It looks like there will be a lot of extra weight (no pun intended) added to the healthcare challenge of our country; as obesity is quickly becoming an epidemic.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77493.php


The liberal solution to this problem will be to regulate our children from morning to night.  I can just see it now.  The liberals will want to tax 'happy meals', regulate the amount of TV our kids can watch, candy and ice cream they can eat; and require a minimum amount of exercise each week.

To the liberal, this is just one more problem for 'big' government to fix.  When it comes to healthcare and spending our money, their solution will be to just 'super-size' it!

Statistics are a terrible way to determine who gets health care coverage and who dosn't...I personally can't wait until they start checking our DNA to see who is awarded affordable insurance rates and who gets priced out of the market...after all, why should I pay high rates for the sickos who will eventually get cancer or diabetes? (neither of which occurs with any frequency in my family...)

My uncle, who is safely of normal weight, had to have both his knees replaced...if it had happened to me, they would have attributed it to my weight, but since it happened to him, it's just a "darn shame".

All of the people I know who have had heart attacks or heart problems have been of a "normal" weight...and all the people I know who have had cancer have been "normal"...jeeez, of all the fattys I know, none have had any serious medical problems (with the exception of car accidents)...It seems to me real life does not reflect their stats, at least for me...and my "normal" weight father-in-law is the only one I know with diabetes....hmmmm....

In my own cynical mind I must agree, in part, with both of the opinions posted prior to mine. But I agree totally with the Maharishi Rush on this topic.....actions have consequences.

If you are overweight it is in and of your own doing..unless you are diagnosed as having a glandular problem.

I am 72 years old..God knows...old enough to have lived out my time (by the standards of today's young people) and have been a careful steward of the body I was given.  Had I allowed myself the indulgence of gaining 1 pound a year since my 20's I would now be 52 lbs. over my normal weight, considering that I was normal then.

I am, among my other faults, am a cancer survivor without benefit of Chemo or Radiation therapy. I don't know that my problem was genetic...no one in my family had this problem. I dealt with it and went on with my life.  Again, the Pill Rollers are pleading with me to have a biopsy because my PSA is abnormally high. So? Might it be that you need another Mercedes payment?

I'm chuckling as I write this because the eternal cynic in me isn't pleading for your pity or prayers...I'm laughing because I'd always wished to be shot by a jealous husband and not taken by something beyond my control.

Whatever my fate...it will not be dictated to me or mine by some bearucratic quack, paid for with taxpayer dollars and I shall not be disposed with at the convenience of a government which dictates who will live or die by the statistics.

I am perhaps, an old hack...out of step with today's culture and goals.  My father was too old for WWII and I was too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam.  Because of my age does that make me less of a Patriot?  I think not.

Please, please I beg of you young people...take it from here and do not let the Ritalin enforced inducements offered to your children blind you of the reality of realizing that benefiits offered by a Government are a substitute for self provided health care and freedom.

I watched Jay Leno talk about his mother in law with Arnold Swartzenegger.  Her medical care because she had a stroke in England wasn't covered...being an American, she had to pay.. and it was about 10% of what an American hospital would have cost when they got the bill.  Arnold blamed it on the people that don't have insurance.  This is ridiculous.  20% of us don't have insurance, so our bills are 1000% higher?

How would you like your medical insurance premium to be cut 90%?  In essence, that's what the brits have.  I'll stand in line   How about 80% and you don't stand in line?

Keeping hospitals from massively ripping us off doesn't seem to be a platform either party embraces.

I'll tell you what needs a diet.  Insurance companies,  the medical cartel, and malpractice lawyers....  and the politicians in both parties that are paid by all of the above not to solve the problem.

My last $12,000, 2 day stay in the hospital consisted of a room that wasn't as clean as a Motel 6, inedible food, nasty nurses and 20 minutes of time with an ER doc.  $1200 seems like too much, but I'd go with that.  Remind me to crash my motorcycle in England next time.

I was walking through the mall the other day and counted all the fat people, I kept counting 5 out of 7, 6 out of 7 that were overweight with half being obesely overweight. Another thing I noticed is that girls were more overweight than the guys in most cases

There is no secret to staying thin, don't eat like a pig ...

What amazes me is what is considered an ideal weight.  I recently saw an "ideal weight" chart which presented the ideal weight for a 5'10" man as 135 lbs!  Not only is that NOT "ideal", I would call it boney to the point of starvation.  Most charts are a little bit more realistic, but not much.

Last year, I was taking some medication which caused me to gain about 60 lbs in 4 months - I got very fat, very fast.  I knew I was fat, but the "ideal weight" chart told me that I was about 50 pounds beyond the "Obese" limit.  The chart further told me that even when I was at what I considered my perfect weight (I was in very good shape back then) I was already on the borderline of "Obesity" for an endomorph (thick-bodied) male, which I am not.  In my opinion, these charts are at least 20 lbs off in the ideal range, and even more incorrect in determining obesity.  

I realize that there are a lot of grossly fat people here in America, but when you depend on statistics, you're depending on what simple observation will tell you are fundamentally flawed definitions of "ideal weight" and "obesity".  In other words, the problem of obesity in this country is probably less than half as severe as what the b.s. statistics suggest.


P.S. Also, one piece of random advice for anyone who is dieting to lose weight.  It is a mantra of mine: "To lose weight, you must lift weights".  Works 100% of the time.