Last week whilst at Thorpe Park amusement park, I watched a young women desperately trying to fit into a rollercoaster seat. The test seat was positioned outside the entrance to ride and her friends tried and tried to squeeze her in. It didn't happen, she was left to swelter in the sun as her friends went off to enjoy the ride. It was a really sad scene to witness.
All day long I came across teenage girls wearing paper Burger King hats as if they represented the height of fashion.
I feel like we have become a fast food nation, our stomachs are now havens for bacteria and despair. We medicate and sedate like never before and sad the truth is we have little say in the matter. 67% of men are obese or overweight and the figure isn't much better for women.
The world around us in increasingly designed to fulfil our desires and limit our physical movements.
The media feeds us increasingly simplistic stories produced to keep us numb and confused. A state of constant inertia besets large waves of the population. And when we're inactive we're better consumers and more malleable citizens, ready to accept the next draconian austerity measure imposed on society and the latest easy fad sold to us by slick advertising.
The cult of individualism is rife like never before. And that young woman at the theme park who is obese in her twenties isn't really to blame for her situation.
As humans it is natural that we search for meaning in our lives. After all we won the race to be alive, we live in a rich country, we have it better than most and we search desperately for a story that justifies our existence.
Finding that meaning isn't easy and perhaps there is no meaning we're just here to exist for a short period of time and before disappearing. The simplistic narratives we are told around personal gratification and accumulation of wealth as key factors to a happy life are misleading, we are losing the ability to truly love ourselves and those around us.
During my time at the theme park I witnessed people wearing t-shirts so bewildering I honestly questioned if they could explain to me why they chose to wear them. Included was a t-shirt worn by a teenage girl which read "Cocaine and Caviar", a man in his 30's proudly wore a t-shirt with the words "Sex, Fame, Money", plastered across it.
Whilst at the theme park I desperately searched for some healthy food and the best my vegan arse could muster was a very sad looking jacket potato and a spoonful of beans. Everywhere you turned burgers, chicken, pizzas, chips were available.
It is no wonder so many of turn to these dangerous fast foods, laden with fat and born of animal suffering for instant gratification. The marketing of these products is relentless and the true extent of the damage they cause to the environment and our health are kept hidden from us.
Together we need to use our great storytelling skills to share more stories of health and vibrant transformation through diet and exercise. We need to demand more from corporations, better healthy options, clearer labelling of ingredients.
We need to get together and cook for one another, share our food cultures and shift towards a more plant-based society. Ideally you will all go vegan instantly after reading this but I am willing to work with a shift in that direction. We need more plants in our diet, no animal fats, less salt more organic food grown with love.
We're all children of this fast food nation, we have the power to get off the ride and change things but we must love each other and embrace new ideas to get there. Are you brave enough to accept the challenge?