Bill Clinton is emerging as a welcome leader on the crisis of obesity. The former president, whose own weight problems led to heart bypass surgery, told the nation’s governors this week that obesity accounts for 27 percent of the nation’s soaring health-care costs since 1987. With rising childhood obesity and diabetes rates, “Today’s generation of young people,” he warned, “could be the first generation of Americans to have shorter life expectancies than their parents.”
Clinton rightly argued that putting a few heart-friendly items on fast-food menus isn’t enough. “You’ve got to consume less and burn more. There is no other alternative. And to do that, you’ve got to change the culture.”
It will take a great communicator like Clinton to help move our fat-friendly culture off the couch.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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28 Comments
I’ll agree with you that Clinton is a great communicator, but I seriously doubt that he can motivate children and adults to get off the couch.
We are going to have people that are obese and people that are not. It will be a given in our soceity as it already is.
We haven’t villify obesity yet, like they have with tobacco users. So the obesity rate will continue to increase.
I work out practically everyday, but I don’t tell others to workout. It’s none of my business if they choose not to. Yeah! They are making the health care cost go up, but I only can do what I can for myself.
I should be working out right now but I’m sitting here at this damn computer! It’s so hard to do the healthy thing, kudos to you Joe for having the self discipline to do it. I get sick when I see how obese many of the kids today are, they are headed for so many seriousd health problems.
‘Cuse the typos, it’s early! If kids would play outside more, that would be a big step, but parents are too paranoid to let them do that in this day and age. I can’t blame them, everytime I see a young kid walking down the street by themselves, I think “WHY are you doing this, where are your parents!?!” There are so many different layers to this problem, from too much junk food, too much time in front of the TV, computer, or video games resulting in not enough physical activity, and parents who are too busy and stressed to pay serious attention. It’s a major problem that’s very difficult to deal with.
Excellent post, Joe.
WE Editors:
Could we get a dedicated Blogger Get-Together thread? Interestingly, that deal went from a macho challenge to a social gathering.
Perhaps the best thing about Clinton doing this is that he is overweight. IF he follows through and slims down a bit maybe others might follow. Can’t hurt.
Ben
He WAS overweight. He looks pretty trim these days.
The problem with losing weight is that the vast majority of people can’t do it. Eat less and exercise more . . . right. Not even 2 in a hundred are going to be able to really reduce body mass by doing it.
What do we need? A pill, obviously. A pill that stops fat absorbtion in the gut might work. Even better would be a pill that supresses appetite.
The one good legal appetite suppressant that is available is the nicotine in cigarettes. Unfortunately, that’s not a healthy option.
BTW, I’m not fully convinced that exercise and reducing calories really works for everyone, even if maintained religiously for months.
For instance, I read the case of a man who started jogging thirty miles each day. Most people burn about 125 calories for each mile jogged or walked. That means he was burning something like 3750 extra calories than he would otherwise.
To maintain his intital body weight, he’d have to eat about three times as much as he was previously. Of course, he did not do that, and he lost a lot of weight at first.
But then when he got to the low end of his ideal weight, he stopped losing weight.
Did he start eating MORE? No. Did he start exercising LESS? No. So some kind of metabolic change was occuring that allowed him to process the food energy he had to more efficiently power his energy requirement so that he did not run himself into a wraith.
“A calorie is a calorie” nutrition education–the conventional wisdom–can’t seem to explain that . . .
In the sense that a communicator is a spreader of disease, I’ll have to aggree that Slick Willy was a great communicator!
The Slickster is mainly a great politician, as a communicator he was a world class liar.
Now, the great media feeding frenzy is still the Dubai ports deal, and the big news today is that the Slickster has been advising DPW on how to fool the American people into accepting it. All the while, his wife is making political hay by opposing it.
And what does Randy come up with for a topic? Fat.
Great job Randy!
Hank
Pretty much the most successful formual for losing weight in America is to get a job, get off food stamps and welfare. We have the fatest poor people in the world!
Hank
PL – have to disagree with you about needing a “pill”. I’ve seen FAR too many of the magic pills that lead to heart desease etc. In my case I’ll deal with being a bit heavy – i think that is safer than any pills. Exercise is obviously the best thing; then even a few extra pounds is likely meat not fat.
Hank – the problem with your idea is the false asumption that we can get paid to exercise. In amny cases we work office jobs. After 60 hours/week sitting at a computer I don’t get near the physical exercise I should.
A problem some parents have these days with the little kids is paranoia about them getting hurt. I have found they generally pretty much bounce on the playground. Make sure they are healthy and well-fed and run a lot. They will be lean and strong as a result.
Dear Ben,
I was being a little sarcastic. The best way to lose weight is in proper nutritionn and excercise. I personnally lost over 60 pounds in 5 months a few years ago. I went from 235 to less than 175. I did it using the Zone diet plan. I would recommend it to anyone.
In another thread people listed their pet pieves. My biggest one is people with food stamps that don’t know how to shop. You will be behind them in line and watch them with all of their potato chips, sodas, and prepared foods. I buy things in bulk when they are on sale. I go to the Viet Namese stores and buy 25 pound bags of rice. I stock up on canned goods when they are on sale, same with meats. I eat a lot better quality of foods, cheaper and more nutricious than any one I’ve ever seen on food stamps.
In order to qualify for food stamps people should have to attend a course in nutrition and grocery shopping. Set them up one time with a pantry of basics and then help them keep it stocked utilizing specials and coupons. On a regular basis they should have to file a summary of their shopping habits for the past period.
Hank
I am just waiting for the liberal crying at that post…
ur…ummm…. poop throwing…
LOL
“In order to qualify for food stamps people should have to attend a course in nutrition and grocery shopping.”
