European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 26, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday april 26, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17 people Are living longer because of medical advances not because they Are eating healthier. Unhealthy living on the increase up photo United press International t to of every five american women Between 40 and 50 years old Are technically classed As so is one american Man in three. In Britain More than one third of All adults Are overweight. In developing countries where food is less plentiful the brewing and drinking of Beer is surpassing anything Ever seen in Western nations. Erma Bombeck All this the world health organization says shows that while people May be living longer because of modern Medicine they Are living increasingly unhealthy lives. Healthy living everyone a Winner was the who slogan for this year s world health Day celebrated earlier this month. The Celebration marked the Day in 1948 when who officially came into being As what is widely regarded As the most important and effective of All the specialized agencies of the United nations. There has been a different slogan every year. In 1955, it was clean water Means better in 1962, preserve sight prevent in 1980, smoking or health the Choice is speaking of healthy living who director general Halfdan Mahler said the big problem is that too Many people think health is a buy Able commodity. Partly As a result of some spectacular successes of modern Medicine an attitude has spread to Many parts of the world that health is something the doctors provide for people instead of something that a Community and individuals achieve for themselves Halfdan said. Halfdan a Dane said people would have far less need to visit the doctor if they followed three healthy lifestyle principles exercise and sports nutrition and personal physical exercise is vital at All stages of life he said be it simply walking or any Leisure Pursuit. Eating habits must be adjusted to avoid the menace of junk foods heavy in fat or drenched in sugar and which threaten the heart and the Teeth he said. Personal responsibility covers smoking and the abuse of alcohol and drugs with smoking the most important single preventable cause of ill health and premature death he said. Who produced a massive pile of documentation to support its healthy living slogan for 1986. Europeans and americans seem to be ahead of everyone else in their fondness for fatty foods it said. Thirty percent of what the average european eats today is who s technical obesity Chart for the United states and Britain adds up to a recipe for possible illness and disease it said. Money paid on reducing $235 million in Britain alone in 1982 would be better spent on a different diet and who had unkind words for junk food and its growing distribution in developing countries. Fast food chains with their risk of foods High in fat and Low in fiber and the Universal sweetened soft drink Are popping up on Many Corner Sites in third world capitals it said. Cigarette billboards Beckon everywhere. Alcohol use is countries in Africa latin America and Asia Are drinking Beer at such Steep rates of increase that per capita consumption is overtaking that in the West. The massive increase in Beer production in the third world is worrying who said. The global increase in Beer production in the last 20 years has been 124 percent but it has shot up by 500 percent in Asia 400 percent in Africa and 200 percent in latin this sort of trend the Agency warns May be sabotaging longer life expectancy with longer lives but More it gives Singapore As one example where life expectancy was less than 50 years in the 1940s and where infectious diseases like tuberculosis were the leading cause of death. Today the average singaporean can Hope to reach 71, but deaths from heart disease have doubled who notes. In some developing countries 70 percent of Young men Are smokers and unless preventive action is taken there will be a lung cancer epidemic throughout the developing world by the year 2000," the Agency warned. Summarizing who had this to say people of both North and South have choices to make. The North runs the risk of throwing away the advantages of a new Standard of living through Early death or chronic illness. The South runs risks throwing away the gains of increased life expectancy by adopting the unhealthy habits of the sometimes the older parents get the harder it is to raise them. They Are so Headstrong and Independent. They won t let their kids run their lives make decisions for them or carry out the plans their children make for them. A woman from Newport Beach calif., wrote that her Mother wanted to see the musical cats so bad her Teeth Hurt. When her birthday rolled around her daughter said she was going to get her tickets for it. Her Mother was furious. That s too much Money to see a play. If you buy the tickets i won t the daughter retaliated with a threat. She said of when you Cork off i la turn All that Money you be saved into Dollar Bills and throw them in with her Mother shot Back fat Chance i m going to be put into a drawer and your father is going to be buried at sea i empathize. I want to give my parents everything and they won t have it. A few years ago i wanted to give them a Jacuzzi. It would have been a wonderful gift for their aching Muscles. You d have thought i was buying them their own Ocean. They did not need a Jacuzzi. They did not want a Jacuzzi. My father said five years ago he could t even pronounce it. This was t the Way i had envisioned things would be. I had always figured the Day would come when i would take my place As All Wise knowing and omnipotent and my parents would look at me for leadership and guidance As i had looked to them. I gathered them about me and said As patiently As i could look do you remember when i was a Little girl and someone would give me a cookie and you would prod me and say what do you say Erma Lou i would say thank you you told me that people were trying to be Nice and you Don t argue you just accept it with my Mother looked at me for a minute and said do you remember a girl Back in Ohio who married this Young Man and they did t have a pot to Cook in and a baby was on the Way and the car stalled a lot and they never took vacations and her husband worked two jobs both sets of parents wanted so desperately to give them things but they did t. They sat there and watched them Why did they do that i asked. The Way the girl explained it to the two families the struggle was a part of their lives and they had to know they could do it with each other. Besides she said they had everything they could possibly have to be Mother put her hand Over mine. You were so Wise then. What happened sometimes As a Leader i feel i still need work. C los Angeles times Syndicate
