With the obesity epidemic now eclipsing smoking as the biggest lifestyle-related drain on our nations crumbling health-care system, we can only ask at what point will our country’s leaders break the chains of political correctness, enablement and corporate profiteering, and finally work to win this fight for the health of all humanity?
Special- interest groups are springing up from the obesity epidemic like so much cellulite. Consider the National Association for the Advancement of fat acceptance and Council on Size and Weight Discrimination, an organization devoted to passing bills that require businesses to accommodate people of all sizes, essentially labeling inactivity and overeating as a physical disability. It’s now acceptable to not take care of yourself, is what I take from such a group. Even more brazen is the Reality Coalition, which claims to be fighting the battle against fat. Its greatest effort is supposedly eradicating non-prescription weight-loss supplement alternatives, but at the same time it accepts funding from Glaxo Smithkline, the maker of Alli, the only FDA-approved over the counter weight loss pill.
Instead, support Team Cardwell Fitness, one whose players view extra- value meals, processed foods and a carb- laden food pyramid as the real liabilities. Players prefer training time to couch time and pushing weights rather than pushing agendas; they cringe as more people get sucked into the bizarre competition of who will ultimately have the biggest coffin.
In a survey last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 26% of American adults admitted they hadn’t engaged in any physical activity in 2009. In the same study, less than half of the active (74%) people were not active long enough to see healthy benefits. Even more shocking, this is a statistical improvement from 2008, which could only mean that the CDC’s criteria for physical activity have become more lenient. If it causes your heartbeat or breathing rate to increase, the CDC will count it. Guys, start your weed eaters. With activity levels like that, it’s no wonder more than 62 million adults-more than 33% of the country’s population- was classified as obese.
We have never had an epidemic like this. Get active, our time is now!
