Letters to the Editor
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Maybe being 90lbs overweight has something to do with it?
Hmmm, ya think?
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How many people do you know who are potential candidates for "The Biggest Loser"?
You don't have to look very far to see an alarming number of fat, out-of-shape people. Any person who eats huge portions of unhealthy food, smokes and/or sits on his/her well-padded butt all day, they're going to have health problems and die early.
The problem is people continue bad habits knowing they're harmful. Seen the price of smokes? Who the hell wants to smoke given the price, health risks and addiction to an expensive habit? Seen any young people lighting up? The cynic in me says "There's money in stupid."
Get one of the calorie exposing books by Allan Borushek. It's quite a shock to see the calories and fat in what many people eat every day.
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Not if you smoke and are incredibly fat and inactive
Conclusions
There was a steady increase in mortality inequality across the US counties between 1983 and
1999, resulting from stagnation or increase in mortality among the worst-off segment of the
population. Female mortality increased in a large number of counties, primarily because of
chronic diseases related to smoking, overweight and obesity, and high blood pressure.
From the PLOS paper cited by the article:
http://www.plos.org/press/plme-05-04-ezzati.pdf
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Geographic distribution
From the NY Times article: Counties with significant declines were concentrated in Appalachia, the Southeast, Texas, the southern Midwest and along the Mississippi River. Life expectancy increases were mainly in the Northeast and on the Pacific Coast.
And it's worth checking out the county by county maps that went along with the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/health/research/22life.html?ref=health
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no, it has EVERYTHING to do with better health CARE (which is different from "insurance")
Look, the diet of the average Briton is at least as dreadful as that of the average American (possibly worse). If they truly are doing better, healthwise, than we are, what else could it be besides better preventive care?
Really, though, the best comparison would be with Canada--similar diet, large country where people drive, but with a national health care system. How do we compare to them?
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Men's health is not irrelevant to sane women, nor necessarily to this issue
For women who do not ignore or hate men, men's health is not irrelevant and it's not "incoherent". Salon women are generally human garbage who systematically ignore men's issues, whether because of self-righteous self-centeredness or because of psychotic misandry. They whine that this forum is for discussing women's issues, while ignoring the fact that Salon has no forum for discussing men's issues.
If Salon women realized that men are human too, they might be able to make a connection to the issue discussed in this article. Women's declining health may be in part connected to the fact that women are increasingly taking on roles formerly restricted to men. Working for a living isn't generally a healthy lifestyle. If women were performing the really dangerous jobs in the numbers that men are, the effect would probably be even more pronounced.
Of course, that would require Salon women to acknowledge two uncomfortable truths: Men don't have it all that great in all respects, and men are not a different and lesser species. That's not going to happen.
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Here's a book that needs to be written, by the way
"Exercise is a Feminist Issue"
Luckily, I never read "Fat is a Feminist Issue." My fear of fat has only been a positive force in my life because it made me physically active, something I'm grateful for now that I'm at the age where a lifetime of regular exercise begins to show its long term benefits.
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OMG! Patriarchy!
Women should never be allowed to die of old age!
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Care For Chronic Illness
A lot of the illnesses that are causing problems - like diabetes, heart problems, etc. - are diseases that need ongoing care. That's one place our heath care system is really deficient. There are a lot of people without health insurance and get care from the emergency room. That might work if you break your leg, but it's not good for long term, chronic problems that need ongoing care.
Even people with insurance have this problem. This is care you need not over a few months, but over years, preferably with the same doctor. And people lose their jobs, change jobs, lose their insurance, get insurance back - they often aren't getting ongoing care. The insurance company doesn't want to spend a lot of money on someone who will be someone else's problem in a year or two - preventative care isn't profitable for them.
A year or two ago, there was a big fuss in NY about clinics closing. These were places that provided preventative, long term care to people with diabetes, asthma, other chronic problems. But they weren't sufficiently profitable, so they were closed.
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"If you don't have health insurance, you won't be seeing any doctors and you won't be getting this kind of advice from anyone who matters."
It's always the governments fault, ain't it?
So you're saying the reason we're the fattest nation in the world is because no one has told these people that being incredibly obese is bad for you and leads to diabetes, heart problems, and high blood pressure, not to mention EARLY DEATH?
And the reason no one has told them this is because they don't go to the doctor, because they don't have health insurance? YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS???? You are so wacked out that you have actually convinced yourself this is the truth?
First of all, if they are so dimwitted that they REALLY don't know sitting around eating potato chips all day is BAD for them, then they are probably poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, so they already have health insurance. Chances are if you are THAT oblivious, you're probably not making too much money. But I guess they are too dumb to go to the doctor, so HE can tell them that.
Secondly, the majority of obese people KNOW that they are unhealthy, just like the majority of smokers know it causes cancer. They don't need a freaking doctor to tell them, just turn on the damn TV, look at a newspaper, talk to people, USE COMMON SENSE. It is a lifestyle choice, they know its bad, but they still choose to live their life in an unhealthy way.
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well, heck, I have a simple solution to this problem
If grocery prices keep going up, no one will be able to afford food, quick solution to the obesity crisis right there!
That was a joke, people. On a more serious note, it drives me nuts when people from the coasts complain about the fat people in the Midlands. I'm in a very fat city, Memphis... I suspect we're on that stagnating life expectancy list... and there are several reasons people here are fat. It's not possible to walk or bike safely here. It's very difficult to eat out without consuming 5,000 calories worth of fat. The cheap things to buy at the grocery are ramen (extremely bad for you) and starches. We do have a farmer's market, but it's downtown in a place that charges five bucks to park for an hour, held once a month, and the prices are out of the reach of any but insane foodies. The majority of people in the city live in apartments, so a garden isn't an option.
Yes, a determined individual can overcome all these factors. But statistical averages for an area don't just measure determined individuals; they measure average people with average willpower. And it's much easier to be skinny with average willpower if you live in New York. Before you throw stones, tell me: Have you given up eating out? Do you walk to work in the street in a city with no sidewalks and a high rate of pedestrian deaths? When you can't afford fresh vegetables and lean meat, do you choose starvation over cheaper fare? If you can't answer yes to all those questions, kindly stop judging people for failing to live in a way you don't live yourself.