Dish-Houston

BY DISH CONTRIBUTOR SAMIR BECIC:

             In the 21^st Century, the health and medical industry is going to have a reawakening. As time progresses, the correlation between fitness, media, politics and religion is becoming blatantly apparent.

            The more we understand how society works, the more obvious the parallels between these areas begin to intersect, affect each other and their functions in society.  The way that fitness impacts the health and medical industry is greatly influenced by politics and agendas marketed through the media.  Considering that 60-70% of known illnesses can be managed, controlled, or completely avoided with fitness, healthy nutrition and spiritual balance, we still need to convince politicians to support this idealism through any means available to them, and motivate the media to spread the message. 

Even though we are witnessing influence from politics and media on the health and medical industry of today, it is not revolutionary enough.  I would personally like this influence to be in spreading the message of healthy lifestyle and its impact on the masses.  Considering that we are the most obese country in the world, and statistics are showing that by 2015 over 75% of Americans will be overweight- the right message from politics and media can be a breaking point in a positive direction towards a healthier and fitter America.  More media personalities need to be aware of how healthier lifestyle can have a positive impact on American society and how their influence as ambassadors for healthy living can be crucial in changing this nation towards being a leader in health and fitness.

Political leaders can be one of the building blocks towards attaining healthy lifestyle in mainstream America.  Their influence in making the laws and their presence in media can be imperative towards exciting the masses into changing their nutrition for the better and being more physically active.  Coupled with corporations, politicians can produce the necessary financial means to support the media in starting to become more proactive in providing the exposure needed to make wide-ranging changes towards a healthier U.S.  Through having a healthier workforce, corporations will also see great added benefits to supporting the new health and fitness movement.

            Based on statistics, such as for every $1 spent on wellness initiatives, corporations can save as high as $10, we can conclude that healthy employees benefit the employer.  Conversely, we can conclude that the money that corporations spend on employees’ unhealthy lifestyle is so high that it can determine the future existence of the company and standing of the employees’ job security.  On the other hand, if the company did not have such astronomical health costs, that money could be used for improving the quality of the workplace, more benefits for the employees, and possible higher income.  The new emergence in the corporate world is the Religious non-profit sector such as the “Super Churches” that have enormous influence on its followers- which is a substantial portion of the population.

            The Mega-Churches of today hold a strong influence on the general opinion of mainstream America.  Followers look for daily guidance from pastors and heads of ministries on the best way to live their lives and raise their families.  It is enormously important to provide the churches with the correct knowledge on fitness and proper nutrition so they can influence and better their members lives.  I am glad that some mega-churches are currently trying to do this and are already having very respectable results in the field.  One of these churches is Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, which continuously provides their members with educational materials, programs, and motivation to live healthier and fitter for themselves and their families.  It also helps that Joel Osteen himself is a very fit man, that in addition to his spiritual guidance, he also inspires people to live healthier lives.  I see that several national churches are following Lakewood’s admirable example, and I truly believe that even more will follow suit.

            With this being said, it becomes apparent that all the segments of society need to be rearhwakened and re-educated in terms of what “truly” makes a population healthy.  To achieve this, we need all the factors mentioned above to work in a synergetic manner to accomplish the greater good in terms of health and fitness on a national level.  In the past, there were too many quick-fixes, like short-lived diets and “magic” weight-loss pills that didn’t work- the proof is in in 11% obesity rate increase over the past decade.  With proper education in fitness and healthy nutrition- a.k.a. Healthy Lifestyle- we can change the significance of what health means to the United States citizens.  The Health and Fitness Revolution will change the public opinion towards long-term healthy lifestyle instead of short-lived trends.