Health care reform.

[HardDrive]

So everyone is talking about health care.

Is anyone talking about not being fat pigs?
Is anyone talking about not filling our children's bodies with high fructose corn syrup?
Is anyone talking about the massive spike in juvenile diabetes?
Is anyone talking about how we handle death and dying?
Is anyone talking about the tainted ingredients in our diet being imported from China, and being cooked up into 'Made in USA' food?

Sometimes the level of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity of the American public takes your breath away.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

So everyone is talking about health care.

Sometimes the level of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity of the American public takes your breath away.

No Joke....

This area (S.TX) is overrun with overweight / obese people and has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the country. Why? Lots of lower income people who apparently eat nothing but junk food and drink massive amounts of soft drinks is certainly part of the problem.

Was in WallyWorld yesterday picking up oil/filters and saw an already very overweight 2year old? in a shopping cart chowing down on a big cup of chicken poppers (small nuggets? of fried chicken). Guess what her future is?

[widgeon13]

I heard a statistic the other day that "30% of the population is obese", the only state that does not exceed that figure is Colorado. Our problem is not health care but physical neglect. Bring phys ed back to the schools, let kids get scrapes on their knees, get them back on bikes. Make them play outside in the dirt! Take away the damn video games and TV.

Weigh them before they go through the door at Mc D's, if they are overweight, no F'ing admission!!!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Sometimes the level of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity of the American public takes your breath away.

I see your point and it is perhaps the most valid I've seen in a rational discussion.

Clearly, parents have failed in instilling good eating habits.

Schools took the money grab and installed Coke machines and offered everything under the sun for lunch.

We have become an immediate gratification, 5-minute-into-the-future planning, Walmart sale, service-based economy where hard work is frowned upon, country.

Who is going to step up to the plate and fix our eating habits?

Will parents all of sudden wake up and say they've got to help their kids?

Will doctors design and implement a nationwide strategy to educate parents? Will schools serve only the healthiest of foods?

Will schools serve only the most nutritious meals to students?

Will 2-parent incomes figure out a way to eat nutritious meals around a dinner table as a family versus grab and go processed crap?

Will Government install weight-o-meters in every restaurant in the country and if you don't measure up, you can only order from a special menu mandated by DC bureaucrats?

Will Government dictate what you can and cannot eat as they have already done banning trans-fats here in MA and NYC?

HD, you've nailed a solid 25% of the problem with the US Healthcare problem: the patients.

How are you going to fix the psyche of our country? Parents, Schools, Government? We know who should fix it:

Parents: 75% by setting standards at home
Schools: 10% by serving only good food in school
Doctors: 10% By monitoring family health and advising as needed
Government: 5% by informing that a well-balanced diet of ABCD is key

How is will that be accomplished in the standard 2-parent income, keep up with the Jones', need a new XYZ NOW, latchkey kid America we have today?

[legion]

The debate on healthcare is the antithesis of personal responsibility.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by legion

The debate on healthcare is the antithesis of personal responsibility.

No, it's not at all. Single aspects out of a multi-dimensional debate are to be sure, but women don't get breast cancer because of the lack of personal responsibility, and so on.

The debate on eating habits as they pertain to healthcare is grounded in personal responsibility. Other issues may be as well. A blanket statement over all health care is just stupid and adds nothing to the debate.

[widgeon13]

Let's not distribute the gross neglect, it is a parent's responsibility to take care of their children. Kids don't get fat on what they eat at school or on the way home. They get fat because the parents don't care or don't know what's best. Parents take the easy way out and then blame it on something else.

When is the last time you saw a fat kid w/ a broken arm? They don't get broken arms because they never leave the couch!

[exitwound]

I don't remember where, and I can't find it on Google, but there was a school who banned all soda machines and junk food vending machines from its hallways, edited its lunch menu with nothing but healthy foods, and grades across the board increased by a full letter grade. Saw it last year on TV somewhere.

It's not only making the kids physically ill, it's not mentally healthy either.

[legion]

Oh, and by those charts, I'm morbidly obese. My ideal weight is something like 160 (which I hit once in college). At 160, I look like a malnurished stick. Right now, I weigh around 270.

Yep, I'm incredibly obese. I swim 2-4 miles a week, run 8-12 miles a week, bench press repping at 355, and leg press repping at 690. I've put on quite a bit of muscle since my college days, and probably carry 20-30 lbs of excess fat, but according to those charts, they treat every pound over 160 like excess fat, and do not take into account type of build.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by exitwound

I don't remember where, and I can't find it on Google, but there was a school who banned all soda machines and junk food vending machines from its hallways, edited its lunch menu with nothing but healthy foods, and grades across the board increased by a full letter grade. Saw it last year on TV somewhere.

It's not only making the kids physically ill, it's not mentally healthy either.

I'd like to see this study if you find it. There's certainly a link between good nutrition and good mental acuity. Not to get OT, but there is a link between nutrition and the cycle of poverty. How can you learn and grow with a keen mind when you have no food or are eating junk?

Kids spend more time in their schools Monday - Friday than they do with their parents. Schools are an important (though not the most important) part of our nation's nutritional health.

If nothing else, schools should not be "fighting" any good nutrition message learned at home. It should be complementing it.

[911-32]

You will love this - the UK has mandated "healthy" food for kids school lunches and the result of this is? Parents passing junk food through the school gates because their little darlings don't like the healthy choices and a general reduction of kids eating school lunches. Beggars belief.

You can lead a horse to water right...

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by legion

Yep, I'm incredibly obese. I swim 2-4 miles a week, run 8-12 miles a week, bench press repping at 355, and leg press repping at 690. I've put on quite a bit of muscle since my college days, and probably carry 20-30 lbs of excess fat, but according to those charts, they treat every pound over 160 like excess fat, and do not take into account type of build.

Holy sh@t! I was proud of finally benching 225!

I too am obese, and I do 30-45 minutes of weights and play 1-1/2 hours of basketball or sand volleyball 5 days a week.

[HardDrive]

Ugh. I didn't mean for this post to come off as an angry tirade.

There IS a lot of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity out there. But good food is expensive, and in many communitys access is very limited. Oddly, here in the richest country in the world, there are vast swaths of the country where there really is nothing to eat. Oh sure, there is plenty of 'food' at the local Quickie Mart, but good luck trying to find a fresh vegetable. Our entire food system is setup to deliver junk. Its made as cheaply as possible to maximize profits, and marketed to the masses as wholesome.

[targa911S]

I'm SO glad to hear that fat people are everywhere. I thought I lived in the land of the "Snow Cows".