figure and general health. In the modern world it is often hard to get enough physical activity otherwise as we don't naturally walk everywhere anymore, at least not in the US unless you live in a major city.
ReplyDeleteHere we still do:) I try to walk for at least 1.5 hour every day, more during the weekends.
ReplyDeleteWe live in small town so I usually walk when I run errands. And of course I have to walk with the dog. Hour per day is the very minimum amount of exercise she needs. Though we quite often walk to the dog park where she can play with her friends and I can gossip with other dog owners. :)
ReplyDeleteBut people used to walks and ride bikes much more. My mother has told me that back in the early 70's she had to walk to work. 3 kilometers in high heels. :) Nowadays even in Finland most families with children have two cars. When I was child at 80's, families had one car -ore none. :) My nanny had 5 children and she walked to grocery store every day and carried several liters milk in a basket... On fridays her hubby drove her to supermarket.
Here it depends, many families with one breadwinner still have only one car and the husband takes it to work so that the wife has to bicycle or walk everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAlso many older people take a dog specially for the purpose of exercise, otherwise they are stuck home the whole day.
Charity begins at home; Westerners should first help solve problems of poverty, etc. at home, before turning attention to others elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThe church folks could use all this money to fight liberals in court, let alone that in the country where only 30% profess faith in personal God there is a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, as I have discovered, for too many Christians, a Christian country means welfare state. So by this reasoning nobody in the West actually needs anything and everybody outside is per definition a victim in need of help. Western religion is materialism.
ReplyDeleteSlightly OT, but what do you Sanne wear when you take your strolls? Skirts only?
ReplyDeleteI'm asking this since I still struggle with the skirts while being outdoorsy. They always seem to limit my movements or then the hem "rides up" - I assume my walking style is not the most feminine. :) Now I know that ladies used to walk pretty long walks, even in skirts, and some women even hike in skirts. So I must be doing something wrong.
Housewife, I guess it depends on what style and model you choose. Also I'm not that puritanical so if it rides up a bit, I don't mind, especially in winter when you wear black tights underneath. That said, I really dislike short skirts (and unwanted attention it brings) and mostly wear knee-length.
ReplyDeleteAlso I prefer stretchy/wide models so they don't restrict my movements. Only wear more formal styles for special occasions.
ReplyDelete