We are a nation of fatties!

[rudder]

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-obesity-20120508,0,4332050.story

42% of people will be considered obese within 2 decades. 10% will be considered morbidly obese (more than 100 pounds overweight). I supposed this coincides with the skyrocketing diabetes rates in this country.

My question is if we go to universal health care should we start mandating what people eat? My insurance at work provides incentives if I work to maintain a healthier lifestyle. It is tiered and they do blood tests, etc to check on your health. If you follow certain criteria you get cheaper premiums. Still though I see a lot of people at work with diabetic shoes, huge waistlines , etc. So I guess the $70 month savings is not really worth it.

Schools have also cut any any type of PE so they can concentrate on getting better scores on standardized tests. That and people playing madden 2k12 instead of actually going out an playing football.

I do watch my son. During a sports season he does trim up a little... right now its the middle of baseball season and he is constantly outside. In between football and baseball he does chunk up a little bit. I do see there it can be hard for some parents as sports leagues can be expensive and work schedules prevent a lot of outside time for kids. But hopefully this is something that can be turned around.

 

[CycloWizard]

Yes, government should regulate how you eat. The next step after that is that they will have to deliver the food to your house to make sure you don't cheat. While they're there, they will come inside and wipe your ass for you. That should seal the deal of America's ride into oblivion.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

According to some there aren't limits on what the government can make you do if it uses the "common good" rationale. Indeed, limits shouldn't apply.

 

[rudder]

Yes, government should regulate how you eat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSZuHWczcDg

 

[Matt1970]

No, any time the government decides anything is bad for you they can then tax it.

 

[alphatarget1]

Yes, government should regulate how you eat. The next step after that is that they will have to deliver the food to your house to make sure you don't cheat. While they're there, they will come inside and wipe your ass for you. That should seal the deal of America's ride into oblivion.

I don't think the government should regulate how we eat. I do think that people need to take responsibility for themselves when it comes to their health. They should make everyone take annual physicals if they want to be eligible for medicare. Those are fat and unhealthy should pay significantly more towards medicare until they become healthy again. Why should I pay for someone else's poor life choices?

 

[nehalem256]

Yes, government should regulate how you eat. The next step after that is that they will have to deliver the food to your house to make sure you don't cheat. While they're there, they will come inside and wipe your ass for you. That should seal the deal of America's ride into oblivion.

We could call it single-payer groceries! :awe:

 

[Nintendesert]

I don't think the government should regulate how we eat. I do think that people need to take responsibility for themselves when it comes to their health. They should make everyone take annual physicals if they want to be eligible for medicare. Those are fat and unhealthy should pay significantly more towards medicare until they become healthy again. Why should I pay for someone else's poor life choices?

People elected President Obama is why you need to pay for someone else's poor choices. You need to bail people out. You need to pay for people's food stamps and welfare. You need to provide at least 2 years of unemployment. You also need to provide medical care for super-fatties as they eat themselves into Type 2 diabetes and an early death.

The People spoke and that's what they want.

 

[nehalem256]

I don't think the government should regulate how we eat. I do think that people need to take responsibility for themselves when it comes to their health. They should make everyone take annual physicals if they want to be eligible for medicare. Those are fat and unhealthy should pay significantly more towards medicare until they become healthy again. Why should I pay for someone else's poor life choices?

That is the whole point of socialism. Someone else is responsible for your life choices.

 

[Ninjahedge]

I think the government has the right to tell us how to eat if they are the ones providing the food.

Schools would be a classic example.

Also making it so kids can't bring in junk food is another.

HOWEVER, some rules, like not allowing cupcakes for birthdays....? I remember having that all the time and most of the kids in my "generation" were skinny.

I guess it helps if you actually eat OTHER food during the day and do not have cupcakes for dinner as well.....

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

That is the whole point of socialism. Someone else is responsible for your life choices.

This isn't true in any shape or form.

Socialism refers to the regulations on the free market and that is ALL socialism is.

It doesn't refer to individual rights or liberties at all, in fact that is another scale entirely, one known as liberalism.

The more liberal a society is the less the government interference in the individuals life, the more socialist a society is the more regulations there are on the free market.

However, Americans don't know even the simplest of terms and don't get that they already live in a socialist liberal society where there is an individual freedom and the market is regulated.

