Posted on 07/30/2009 1:16:44 PM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Supposedly preoccupied with costs and how to reduce them, the various committees involved in producing health care legislation have all but ignored the, well, husky animal in the room: fat people.
With an epidemic of obesity enlarging the country, Congress — like many Americans blithely ignoring the gradual tightening of their waistbands — is in denial.
Why?
The answer, by some accounts, is astoundingly simple: No one wants to tell Americans the bad news.
“The inability we have to address this issue head-on is because we’re uncomfortable with the reason people are overweight,” said Christine Ferguson, professor of health policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. “We haven’t come to grips with whether it is their own fault or a combination of factors.”
Just this week, a study in the journal Health Affairs reported that medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for someone who’s obese than for someone who’s not. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened its inaugural conference on obesity in Washington within a healthy walk of the Capitol and produced a barrage of graphs, studies and scary statistics all showing that Americas are getting fatter faster and are causing diseases that cost an estimated $147 billion last year, nearly 10 percent of all medical spending in the country.
Still, drafts of House and Senate bills include only a handful of programs specifically targeted at fighting obesity. And the Congressional Budget Office does not consider the programs a cost saving — though that’s what their ultimate goal is — a bit of accounting that further diminishes political will.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
How did the pigs make out in Animal Farm?? Were they set up as victims and targets too?? (/s)
Four Words: High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Two things struck me in the article:
1) Christine Ferguson, some health care policy person, stated that the obesity problem isn’t an issue of personal willpower but a health care issue. So, in other words, Congress can fix it all. How stupid.
2) From the article: “During heated negotiations over the climate and energy bill last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wheeled carts of Dove ice-cream bars into meetings to win support through members’ stomachs.” My grandmother used to say about someone “He’d sell his soul for a bowl of soup.” I guess the dems will do the same for a Dove bar.
Two words (for me:) FAT TIRE
FAT TIRE beer is the best dark beer out there, I had to quit drinking it. You would think there was a clue in there, right on the freaking label, huh? LOL
WE have a president who is a nicotine addict and an obese Surgeon General —What a DUO for health care costs
Have you tried Mississippi Mud a black and tan beer?
A lot of America’s overweight is likely due to overactive MAST cells.
MAST cells are clumps of cells that naturally appear in body fat. They have an important role in healing after injury. However, they are susceptible to a mild and persistent irritation, and when irritated release histamines that make it easier to gain and keep fat. This histamine release also plays a role in other problems, such as arthritis.
But there are not MAST cell inhibitors that are being sold OTC, both as sinus spray and eye drops. If these can be delivered to the bodies’ fat MAST cells, it is believed that with the reduced inflammation, after a few months, the excess fat creation and retention will normalize, and extra fat will be lost.
This might be an answer to overcoming the frustrating inability of many fat people to lose unusual extra pounds.
That's a simple answer, and may be part of the problem. But there's a lot more to the problem than just a new type of sugar. See this post.
**Four Words: High Fructose Corn Syrup.**
ditto on that..
NOW .. when Teddy KEGGER LOSES another 50 Pounds (and not HOspital food weight).. Then maybe you come talk to me.!!
**Four Words: High Fructose Corn Syrup.**
ditto on that..
NOW .. when Teddy KEGGER LOSES another 50 Pounds (and not HOspital food weight).. Then maybe you come talk to me.!!
We take physical education out of public education and we end up with fat asses eating fast food and soft drinks... in the school cafeteria. Is it any wonder?
It’s no wonder that people are disillusioned with the media and distrustful of all the well-meaning reformers; they’re way too busy being cute and clever to relate the simple facts and think that a catchy headline is worth its weight in empty calories.
BTUs in — BTUs out.
Hell, let’s address the fatso ted kennedy and immediately apply obuma’s health care and insist that kennedy appear before a board to assess his possibility of living without extreme expense or extreme and costly health care measures.
In other words, should the satanic whale be tossed over the cliff now or next Tuesday.
Personally, my hopes for Teddy KEGGER do not involve any miraculous health improvements. I'd be happy to pay for his prednisone.
It isn’t that we uptake energy, it’s what we do with it once we have it.
This can be dramatic. I knew a young man with Graves’ disease, hyperthyroidism. He lost 50 lbs. in three weeks. Protein and complex carbohydrates were so hard for him to digest, his diet became more and more simple sugars—enormous amounts of them. He said he never thought that ordinary sugar could be so delicious.
He was given some radioactive iodine, to destroy part of his thyroid gland, and gained the weight back just as fast, plus interest.
MAST cells become very interesting for a whole group of inflammatory diseases, because they are created or destroyed in proportion to body fat. They are the primary reason that fat is a major part of the immune system.
But more is not necessarily better, if you have an immune dysfunction. Once the MAST cells are irritated, they will further inflame a condition, which can be reduced if weight is lost. But the problem is not the weight, but that the MAST cells are irritated.
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