Posted on 04/18/2005 5:44:13 AM PDT by FlyLow
Since 1964, thanks to taxes, lawsuits, social pressure and prevention programs, the percentage of Americans who smoke has dropped from 65 percent to 25 percent. It's time to tackle obesity just as aggressively.
Libertarians, the fast-food industry and advocates for the obese object to "nanny-statism" and discriminatory incentives to fight the obesity epidemic. But in all likelihood, we'll need negative as well as positive pressure to slim America back down to a healthy size.
Lawsuits like the one pending against McDonald's aren't my preferred solution — they'll likely benefit trial lawyers more than consumers — but taxes on the fat content of food would be useful, and so would higher insurance premiums for those who are overweight.
The life insurance industry does impose higher premiums for the obese, but not as large as it does for smokers. And the health insurance industry generally provides lower premiums on a limited basis only as a reward for participation in diet-and-exercise programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
some both
Then why do people get hooked faster? I thought they chemically altered the things - I'm pretty sure they do - so it's something they use to enhance the nicotine? That's really scary but might be so because back in the 40's/50's; for that matter even the 60's, you never saw fat smokers - never really. Hmmmm - dang - at least you got the benefit of looking good while you were killing yourself.
I agree its bad enough to pay for those that need it but those that bring problems on themselves should pay their own way. I wonder if their are any statistics showing amount of Social Security,SSI disability etc paid to the overweight. ie Does the obesity cause them to die earlier and collect less benefits or cause them to become disabled and collect more benefits?.....
I'm not sure about that. It could just be that fat people are more likely to get sick and call us.
You can bet that any "taxes on the fat content of foods" will apply ONLY to supermarkets and fast-food places, NOT to gourmet food boutiques in Manhattan or ritzy restaurants inside the Beltway.
People like this guy need to get a clue. Get the gov out of our lives. We don't need their interference.
I got that picture off of the net somewhere. I have had it awhile. But people that heavy are in for a lot of problems. I hate when I see someone get that way.
I'm not a cardiologist, nor do I need one, but the remark makes a great deal of sense.
More than 50% of my grocery bill is from foods with no ingredient labels - even less from mid summer to early fall because so much is coming out of my own garden.
OUCH - but very true!!!!
I keep a normal weight by eating food I cook from scratch. I use butter, meat, and lots of dairy products
Not only is cooking from scratch healthier, it is far less expensive, and if you plan ahead, no more time consuming than processed foods.
I don't deny using processed/packaged/LAZY foods of occassion - but those occassions are rare. I tend to make my own frozen dinners.....cook large quantities at a time and freeze the rest in meal size servings.
Why don't we put a tax on credit since so many abuse it? Sex? Taco farts?
Why let people have any money at all we might do something stupid? /sarcasm
You are fat? Not my problem. I don't care if people smoke, overeat, drink too much (unless they drive or handle a weapon while doing it), or anyone of a million other things that aren't good for them. I got enough problems with my own indulgences to assume I can tell others what to do.
'Ya think?
1. The 40 year old "war on smoking" caused the number of smokers to drop from about one half to one quarter of American adults. While smoking is unhealthy and a high risk behavior, the fact is that a majority of ex-smokers tend to gain weight after quitting.
2. The denigration of marriage and the contempt poured upon housewives on the part of the mainstream culture encouraged women to leave marriages or seek outside employment to seek "fulfillment." "No fault" divorce laws, the so-called marriage penalty in the IRS code, and tax-subsidized day care also discouraged traditional homemaking. As a result, food preparation was increasingly outsourced to the restaurant business, where, at least at the fast food and lower price end, tended to appeal to the least common denominator. The increased use of prepackaged food (canned, frozen, etc.) is another example of this tendency.
3. The other end of weight control is exercise. To the extent that parents, guided by the permissive parenting that has been in vogue for decades, cater to their childrens' whims, buythem cars when they turn 16, give them spending money used for "junk food," and not require the completion of chores, they contribute to a failure of children to exercise. To a considerable extent, obesity stemming from a lack of enforcing discipline is a consequence of liberal permissiveness.
4. There has been in some circles a general denigration of masculinity in the traditional sense. Combined with the nihilism in the youth culture, a philosophy manufactured by and delivered to "independent, anti-establishment" youth by malefactors of great wealth (to steal some New Deal era rhetoric), many young men turn away from the sports fields and the outdoors to the inner space of mosh pits, student unions, and narcotics. The people in Georgetown, Cambridge, Beverly Hills, and the Upper East Side of New York fear the sort of young men in Army and Marine combat units than those with piercings, tattoos, and hair coloring not known to nature.
To a great extent, the increase in obesity among Americans is the outcome of governmental policies and elitist attitudes. Rather than more regulation and guilt trips, corrective measures should deal with root causes: permissiveness, hostility to traditional values, including opposition to the classical family unit, and denigration of manhood. These root causes stem from liberalism and its secular humanist and positivist underpinnings.
I gained about 12 pounds when I quit smoking nearly 39 years ago, and have never really lost it. OTOH, I am fairly thin at 155-160, 5' 9" anyway, so it didn't matter that much. Not a rail like you though!
Right now, though, I have decided to lose 5 pounds, get back to 155, so am writing up my own diet plan. In the interest of seeing how many flames it will generate, am considering posting it here when I finish writing it up.
Then just ban supermarkets. Make everyone hunt or forage for their food.
Ban dentists. If weren't for them, people would have a tough time eating..
Yes, that's the idea. Let's jump on the ban wagon and ban them durn farmers too. It's all their fault for makin' it easier for folks to hunt and forage in supermarket aisles.
Just like abstinence, diet and exercise works every time it is tried. But for the truly obese (not just overweight) exercise can be strenuous on your heart and joints. That's why I recommend exercising in the swimming pool as a first step. You don't have to swim. Just walk along the bottom. Just keep moving. The water will support the weight so you can build up endurance and begin slimming down.
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