It's just that the "commie scare" is still alive and well in the US.

 

[dmcowen674]

We are a nation of fatties!

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-obesity-20120508,0,4332050.story

My insurance at work provides incentives if I work to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

It is tiered and they do blood tests, etc to check on your health.

If you follow certain criteria you get cheaper premiums.

Still though I see a lot of people at work with diabetic shoes, huge waistlines , etc. So I guess the $70 month savings is not really worth it.

I get my bloodwork done when my wife does even though I am not taking anything.

Everything is perfect yet I am obviously overweight.

It is not from eating poorly. It's actually from working too hard.

So what would your Company do about that?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

This isn't true in any shape or form.

Socialism refers to the regulations on the free market and that is ALL socialism is.

It doesn't refer to individual rights or liberties at all, in fact that is another scale entirely, one known as liberalism.

The more liberal a society is the less the government interference in the individuals life, the more socialist a society is the more regulations there are on the free market.

However, Americans don't know even the simplest of terms and don't get that they already live in a socialist liberal society where there is an individual freedom and the market is regulated.

It's just that the "commie scare" is still alive and well in the US.

The terminology may be wrong but there are many who would coerce others to do what they want by the power of the government. The means may vary but if our government assumes control of a thing real choices diminish. Liberal here means more state control.

 

[cybrsage]

Anyone remember not that long ago when millions of people went to bed overweight and woke up obese because the government suddenly changed what the numbers meant?

 

[PricklyPete]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSZuHWczcDg

Why did they hire a Canadian to play the operator....hmmm...maybe a hidden message...

 

[Lonbjerg]

Having been to the US, I can only agree with this picture:

You are really a nation of fat people...but it shouldn't surprise you with the US "diet"...just saying.

 

[Skitzer]

You are really a nation of fat people...but it shouldn't surprise you with the US "diet"...just saying.

And yet, Denmark recently imposed a "Fat Tax". Now why do you suppose they did that?

 

[rudder]

I think the government has the right to tell us how to eat if they are the ones providing the food.

Schools would be a classic example.

Have you seen a school lunch lately? School lunches are not driven by nutrition, they are driven by what type of money the school has. I feel sorry for the kids who have to eat school lunches.

 

[Lonbjerg]

And yet, Denmark recently imposed a "Fat Tax". Now why do you suppose they did that?

To avoid eniding up like the US...not rocket sience.
I live in Sweden though(work in DK) and here is not fat or sugar tax...yet.

And I am all for it.
Why should I pay for the follow diseases that comes by being a lardass?
Let the fatties pay for their own fat/sugar...period!

 

[Ninjahedge]

Have you seen a school lunch lately? School lunches are not driven by nutrition, they are driven by what type of money the school has. I feel sorry for the kids who have to eat school lunches.

It depends on where you were.

One school I was at, they made an awesome lunch. They figured out that you do not keep french fries on an open steam tray (holes in it).

But my elementary, in another district, only had canned/prepped foods of questionable quality. I have also been to a place where they thought that "Manhattan" clam chowder was simple NE chowder w/paprika.

I am not addressing the whole package rudder, just the surface.

 

[cybrsage]

Nope, Denmark has an obesity problem, saying otherwise is akin to saying Stalin hated communism.

It shows that the percentage of adult with obesity intensity have more than doubled since the 1980s.
While 5.5 percent were obese in 1987, the figure in 2010 was as high as 13.4 percent, never has there been such a high level of obesity observed in Denmark before.

http://www.scancomark.se/Regional/denmarks-obasity-becomes-an-epidemic.html

 

[BoomerD]

WooHoo!! for a change, I'm ahead of the trend!!

 

[piasabird]

Free govt wine and cheese.

 

[ky54]

Let me see if I got this right - if a 13 is pregnant it's no one's business if she wants an abortion BUT if that same 13 is fat then, by Jesus, we need the government to come in, jail her parents, and force her to lose weight.

Got it :|

 

[cybrsage]

Let me see if I got this right - if a 13 is pregnant it's no one's business if she wants an abortion BUT if that same 13 is fat then, by Jesus, we need the government to come in, jail her parents, and force her to lose weight.

Got it :|

Add to it that parental permission is required for something as benign as a tooth extraction, but not needed for something as invasive as an abortion.