UNACCEPTABLE

The USA Today was delivered to my hotel room this morning. The leading article was a story titled “Obesity is a key link to soaring health tab.”

The stats:

Americans who are 30 lbs or more overweight (obese) cost the country an estimated $147 billion in medical costs in 2008 (Double the amount from a decade ago.)

Obesity now accounts for 9.1% of all medical spending.

On average, an obese patient has $4871 in medical bills a year compared to $3442 for a person at a healthier weight.

34% of Americans (over 72 million) were obese in 2006, up from 23% in 1994.

The average American is 23 lbs overweight. Collectively as a country, we are 4.6 billion lbs overweight.

Scary stuff. The stats show that society is continuing to foster the image of being overweight or even obese as acceptable. I remember when I was in high school (a LONG time ago), there were only a handful of overweight kids in the whole school. Now I drive by the local high school and see tons of kids overweight (and for some reason wearing clothing that is made for a person half their size...yuck).

I almost think that as a country we are never going to turn this thing around. There are just too many easy bad choices out there for people to eat, every generation is becoming lazier than the previous, and big money is made by big companies pushing bad food and beverages on all Americans.

If the government started to take a better interest in educating children at the school level, maybe things would one day change. Education and smart choices in the cafeteria are a start. No sodas or juices sold at schools. Physical education classes should be mandatory and kids should sweat!

You can help foster change too. Start off with your own children and loved ones. Check what food and beverages you are providing your family. Nothing wrong with your kids eating and drinking some junk every now and then if they are active. Get your kids outdoors. Take walks as a family. Do active things together.

Post thoughts to comments.