I’ve posted before about the sad state of American Health as reflected in our collectively increasing waistline. And it’s not slowing down. 23 US States report that adults among their population are fatter today than they were a year ago.
This might seem bad enough due to the negative effects it has on the lifestyle of the person carrying the extra weight, but there are other, possibly bigger, issues at hand. For example, with the increasing levels of obesity, several health factors are on the rise. In particular, being overweight and obese has been linked in recent research to:
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
- Stroke
So while someone might argue that “my weight is my business and I’m not hurting anyone but myself by how I live”, it’s fundamentally wrong. The fact of the matter is that rising instances of obesity are a major contributor to the health care problems in the US today.
Obesity rates among youth are also extremely high with 30 states reporting child obesity rates at above 30%. That’s a lot of children that are daily increasing in their risk of developing obesity related diseases. I would be interested in seeing research that explored the potential decrease in annual health care costs nationally if we could just get obesity rates down.
Maybe instead of working on universal healthcare, Obama could instead work on a plan for universal exercise and good nutrition. Prevent the rise in healthcare costs rather than find a way to pay for them.
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Maintain your weight and boost your energy with an exercise log.
You can find the original article here.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Put a luxury tax on candy and put that money towards funding community
rec leagues to help get people out of their chairs. That way, only
the rich could afford to be obese and they could afford the cost of
it. My health insurance premiums have increased 10% each year for the
past several years and it is nearly entirely out of reach for those of
us who don’t work at monster companies and pay our own health care
premiums. I believe this increase is due to the poor health of the
majority of insured individuals costing all of us more money.
In a way, I also blame parents for not teaching their kids self-control. We are in the “microwave” culture where we do not have any clue as to what delayed gratification is. This makes for fat kids who become fat adults.
I think that you’re right. One cultural habit that would probably bring a lot of fitness and health benefit back to america is family meal time. If families would just sit down and eat a planned, freshly prepared meal, once a day it would do wonders for us, both physically and mentally. Thanks for your comment.