Chill, Nathan. I for one agree with it. If people are spending on the gov’t’s dime, the gov’t should have some say so in how they spend it. (Same with Halliburton and the missing billions, btw.)
What I can’t figure out is why Mr-Gov’t-Should-Leave-People-Alone Hank demands more education for poor people, education that is of course going to cost taxpayer dollars.
Good idea, totally inconsistant though . . .
Dear ProudLib,
If we educate people on proper nutrition and economic grocery buying habits it would save money short term in grocery costs and long term in healthcare costs. Of course government should leave people alone, but if it is spending my money it has a responsibilty to the taxpayor to ensure that it is spent wisely and to the recipient to ensure it is not used to make their lives worse.
I have helped families financially on a short term basis, but I’ve also taught them how to buy more efficiently. This should be a subject that liberals and crotchety old conservatives like me can aggree on!
Hank
Those who eat junk food, smoke, and make other stupid life choices should be encouraged to remove themselves from the genepool and as quickly as possible. I am tired of being taxed to death to support morally and intellectually deficient coconuts!
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
Glad to hear you’re coming around to the view that SOCIALISM can be a good thing, Hank.
Isn’t “socialism” what Heckler and Joe W. call anything that government does?
(except for funding the military of course . . . or re-distributing wealth to big corporations . . . or spying on citizens without warrants, or torturing prisoners held without charges).
No crying here nathan – I happen to agre with a lot of what your dad said above. I’m sure my DR would as well!
Hank – what is the Zone plan? I could stand to drop about 30 pounds!
By the way – I have observed a lot of the same with the junk food as you have.
Proudlib,
Do you like building your strawmen so you can get to admire your self tearing them down or is your inability to actually stay on topic that hard?
I’m just waitin for Bill to do a campaign against oral sex.
ROTFLMAO!!!
Ben,
The Zone Diet was developed by Dr. Barry Sears. He’s not an MD, he might even have a phD in chemistry! However, I just know he isn’t a MD.
He has written several books, ‘Enter the Zone’, Mastering the Zone and The Zone Diet book are the three I have. ‘Enter the Zone’ is more of the theory and developement of the diet you might really enjoy, or not. My wife is very smart and she helped me with the big words. Mastering the ZOne is more of a “hands on” book that actually helps you with the diet. If I was only going to buy one, ‘Mastering the Zone’ would be the one.
There is a website called “Zonehome.com” that has a lot of recipes and support. Also, http://www.ZoneDiet.com is a good site. Hell, GOOGLE “Zone Diet”, you’ll get all sides of the subject.
There is a weight loss plan and a weight maintenance plan that both work pretty good. Not many people making any money with it because its an ‘eat-right-and-excercise’ diet. You shop on the outside aisles of the store, don’t go up and down the aisles. Fresh veggies and fruits and meats in moderation. Stay away from cans and boxes and keep your carbs, protiens and fats in balance.
Good Luck!
Hank
“Straw man” is a logical fallacy, Nathan.
However, it is a logical fallacy to falsely accuse someone of a logical fallacy.
If you can show me where my distortion of someone’s argument is and how I attack that distortion, then I can respond to it.
But just calling what I posted a “straw man” doesn’t make it a straw man.
(Hehehe, I love pulling a Nathan on Nathan.)
What is wrong with this picture.. an overweight man with a well know passion for fast (unhealthy) food.. becomming a spokesman for healthy diets—only AFTER heart surgery?
“Do as I say, not as I do (did)”??
Thanks Hank. I know the old “shop the periphery of the store” routine and generally do that. Probably a bit too much at the meat counter though! ;^)
Another little tidbit that I think both effects $$$ and health. I usually bring my lunch made from “planned-overs” with meat, potatoe, veges and micro-zap at work. I eat both better and cheaper than my co-workers who hit the vending machines.
raptor – what is wrong with the picture? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! If a guy who had bad habits has learned better he is the BEST example. “Learn from my mistakes so you don’t suffer as I did”. That is the fundamental premise of self-help groups.
Also Clinton had his heart attack after he lost weight. He did not keep track of his cholesterol after he lost his weight, which was a dumb mistake.
BH,
If you want to lose weigh then cardio and diet are not enough. You have to do some strength training to increase your ratio of muscle mass to fat. Even if you are not inclined to lift weights, you should incorporate push ups, pull ups and ab work into any excersise regimen. If you combine this with a sane diet you will be amazed at the results.
V.L.R.B!!
Ian – I agree. When I have done this in the past I have found the results you describe. Actually the weight doesn’t really drop that much but it “re-arranges” very favorably. And, blood pressure and bad cholesterol go down.
Dear Ian,
I agree. The Zone diet talks about muscle developement excercises. If you merely go on a deprivation diet you will lose fat and muscle. When you lose muscle you lose the calori burning engine. You end up getting in a cycle that makes it easier to gain weight and harder to lose weight each cycle.
Lets say you weighed 200# with 20% body fat. You lose 20# on a deprivation diet only. You might have actually lost 5# of muscle because of this diet. When you go off your diet at 180# you now have 15# less fat and 5# less muscle.
Because you’ve been in deprivation diet, your body has been in it’s ‘famine mode’. Your metabolism is such that its easy to gain back up to 200# again. Now you are back at 200# with 22.5% body fat. If you go on a deprivation diet and lose 20# again you lose some more muscle….
Well, as you can see, trying to lose weigth with a deprivation diet is a formula for failure.
Hank
PS Oh my God! I agreed with Ian!
I want to ask permission to reproduce some images from an Zonehome article but do not know how to get to it. Do help, please.