so what's the answer to the obesity problem? Fat shaming is kind of crappy when focused on an individual level but but the obesity rate is a shameful epidemic and is going to be a substantial issue for our country on many levels down the road. we can't afford for half the country to be obese. it will impact our national defense, healthcare spending, and all the accomadations that are going to be necessary in the workplace, airplanes etc for the obese folks. I saw an article the other day where the military is projecting recruting issues because all the overweight kids won't be able to make it through recruiting and basic training regimens. I've long been a proponent for lifestyle to be a significant factor in the pricing of health insurance. As much as a 25-30% increase in insurance premiums for smokers and obese people.
Someone I know that is very knowledgeable about healthcare, treatment costs and human behavior explained to me several years ago that he thought the way or part of the way to attack unhealthy problems - including the obesity problem was to offer incentives from the insurance co. instead of penalties to motivate people to eat healthier, exercise, maintain a reasonable weight, take better care of themselves, etc. For example you offer monetary incentives payable at the end of the premium year if you met some basic criteria for health, you don't smoke, you didn't develop cancer, you maintained a reasonable weight for your height, you didn't exceed a certain number of Dr. visits or claims, etc. Measurable things. He explained how this could work much better and in more detail than I can possibly remember, but it made a lot of sense and it sounded like it could work and be properly managed. The problem with simply increasing premiums means everyone is going to help pay for people who don't or won't take care of themselves, make poor lifestyle decisions, etc. Some people might make better decisions to take care of themselves if they got a $$$ incentive at the end of the year for doing so.
Government dietary guidelines, based on politics and bad science, have brought us to where we are today with the promotion of carbohydrate-rich and sugary foods. We were advised to eat a low fat diet so the food companies said ok, we will strip fat content from our foods. Except now it tastes like cardboard, so let's pump it with sugar to get some flavor in there. The result of this is unprecedented levels of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more. That's an abbreviated version of the story but the gist of it is that dietary fat was demonized, and fat was never the problem. Our ancestors have been eating fatty foods (like animals) for many thousands of years without these chronic health conditions. Why do we have them now? The insistence on a low-fat diet. So our society has largely been doing what it was told and trusting that the advice was based on sound science. We know now that it wasn't.
Exactly. Many people are realizing this now and seeing dramatic improvements in health, body weight, energy levels, blood pressure, and seeing many chronic conditions improve or disappear altogether. We are a fat-adapted species. We are not well adapted to the levels of sugar (or anything that keeps insulin elevated) that many of us have been consuming for the last 30 years or so.
I think if people were more knowledgeable about how hard their bodies are working just to stay alive and be a normal functioning human, they might not fill their bodies with so much poison. Likewise, if they knew more about nutrition and how your body uses different types of foods, as well as how preservatives are affecting the human body, they'd probably make better choices.
BMI is a pretty poor calculator of health. What they do and don't choose to subsidize plays a big part in it also.
Of course. And why is the Dept of Agriculture making dietary recommendations? Politics, money, and status quo — not health.
Physical education has been removed from many schools. I believe that contributes to the current upswing.
I had the ironically 'good' fortune of my wife recently being diagnosed with diabetes, early stage. This enabled us both to attend some nutrition classes. Considering myself to have a quasi medical background, lab tech and medical equipment sales, I was surprised by what I learned. The nurse teaching it had a toxic attitude towards our USA processed food marketeers and astonished me with the actual facts of some popular 'health' foods - granola for example. But one thing she and I discussed caught me off guard and made me research. I was discussing adult beverages and my tendency to sometimes overindulge even when knowing better, and my also bad tendency to eat on the evenings when I would watch TV although not being. particularly hungry. She told me of recent research showing food addiction to be of the same systemic nature as drug addiction. Sure enough they claim one can have the same addictive bio physiology going on with food cravings as cocaine. I think the reward for good behavior by the insurance companies is the only way out of this but they (insurance) have no incentive. With Obamanocare they, and the hospital/clincs, stand to make a fortune the way it is all set up. You're not breaking that lobby. At least none of the candidates whom stand a chance to win can break it.
Insurance rewards are definitely the way to go. X is your insurance rate, Y is your discount if you meet certain biometric criteria, Z is your discount if you earn healthy action credits during the year, etc. No one ever thinks about the beginning rates being higher to start with.
