Week 6: Adulthood- Dave Polanski

When I think about being a teenager; I think about all the energy I used to have. I could have a bag of pop-tarts and a Mountain Dew every for breakfast (which I did) and function just fine for the day. For lunch I would have a slice of pizza, pop, and a bag of chips and still feel energized for wrestling practice. I weighed 155 lbs in high school and was rather active. I felt I could whatever I wanted and still feel fit because how active I was. When senior year came, going out on the weekends and having some beers was completely expected. I remember drinking late into the night and waking up feeling absolutely fine. Nowadays I cannot have a 6 pack without waking up feeling like grim death. What occurred? Well, there can be several factors why we lose our 'drive' as we get older but a lot can play in affect to this. As a male, I did most of my growing in my teens and no matter what I always was hungry. When your body is growing it needs fuel to grow (even if the fuel is not the healthiest), the term fast metabolism explains this theory especially for teenagers. A lot of teens are exposed to drinking while in high school and this transitions smoothly right into college. The 'typical' American life is to graduate high school, graduate college, get married, and have kids. This sounds beautiful but it is far from how the American life truly goes. I did not go away to college but a lot of my friends have and I saw the same outcome for most of them; they failed out about sophomore year and all put on the infamous freshman 15 and for some the freshman 30. Sure, we can put the blame on personal responsibility but this is not a fair accusation to most. We expect kids to go from having a curfew, having their parents wake them up for class, home cooked meals, laundry done and no responsibility to living completely on their own just three months after high school graduation. This is set up failure for most because the change is too abrupt and overwhelming. The temptation to party every day and eat junk is readily available, even more so than living a healthy lifestyle.  

Pg. 213 in our text shows a chart that indicates obesity in our country. Since we live in Illinois I will use their numbers, 25-29% of residents in Illinois are obese. Living a lifestyle that includes drinking alcohol, eating junk, smoking and lack of exercise set-up Americans to be obese. We indulge in these things because they are cheap, easy to access, they make us feel 'good', and are considered the norm in our society. Entering the work force really cuts a person's time down and we start to eliminate things such as: diet and  exercise. We complain about never having energy as we get older but seem to neglect the energy we get comes from what we fuel ourselves with. Our society is designed for us to live like this unless we make the changes we need to. Our text states, "Nutrition plays an important role throughout human development. In early adulthood, increasing evidence demonstrates the influence of nutrition on two major health concerns, heart disease and cancer."  

We see all kinds of warnings regarding the detrimental effects of smoking everywhere. There are even pictures on packs of squares warning people about the dangers of smoking. Why don’t we do that for food? The World Health Organization has officially classified processed meat as a carcinogen that causes cancer. When you ask someone why they do not smoke and they say it causes cancer; 9/10 they would not say the same about eating meat; when in fact both are classified in the same group. The problem is that we are drowned with advertisement; $5 foot longs, 2 for $10 pizzas, $1 any size coke, and this list can go on for some time. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes are all diseases that can be prevented through diet and yet they are some of the top leading causes of health problems in adults. Is there a solution? Well, our medical field would like for you to go to your doctor to get on some medications that will regulate (NOT CURE) your condition. A major concern form men is erectile dysfunction, the 'cure' is Viagra. Most people don't know but Viagra started as a heart medication. When men cannot get aroused it is not because they lost their sex drive it's because their arteries are developing plaque. A male erection occurs when there is a strong blood flow to that area hence an erection. Erectile dysfunction is an early indicator for heart disease because your arteries are slowly clogging. Our modern medical system does not want to cure us but maintain us so we stay sick and we stay on medications.  

Take a moment to think about loved ones or people you know who face these health problems. Early adulthood can be the beginning to an early death due to the lifestyle that is common to many young adults that transition to middle adulthood to being a senior. Who wants to get older just to have to take X amount of prescription drugs every day to just function?  

I tend to talk a lot about diet and nutrition, especially in regards to adults because the information is out there but it does take research. I catch a lot of flak for being vegan and often get the same remark from everyone, "bacon'. I used to make the same jokes and would be lying if I said the taste of bacon was not good but what's good is not always what's best. Informing others about the dangers of food can maybe prevent illness. I hate to see anyone sick or even worse dying, so relaying information is important to me. Not to say my way is the right way or I am better than you but simply that you're going to live a much happier life eliminating these poisons.  

Autism is growing at an alarming rate and I would like to see the links between autism and the lifestyle of the parents. What a parent ingest their offspring will also ingest. 1-150 8-year olds are diagnosed with autism; this trumps the preceding study from the 1980's that claimed 1-2000 kids had autism. Nearly 70% of Americans are on at least one prescription medication, add this to the standard American diet and I would be willing to bet these two factors play into the rise of autism in children.  

https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/world-health-organization-says-processed-meat-causes-cancer.html 

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Chapter 10 touches on friendships in middle adulthood and claims, "Middle adulthood is typically a time when close friendships become fewer and more precious." I am currently experiencing this at my current point in life. I will be 29 in a few weeks and every year I feel like I have less friends but a stronger bond with the ones that are still in my life. This may sound depressing but it really is great. There just is not enough hours in the day to maintain all the friendships you used to have because the older we get the more we have on our plates. However, the friends that "make the cut" really have shown they are tried and true. The times I spend with my close friends now are better than any of the times that we shared in the past because they are more meaningful. I can count on one hand the friends I have now but still wish the absolute best to the ones I do not talk to anymore. I feel the feeling is mutual because as adults we understand there simply is just not enough time.