To the Editor:
It is great to see on the front page that the city schools are promoting fitness to children. “Westside Elementary holds ribbon cutting on Project Fit America outdoor Fit Pit.” Doctors should be promoting fitness and exercise for children and adults. Studies have found doctors should be prescribing more exercise instead of drugs for common chronic problems including arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes. “Many doctors and their patients aren’t aware that exercise is a treatment for these chronic conditions and can provide as much benefit as drugs or surgery and with fewer harms,” said Dr. Tammy Hoffmann of Bond University, Australia.
America has a growing obesity problem. Across all 50 states more than 20 percent of adults are obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to Dr. Bret Scher (www.prageru.com/video), a cardiologist, ever since the government began telling Americans what to eat, we have gotten fatter and sicker. In 1977, when the government first set dietary guidelines, the average American male weighed only 170 pounds. He now weighs 197. The average American women went from 145 pounds in 1977 to 170 pounds today. American children have triple the obesity they had in 1980. Dr. Scher said, “the weight gain has real-life consequences: the percent of Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (a condition that can lead to severe medical issues) has risen from 2 percent in 1977 to over nine percent in 2015. In hard numbers that’s from five million people to over 30 million people.”
Dr. Bret Scher said the government in 1977 set the dietary limit on saturated fat at only 10 percent based on one flawed study. Other larger longer term studies found no difference in heart attacks in those who ate more or less saturated fat. To spread the message of fats supposedly being bad and carbs supposedly being good to schools the USDA in 1992 created “the food pyramid.” Whole grains were at the bottom of the food pyramid meaning they should be consumed at greater rates than foods at higher levels, even though the primary benefit they provide, fiber, can be gotten in other foods. The consumption of refined grains (carbohydrates that convert to sugar in the body) has increased greatly since 1963. During that same period, type 2 diabetes and obesity among Americans has also greatly increased. Americans need to eat less bread, grains, sugar and carbohydrates. Americans need to eat more fruits and vegetables (fiber) and water and get more exercise. More water and exercise help every medical condition. Dr. Scher said, “there are many answers: for some, it’s a low-carb, high fat diet; for others it’s a Mediterranean diet; for some vegetarianism; for others, it might be something else. You need to find the best solution for you. We need to take responsibility for our own health. If the food pyramid has taught us one thing, it’s this: Don’t rely on the government to take care of you!” 1 Thessalonians 5 says, “Prove (test) all things; hold fast that which is good.”
Your body and physical health is important, but of greater importance is your soul and spiritual health. 3 John 1:2, “Beloved I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” Jesus can help change your heart to a merry heart. Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart does good like a medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones.” All people suffer from a fatal spiritual disease called sin, which always leads to death. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Right now through repentance of your spiritual disease called sin, you can come to and trust only Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, for healing and assurance of eternal life! According to Pastor Perry Stone and Pastor Joseph Prince taking the Lord’s Supper every day has healed hundreds of Christians of medical problems. The most healthy thing you can do and the best exercise to do is to walk with Jesus daily!

D.D. Nave
Elizabethton