Here's an editorial by an individual who used to weigh 410 pounds. He's now under 300, and he's angered by the new designation by Medicare that obesity should be considered an illness. In his own words,
If someone eats a bunch of Big Macs and fries and gorges himself on every food known to man, why should a skinny person who eats fine and is in good health have to bear the burden of paying for obese people's medical bills? It's not right! There are a lot of people who agree with this assessment about obesity. There's no question that obesity is a result of a person's daily lifestyle choices. However, one problem with outright blaming obese people for being so obese is that educational information on nutrition, foods, grocery store products, soft drinks, fast foods and other dietary sources simply aren't readily available. There's no easy way for most people to actually get the information they need to make healthier choices. As a result, they may have no idea that what they're eating will cause obesity and chronic disease.
The federal government isn't helping, either. With virtually no money spent on disease prevention, the government is practically guaranteeing that an entire generation will end up hooked on a lifetime of prescription drugs thanks to the fact that they're all diseased from making poor nutritional choices. This policy to avoid prevention, by the way, helps ensure the profits of pharmaceutical companies (darlings of the Bush Administration). See, your good health isn't profitable to anyone, but your chronic disease helps generate billions of dollars in pharmaceutical profits.
On the other hand, even when most people are made aware of the health dangers of foods, they keep on eating the garbage foods anyway! People must certainly know that ice cream and soft drinks promote obesity, and yet you see it time and time again at the supermarket: loads of ice cream tubs and 12-packs of soft drinks in the shopping carts of 300-pound people who can barely squeeze into the checkout lanes. Clearly, this is a personal responsibility problem: these people need to stop making excuses and start making better choices about foods and groceries.
So, as always, it's a complex issue, and there's a little bit of blame for everyone. But there's no doubt that a properly informed individual can take control over their health outcome and utterly avoid obesity and chronic disease, especially if they engage in optimum nutrition, take various nutritional supplements and add superfoods to their diets.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Monday, July 19, 2004
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