It is getting more and more difficult to get away from garbage food, but it is doable, and much more healthy.

I still think, though, that people now have way more expendable time, and being sedentary instead of doing something does further the problem. Kids are playing video games and watching DVDs and playing on their computers when years ago they had physical chores and then played outside all day.

And before THAT gets jumped on, I do realize that not all kids are going chore-less and sitting on the couch all day… but what I’m saying is that THOSE kids probably aren’t the ones that are having the problems with their weight.

Many years ago, people expended all their energy simply surviving. Now we don’t have to grow our own food, keep our own livestock, carry water or walk to the outhouse. We don’t have to chop wood in order to cook dinner. We don’t have to go out and collect eggs or decapitate and de-feather a couple of chickens either.

Can you imagine telling someone on a farm 100 years ago that there would be a time when people would pay to go to a gym and workout “x” times a week just to keep themselves moving and healthy? They would laugh themselves silly at my Wii Fit.

Our lifestyle has evolved into something comparatively sedentary, it’s pretty simple.

Now, more on track with the topic, I do have a question. I’ve never actually signed up for health insurance, I had it supplied at work. Do they ask any weight related questions, and do the answers to those questions reflect in any way on your policy? Just curious.

I would fall into the fit / fat category. Oh the BMI index I’m in the overweight category. In body fat % I’m in the low 20’s (I’m a guy so this is high). Yet I exercise every day, I run the Pancheri to John Holes bridge loop twice a week (nearly 4 miles), my resting pulse rate is the in the high 50’s, and I have excellent blood pressure for my age. But I like my pizza, burgers, beer, and fries too much to give them up. Clearly I’d be even healthier if I ate better and got my weight / body fat down a bit but I guarantee you that I’m fitter and healthier than a lot of people with optimal BMI’s and body fat who don’t exercise like I do.

That being said, I agree, obesity is (in general), a very bad thing. Especially when it starts in childhood, which is becoming more and more common.

And my comment about the younger generation taking better care of themselves is true. We smoke less and we exercise more. While obesity has gone up there are are a lot more “fit” fat people if that makes sense: people that exercise, don’t smoke, but are still fat because of their food choices. While its not ideal its certainly more healthy than the the obese person who doesn’t excercise and smokes.

There was a study done in Europe recently where researchers were trying to show the cost benefit to the health care industry of quitting smoking. They ended up getting the opposite results because of the reasons I mentioned, i.e. people live longer, some as many as 30 years, and accrue all the extra costs of those 30 years and the very expensive elderly diseases.

You may not like the level of taxes (BTW, Barack Obama wants to raise the top marginal tax rate to Bill Clinton’s former rate, which is 12%+ LOWER than the average for all Republican presidents combined), but don’t act like taxes are a punishment. You, Dr Bob, derive a lot of privileges from paying your taxes.