Observations from a Recently Released Study
1) Obese spend 42% MORE ON MEDICAL COSTS….wow!
2) Obesity Related Health Care Costs have increased 89% from 1998 to 2006, can we as a nation afford another 89% increase in the next 8 years??? NO!
3) US Obesity Rates ….rose 37% in eight years---today 2 out of 3 are overweight, 1 out of 3 is obese! To rephrase it 66% are overweight, 33% are OBESE !!!
** These first three findings should be enough of a reason for all of us collectively to do something about being overweight and / or OBESE!
But guess what…there is more than just the economic costs.
What about the quality of life costs? Can’t quantify these but they ARE REAL! I’m talking about reduced self esteem. I’m talking about the inability to play with grand children or take hikes with a loved one or going swimming.
I am NOT talking about living longer…although that is part of the equation.
….I AM talking about being able to live more fulfilling lives, being able to enjoy life more.
4) “One expert was talking on TV about malnutrition in the United States…in the past you could always tell who the malnourished kids were because they would be too thin.”
That isn’t the case any longer due to our highly processed “junk” foods of today. You can be obese and be malnourished thanks to all of the sodium, sugar, carbohydrate packed, “nutrient lacking” foods we Americans eat today.
Think about that…you can be OBESE and be STARVING for nutrients.
5) There are talks of taxing sugar drinks and junk food as a means to slow the growth in their consumption.
At the end of the day, it is up to each of us to take personal responsibility to improve not only our health but the health of our children. That means eating more vegetables, lean meats, fruit and some whole grains. Drinks are an important part of the puzzle as well, do NOT drink sugar drinks….and only drink artificially sweetened drinks occasionally.
6) Just a thought…why don’t we decide today that we will discontinue providing/selling/subsidizing non-nutritious foods & drinks in our schools.
Wait a minute…let’s think about this…today, we the taxpayers are subsidizing the foods that are provided to our children. We are providing them with bad fats, bad carbs and sugars (yes I know sugar is a carb),…we are contributing to the poor health and increased medical expenses…that we the taxpayers will have to pay for later.
Does anything seem inherently wrong with this picture?
This reminds me of the fact that we put fertilizer on our yards so we can pay more time and money to care for it. At least with fertilizer you get a more attractive lawn, that isn’t true with the results of the ”junk” we are feeding our kids.
….maybe WE should sue our school systems for child abuse!!!
Food Porn Info & Pic
The information below came from Nutritiondata.com. I wanted to compare a former favorite restaurant’s food but they did not have Bojangles…so I had to resort to KFC.
Look at what KFC does to a beautifully nutritious food like Chicken Breasts.
(I had difficulty formatting the stats, for some it may not format correctly..sorry)
| | |
KFC Chicken Raw Skinless Chicken
Breast – Original Breast, meat only
1 breast
370 calories 195
19 g fat 1 g
6 g sat fat 0 g
145 mg cholesterol 105 mg
1145 mg Sodium 115 mg
11 g carb 0 g
40 g protein 40 g
|
I’m not saying that feeding your kids a KFC Chicken breast is child abuse…but JUST LOOK what you are feeding them.
In looking at the sodium alone…they are receiving over half the daily amount of salt for an ADULT WITH JUST ONE PIECE OF CHICKEN! Not to mention all the fat, carbs and sodium in their other menu items.
Sad truth…there are probably much worse “so called foods” that you and your children eat on a daily basis. Then we wonder why children are getting obese and why more and more children are being diagnosed with what used to be called “Adult Onset Diabetes”.
Another name for “Type 2” diabetes is “adult onset diabetes”. It typically was a condition for adults, something they obtained when they “slowed down” and ate more.
Today…they can’t call it “adult onset diabetes” because more and more children are being diagnosed with the disease!
While I was looking for a chicken breast pic....this one came up. I posted this one because I just like looking at it. See, ladies....if you eat large garbage can buckets of KFC chicken...you can look just like her. :)
Ok…sorry for the ramble. I need to get busy.
Take care,
Steve
Lunch – Salad with Grilled
Max doesn’t do this every time we leave him alone…but he does it too often. I left him alone and I forgot to put a rubber band around the cabinet doors. So Max opened the door, drug out the trash can, turned it over and…..partied down!
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