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THE VIRUS 2020 - the good, the bad, and the ugly

Dystopia said:
You are raising two important points

Why do we need physical exercise? Because we no longer work physically. We have known this for a long time and found ways to exercise even prior to the seventies craze of gyms, aerobics, and 'workouts'. The problem we are facing now is that we have become entirely dependent on those third-party herd activities and personal trainers. We no longer have the willpower to exercise in privacy without stimuli from outside. We fear nothing more than being alone... not being seen and applauded.
We CAN exercise individually at almost any place and any time if we can gather the self-discipline required.

You are presenting a more global outlook whereas I focused on our Caucasian, affluent societies. I assumed that we should know better.
I think that in the case of nations of the South Pacific an the Caribbean we have to consider the still widely held belief that largeness of the body reflects wealth and that wealthy people have a higher standing in society. In some South Asian countries a man's importance is measured by the size of his wives. Another consideration could be simply genetic differences. What seems most obvious however is a sudden shift from a traditional diet to a western one. In our western societies we have at least begun initiatives to warn consumers of the health-risks of certain foods. If these initiatives do exist among the island and asian nations, they are largely ignored by the populace.

Regarding both Arab and Central/South american countries, I find those WHO statistics rather iffy. Kuwait, Qatar and UAE have a small population and their citizens are too wealthy for their own good (not including their imported labour) --- the numbers here could represent the truth. However, Egypt's and Jordan's obesity rates appear contrived.

We must also consider the first point you raised in connection with the above mentioned countries, the lack of understanding the importance of exercise.
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There is some Western influence with the growth of convenience foods, but at the same time there could be native dishes/foods with fat (such as coconuts in the South Pacific). Non-fatty/more healthy foods are often more expensive to buy, for example fat free yoghurt is often more expensive than normal. The cheapest bread in many places is white bread.

Inventions like the television, the computer and the internet most likely have a big part in the modern day lack of exercise. Following on from the growth of administrative work.

I'm not sure gyms are specifically a reason, only the wealthier people are likely to pay for them anyway. I think most people would be willing to exercise privately, but they have other things on their mind to do, other routines. If anything people are less public and more private now, you can get plenty of entertainment at home without having to go out.
 
Paul Murray: "She turned around and said that Queensland hospitals are for Queenslanders, despite the fact that only 45% of the Queensland heath system is actually paid for by Queensland taxpayers, the rest of it, federal taxpayers..."

 
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