Americans are Fat

[mskafka]

Yes- alot of Americans are fat, and it's eating up our healthcare dollars. The government and society in general have decided to demonize smokers for high health care costs associated with smoking, but I have been an RN for almost 30 years, and I assure you, we treat many more obese people than smokers. It's just not politically correct to call out people on their eating habit like it is to call out smokers.

Something we definitely agree on. In the 16 years I've been in healthcare, it seems as though people have doubled in size. In 30 years...I can't imagine.

We probably both have the backs to prove it.

 

[Haplo]

Of course... but when you're fighting with an addiction that's just as seemingly powerful as that of a heroin addict with a society that has these temptations around you without any of it being illegal... it's remarkably difficult when simple willpower is the only way to beat it.

I've been down a deep dark road of fast food addiction and compulsive overeating that would absolutely terrify you.

So we now have to make fast food illegal because some people just can't help themselves?

Simple willpower is not the only way to fight it. Associations like Alcoholics Anonymous have been helping people stay sober for years and years without having to bring back prohibition. If it's a problem, find other people who can relate and talk about it.

"Ohh, I get by with a little help from my friends . . ."

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

Food pyramid?

Get with the times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/business/03plate.html

 

[auditor0007]

Food pyramid?

Get with the times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/business/03plate.html

Too many grains in that square pyramid. And if protein comes from meat, then it should be lean meat.

 

[nitroz]

I'm glad that I'm not fat.

I go to the gym every other day and am trying to get ripped.
I got some results, but still scrawny. (and yet I do 200 crunches with an additional 50 pounds....)

Just means that I need to pick up the pace and do 300 crunches.

 

[nitroz]

Food pyramid?

Get with the times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/business/03plate.html

 

[waltky]

Obesity - cancer link...

Doctors Report Rise in Obesity-Related Cancers in US
January 07, 2012 - The American Cancer Society says in its annual report that fewer Americans are dying of cancer, but doctors are seeing more patients with cancers linked to obesity, including pancreatic and kidney cancers. And while breast cancer patients are living longer, the risks of developing this type of tumor are rising along with the growing rates of obesity.

For many people, a cancer diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. Former U.S. presidential candidate Herman Cain was diagnosed six years ago with stage-four colon cancer. Tumors had already spread to his liver. Cain was given a 30 percent chance of survival. But after having surgery and undergoing chemotherapy, Cain says his cancer went into remission. The American Cancer Society's annual report shows that death rates from cancer in the U.S. have continued to fall. Between 2004 and 2008, cancer death rates for men went down nearly two percent a year; for women they declined about one-and-a-half percent each year. Over a longer period of time, from 1990 through 2008, cancer death rates plunged almost 23 percent for men and just over 15 percent for women. That translates to a million lives saved.

But doctors are reporting more cases of esophageal, pancreatic, liver and kidney cancer. Obesity is a risk factor for these types of cancers and for breast cancer as well. It's also a risk factor for a number of chronic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes. At the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian focuses on the connection between diet and chronic diseases. "Most of my focus has been on diet, because the bang for your buck for changing your diet is really profound," Mozaffarian noted. And Dr. Mozafarrian believes that just as growing numbers of Americans have quit their smoking habits, they can beat the obesity trap, and avoid the cancers and other diseases that result. "We've had huge success in this country with smoking," added Mozaffarian. "We've gone from about 55 percent smokers to 25 percent smokers in about 40 years."

For close to 50 years, the U.S. government has adopted policies to discourage people from taking up smoking and to encourage smokers to quit. The policies include education campaigns, high taxes on tobacco product sales and laws against selling tobacco to anyone under the age of 18. The new Cancer Society report says the resulting drop in lung cancer deaths accounts for almost 40 percent of the decline in overall cancer deaths. Dr. Mozaffarian says public health officials should use the anti-smoking campaign as a model to get people at risk of obesity to improve their diets. "It's not going to happen in a year, but in a decade or two, if we really have a sustained understanding of the impact of diet on health in this country and the economic burdens that it causes, we really could have a sea change, and relatively quickly," said Mozaffarian. And the result, he predicts, will be a decline in the number of obesity-related deaths.

Source

 

[whitehall]

Americans are fat, lazy ...and free. What are neo-socialists going to do about that? Wait for the army of IRS agents to come knocking your door with a warrant. Felony fatty foods, misdemeanor consuming calories? Failure to be green? The sky's the limit for the brave new world of government mandates.

 

[Meister]

The government needs to step it up and mandate what we eat, and if we don't comply there needs to be a fee (or tax) levied against those who don't conform to said mandates.
I think the same could be applied to those who don't wear brimmed hats out in the sun for protection against skin cancer which is also on the rise.

