A Nation In Fat Kid Denial: Health Care, Obesity, And Obama's Task Force

Today President Obama signed a memorandum establishing a new federal task force tackling the growing problem of childhood obesity. I have, admittedly, been absent of the health care debate that has been the rage in Washington over the last few months. What I have noticed however, is the complete lack of acknowledgement of one of the most significant causes of our rising health care costs. I have heard that competition will bring costs down, that a paperless records system is the answer, that beating up on the evil insurance companies is the cause of our troubles, but not once have I heard a prominent political figure state that we as a nation have a weight problem.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research has shown that as weight increases to reach the levels referred to as "overweight" and "obesity," the risks for the following conditions also increases:

· Coronary heart disease
· Type 2 diabetes
· Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
· Hypertension (high blood pressure)
· Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
· Stroke
· Liver and Gallbladder disease
· Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
· Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
· Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)

Interestingly enough the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research has also shown that the leading causes of death in the United States are:

· Heart disease: 631,636
· Cancer: 559,888
· Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
· Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
· Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
· Diabetes: 72,449
· Alzheimer's disease: 72,432
· Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
· Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
· Septicemia: 34,234

Any coincidence that they share many of the same titles? I just found those statistics in 31.6 seconds with two Google searches. Are we really going to ignore these statistics completely when talking about health care?

That is why I was so happy to read this article today regarding the formation of the children’s obesity task force. Although I think this should have been accomplished prior to tackling health care, the fact it is getting any attention at all is great. My wife has a strong interest in this challenging issue. She was a PE and Health teacher and is now a personal trainer. She was literally amazed at how many kids were overweight in her first year teaching. Yet every year school district after school district cuts funding for both PE and Health. With the statistics listed above it is blatantly obvious that weight is an issue in this country, and if people are handicapped by obesity at a very young age it makes it all the more difficult to break the behaviors as you get older. Unfortunately in many ways it is a parental lottery on whether or not a kid has a chance at dodging the obesity bullet. Luckily for me my parents instilled in me the importance of an active lifestyle. There are many other kids who don't have that support, or worse are the recipients of bad influence.

The task force, according to the memorandum, will have 90 days to craft a plan encouraging "optimal coordination" between the federal government and both the private and non-profit sectors, according to Obama.

Several Cabinet members, including the secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, will serve on the task force. Its work will complement an aggressive public relations effort led by first lady Michelle Obama to raise public awareness of the issue.
Childhood obesity is "one of the most urgent health issues that we face in this country," the president said at the White House.

"We think that this has enormous promise in improving the health of our children, in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that oftentimes are very difficult."

The results of the task force remain to be seen, and I am always skeptical of “new” government programs. However, the more attention paid to this issue the better. We have been avoiding the problem as a country for a while which is bad enough, but the problem is getting worse which makes dealing with the issue all the more critical.

The memo notes that almost one-third of American children are overweight or obese -- a rate that has tripled among adolescents and more than doubled in younger children since 1980.

About one-third of Americans born in the year 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetime, according to the memo.

"We've seen the surge in obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis, and it's threatening our children, it's threatening our families, and more importantly it's threatening the future of this nation," she said. "Higher rates of obesity are directly linked, as you've heard, to higher rates of chronic illnesses like heart disease and cancer and diabetes."

I am hopeful that the task force can come up with something substantial to tackle this mounting challenge. Perhaps some greater insight into what we are actually putting into our bodies would be good, although knowledge doesn't always stimulate prudent choices (cigarettes anyone?). Maybe legislating more stringent food additive laws and disclosure requirements would be a better use of time than playing congressional football with a polarizing issue like health care?

CEO Causes Stir...For Making Sense!

We are all responsible for our own lives and our own health. We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health. Doing so will enrich our lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American society.

Does this sound like a crazed lunatic that is on a evil right winged agenda to destroy President Obama's health care reform campaign? I didn't really think that it did, but apparently there are many out there who do. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal that has many people vowing never to shop at Whole Foods again. I found out about the public outrage surrounding his piece through this article on ABC News which you can read here.

"I will never shop there again," vowed Joshua, a 45-year-old blogger, who asked that his last name not be published.

Like many of his fellow health food fanatics, Joshua said he will no longer patronize the store after learning about Whole Foods Market Inc.'s CEO John Mackey's views on health care reform, which were made public this week in an op-ed piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.

Michael Lent, another Whole Foods enthusiast in Long Beach, Calif., told ABCNews.com that he, too, will turn to other organic groceries for his weekly shopping list.

"I'm boycotting [Whole Foods] because all Americans need health care," said Lent, 33, who used to visit his local Whole Foods "several times a week."

"While Mackey is worried about health care and stimulus spending, he doesn't seem too worried about expensive wars and tax breaks for the wealthy and big businesses such as his own that contribute to the deficit," said Lent.

I read Mackey's full op-ed here, and not only did I not find the article off color, I thought he wrote a very well written article with actual solutions and recommendations. I have been fairly absent from the health care debate and will be the first to admit my knowledge of the issues is fairly limited. However, that is not the point. The point is that many people blast anyone who has an "opposing view" without really knowing what is going on. Blogger Ben Casnocha recently wrote an interesting little blurb on opting out of the health care debate, you can read it here.

I think that with the massive amounts of information available today through phones, internet, ect most people are settling on headline deep knowledge of the issues at hand. We are all guilty of this. However, it is the most ignorant people who yell the loudest who often get the most attention. Unfortunately I feel that their theatrics come at the expense of the masses who, in an effort to run their daily dose of information through a sieve, end up recycling the same half truths and partisan bullet points. Check out what Seth Godin had to say in a similar topic on being willfully ignorant vs. aggressively skeptical.

If you still don’t understand what I am getting at then read the following from the original ABC news article.

The op-ed piece, which begins with a Margaret Thatcher quote, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money," has left some Whole Foods loyalists enraged. Many say Mackey was out of line to opine against the liberal base that has made his fortune possible.

Christine Taylor, a 34-year-old New Jersey shopper, vowed never to step foot in another Whole Foods again.

"I will no longer be shopping at Whole Foods," Taylor told ABCNews.com. "I think a CEO should take care that if he speaks about politics, that his beliefs reflect at least the majority of his clients."

Apparently Christine thinks that in order to shop for organic fruits and vegetables you must be "liberal." And furthermore, if you are a CEO of a company you should adopt the political views of your customers. Now can you see how out of whack the line of reasoning of some of these people is?

Now I am not going to go into whether or not Mackey's eight proposed solutions make sense or not because as I said before I am fairly ignorant on the topic at large. However there was one suggestion that I haven’t heard yet that I thought was a pretty cool idea.
 

Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Obviously I have been pretty involved in my non-profit Checking For Charity Corporation as of late and it has shown me to never underestimate the will of mankind to help a cause that they believe in. I think this recommendation rests on this very belief.