No one knows what’s around the corner for them as far as health is concerned. One of the most effective ways, however, to potentially ward off infection is to boost the immune system through diet and fitness. Obesity appears to be a huge risk factor for COVID-19 even as purported medical experts told everyone to stay inside and insisted on shutting down gyms during the pandemic (or panic-demic).

Unfortunately, Big Food has apparently dissuaded the U.S. federal government from modernizing its nutrition recommendations despite skyrocketing rates of obesity and diabetes.

In the U.K., “overweight people are more than three times as likely to die of Covid-19 than those of a healthy weight,” according to public health authorities there.

Standard American Diet = SAD

From the Washington Examiner about the missed opportunity in the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans:

“When the government began working to scare people away from healthy and nutritious foods such as eggs, red meat, butter, and cheese, people did indeed eat less of them, but they did not replace them by eating more spinach. Instead, they began filling their bellies with the new sugary, grain-based Frankenstein creations that food companies came up with to fit within these government guidelines…

“The public, in other words, has become the involuntary subject of an unprecedented dietary experiment initiated by bureaucrats who lacked solid evidence for their approach from the inception. It is, therefore, probably no coincidence that the rates of obesity and diabetes have skyrocketed in the time since this experiment began.

“The U.S. dietary recommendations are updated once every five years. They have slightly improved over time. For example, you may have noticed that the obnoxious ‘low fat’ craze finally disappeared at some point (although people still fear fat because of it — the damage is done) and that the unscientific panic over dietary cholesterol was quietly phased out more recently. But things are not changing fast enough to make America healthy again. Last week’s disappointing five-year update to the guidelines demonstrates that the public cannot trust its government for health advice and must take matters into its own hands…

The Recipe Includes More Protein and Healthy Fats, and Less Carbs

“One positive development is a long-overdue, modest reduction in the recommendation for added sugar…Unfortunately, bad science and obvious industry lobbying are preventing further needed changes to the national nutrition guidelines. The USDA and Health and Human Services continue to ignore the overwhelming evidence and new studies showing that for both weight loss and cancer prevention, people should be eating more healthy fats and fewer, larger meals each day — not the average six small meals and snacks that most eat.

“President Trump may prefer hamburgers and steaks, but the USDA continues to cower before the cult of vegetarianism…The new document crucially excludes increasingly popular low-carbohydrate options that appear to be giving formerly obese and unhealthy people a new lease on life — ketogenic, paleolithic, and candida diets that are well-attested in terms of their effectiveness and feature in many recent studies that the new guidelines document ignores.

“And despite emerging evidence indicating otherwise, the USDA still continues to treat red meat, the most nutrient-dense food many people are willing to eat, as a boogeyman, tantamount to soda and candy…These guidelines need to be deleted entirely and reformulated based only on evidence present in scientific literature.

According to the Low-Carb Action Network, “By failing to address the chronic dietary health problems facing the majority of the U.S. population, the [Dietary Guidelines Advisory] Committee is doing a great disservice to the public. By omitting all the trials on low-carb diets, the Committee is also depriving Americans of a safe, effective and cost-efficient means of reversing diagnoses of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and most cardiovascular risk factors.”

Britain ‘Weighs In’

Circling back to the U.K., coronavirus survivor Boris Johnson, the portly prime minister claims he dropped about 14 pounds, He is encouraging his constituents to do likewise. An weight-loss advertising campaign (which may or may not be a waste of taxpayer money) is to follow.

Similarly, as this blog has previously discussed, President Trump is in a good position to personally reverse a trend where so many deal with compromised or weakened immune systems owing to obesity-related conditions.

President Trump, who is hardly thin, is not a fan of exercise other than playing golf, however.

With his high energy level, Trump is in an incredible (to use his favorite word) position to set an example for the country to get into better shape. Imagine the impact on the American public if the president started working out, eliminated carbs, ate more nutritious food, and dropped about 30 pounds or so.

Defeating what he has called the invisible enemy also includes winning the battle of the “bulge.”

[Note: Before embarking on any kind of diet or physical fitness regimen, engage in due diligence and obtain guidance from a qualified healthcare professional.]