 

[Full-Auto]

The government needs to step it up and mandate what we eat, and if we don't comply there needs to be a fee (or tax) levied against those who don't conform to said mandates.
I think the same could be applied to those who don't wear brimmed hats out in the sun for protection against skin cancer which is also on the rise.

Michelle is on to something then. If you refuse to eat it you will get slimmer.

See the LA school district for further details

 

[Magnus1]

The information is full of the authentic and vital information which gives the variety of the techniques to live a healthy and respectable job in this life of the thorns.

 

[laughinReaper]

But it's a barvarian creme donut! It's covered with rich chocolate and exploding with custard creme in a soft freshly made donut. How can I put down such yummy perfection? Next time I come across a cruller I'll gladly put it down.

 

[laughinReaper]

Food pyramid?

Get with the times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/business/03plate.html

I'm in diabetic shock just looking at this post.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Fat America - YouTube

yea you should talk.....your just as overweight as they are.....dont forget.....i seen a picture of you......when was the last time you seen your Dick?....

 

[Trajan]

Get off the couch, Americans! And put down that doughnut!

29.5% — Percentage of population 20 and over who are obese

America’s spare tire keeps growing. This year, 29.5% of the U.S. population over 20 was obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 21.8% in 2000. That’s creating not just a big health problem for the country, but a big economics one.

Economists John Cawley at Cornell University and Chad Meyerhoefer at the Lehigh University have estimated that annual cost of treating obesity in the U.S. accounts for as 16.5% of national spending on health care.

Higher health costs are just the start. Research at Shell Oil Co., for example, found that obese employees missed 3.7 days of work compared to normal-weight coworkers. Shanjun Li of Cornell, Yanyan Liu of the World Bank and Junjie Zhang the University of California San Diego found that higher obesity rates increase people’s predilection for bigger, less fuel efficient cars, increasing the country’s energy tab.

If current trends continue, nearly half of the U.S. adults will be obese by 2020, calculate Harvard University economists David Cutler and Susan Stewart with University of Michigan medical researcher Allison Rosen. That would overrun the positive health effects of the continued decline in smoking.

But even though obesity is a growing problem, it doesn’t seem to be registering with many Americans. In a Gallup poll conducted in November, 29% of respondents said they weighed more than 200 pounds. That compared to 15% in a similar poll from 1990. But the share of people who considered themselves very overweight or somewhat overweight fell from 48% in 1990 to 39% this year.

Number of the Week: The Economics of Obesity - Real Time Economics - WSJ

don't worry,Michelle obama is on it, after she puts down thew cheeseburger..

 

[Toro]

Mmmmmmm, cheeseburger ...

 

[Sarah G]

The government needs to step it up and mandate what we eat, and if we don't comply there needs to be a fee (or tax) levied against those who don't conform to said mandates.
I think the same could be applied to those who don't wear brimmed hats out in the sun for protection against skin cancer which is also on the rise.

It doesn't have to be mandated but good health should always be promoted. This is why I don't take Republicans seriously, you always have to take things to an absurd level just to make some nebulous point.

Cigarettes should be taxed as well as booze, they are both detremental to your health, your families who worry about your health and to those around you who suffer from second hand smoke, drunk drivers and high medical costs.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Wow Toro ! 19K posts! I bow to you for your magnificence!

Post count is inversely related to one's awesomeness.

Rep count, well, now that's a different story!

Rep count is an unreliable indicator. I've never given a single positive rep since I've been here, so my rep count is of a much higher quality lol.

Sorry, I had to Rep you for that

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The government needs to step it up and mandate what we eat, and if we don't comply there needs to be a fee (or tax) levied against those who don't conform to said mandates.
I think the same could be applied to those who don't wear brimmed hats out in the sun for protection against skin cancer which is also on the rise.

It doesn't have to be mandated but good health should always be promoted. This is why I don't take Republicans seriously, you always have to take things to an absurd level just to make some nebulous point.

Cigarettes should be taxed as well as booze, they are both detremental to your health, your families who worry about your health and to those around you who suffer from second hand smoke, drunk drivers and high medical costs.

ObamaCare will decide what we can eat, we don't know what's good for us

 

[Sarah G]

Wow Toro ! 19K posts! I bow to you for your magnificence!

Post count is inversely related to one's awesomeness.

Rep count, well, now that's a different story!

Rep count is an unreliable indicator. I've never given a single positive rep since I've been here, so my rep count is of a much higher quality lol.

You have 20,000 posts so you are more likely getting a few that have nothing to do with what you have to say. A lot of people have to spread rep around before giving it to the one they really want to rep. You benefit from that because you are likely in the vicinity.

Ya know?