I'm gonna sic the Old And Ugly Task Force on ol' Helene here.
Plus if I try hard enough I'm sure I can define "obese" in such a way as to include her.
Posted on 05/14/2006 2:16:51 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A statewide coalition of public and private organizations today launched a "long-term war against an epidemic of obesity" that is leading to serious health problems in Wisconsin.
Helene Nelson, secretary of the state Department of Health and Family Services, used that phrase as she announced the Wisconsin Nutrition and Physical Activity State Plan, a blueprint that has been developed with a five-year federal grant of $450,000 per year since 2003.
It is a call to action that hopes to enlist businesses, schools, local governments, health care systems and, most of all, individuals to change patterns of eating and exercising.
The statistics in Wisconsin are stark:
• Almost two-thirds of adults were overweight or obese in 2004.
• One-fourth of high school students were overweight or at risk to be overweight in 2005.
• Obesity in 2- to 4-year-olds has increased by 49 percent in the past decade.
Being overweight or obese increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary health disease, stroke, gall bladder disease and some cancers - costly health problems that cut short lives, Nelson noted. Annual obesity-related medical costs in Wisconsin are estimated at $1.5 billion, including $626 million in Medicaid and Medicare expenditures.
"It is a public health problem that slowly over 25 years has snuck up on us," said Linda Lee, an official with the La Crosse County Health Department who chairs the partnership involved in the plan.
Though overweight people are often blamed for their condition, there are ways communities can make it easier for individuals to assume a healthier lifestyle, Nelson said.
For example, "communities could create safe routes for kids to walk or bike to school, and schools can have the right kinds of foods available," she said.
Dr. Patrick Remington, director of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, said that since obesity was first recognized as a state problem 20 years ago, certain problematic situations have developed in society.
"Today, food is present in nearly every place we go, from indoor soccer fields to gas stations. And it is often foods too high in calories," Remington said, adding that there has also been a tremendous loss in opportunity to exercise. "There are more automobiles, faster speed limits and it is sometimes not safe to walk."
As a result, obesity rates have increased for all ages, both sexes and all races, he stressed.
Solving the problem will confront individual freedom and individual responsibility, Remington warned, but he noted that those same challenges were gradually overcome "for the collective good" in the battle against smoking.
"This is not a problem we can address in a single agency. Schools, workplaces and the health system must work together," Remington said.
"We don't have evidence on how an entire community could turn this around," but that is what we need, he added.
Nelson said that the plan should involve churches, local governments, schools, restaurants and many others. "This is not one silver bullet, this is long term," she said.
Patterns for good eating should start in day care, where children should get fresh fruits and vegetables, stressed dietician Jill Camber-Davidson.
School curriculums also could be changed, so that students calculate leaves or birds instead of jellybeans, she suggested, adding that fundraisers could be fun runs instead of candy bar sales drives.
Jeff Ranous of the American Heart Association said government could be a catalyst in helping people becoming healthier, as a partner, not a dictator.
The plan, which details strategies for increasing physical activity, eating better, balancing calories with exercise and decreasing television viewing, is available at dhfs.wisconsin.gov/health/physicalactivity/index.htm.
Remington said the success of the plan will be evaluated annually.
"If we don't see progress by 2010," he said, "it would show that people don't care."
Well, looks like I'll have to start hoarding chocolate and hope that the 'Food Gnatzies' don't find my stash. *Rolleyes*
In before the Ping?
People who get AIDS deserve sympathy, nobody is pushing that they should change their behavior. But if you smoke or are overweight, you are automatically a villain.
I guess they are running out of smokers to harrass, I knew the next "undesirable class" will be those who are overweight.
The government will ration food, will force everyone to exercise, will have a camera in your bathroom, to read your bathroom scale, and if you are over your desired weight, you won't get your next daily ration.
We will also make illegal to raise and sell pigs, sell eggs, sell anything other than nonfat milk, no sugar, everyone should live on carrots and celery, OR ELSE...
Yep! You're quick today, LOL! :)
I'm gonna sic the Old And Ugly Task Force on ol' Helene here.
Plus if I try hard enough I'm sure I can define "obese" in such a way as to include her.
"Chip-Chip-Chipping Away at your Right to a Chocolate Chip Cookie" Ping! ;)
"Plus if I try hard enough I'm sure I can define 'obese' in such a way as to include her."
"Fathead" springs immediately to mind. ;)
Funny how much the US has come to resemble Nazi Germany.
NO its always been there.
What has snuck up on us are Nosey, Obnoxiuos, Politically Correct, Bored, Busy Bodies, that find it easier to campaign to regulate adults than they do to properly raise their own damn kids!
It's so fashionable to have a cause and go to group hugs that nothing real is getting taken care of.......Get a life and quit making the rest of us your Hobby!
End of rant lol.
We're from the government and we're here to help you.
Excellent rant and right on target!
Muleteam1
Hmm I seem to remember reading something from a guy that believed in restricting freedom"for the common good." Last I checked his political philosophy's killed anywhere from 100 -180 million people last century
And has anyone else noticed that childhood obesity has risen at almost the same percent as mandatory riddlin use? seems more then coincidental that children that are drugged to the gills so they can passively sit behind a desk 8 hours a day and are so stoned on a drug that leeches all energy out of them to the point that they can barely walk aren't getting enough exercise and are gaining weight doesn't it
Unnnngh!
ping
Forget "obese," let's just outlaw "Bad Hair Days"
That and subsidizing restaurants who serve only granola and tofu, financed by the lawsuit they won by suing restaurants who serve meat.
Well said!
There, I fixed it for her. Nanny state? No thanks
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