Welcome to a forgotten corner of the ancient forest.
Clearly America has a health crisis on its hands. The direct conclusion to be drawn from the figures above is that the quality of life in America has fallen dramatically since 1990 and will continue to fall because this pandemic is not on the radar of the federal administration in any serious way. It is so much easier to focus on and address external threats to the American population however there is no external threat that comes close to the threat that obesity poses.
In 2003, the cost to the US administration of obesity related illness was $75 billion, up from $52 billion in 1995. It is a fair assumption that this will grow exponentially over the next few years as the long term effects of obesity manifest themselves.
The negative consequences for the state and for the individuals concerned are significant with increases in the rates of diabetes, sleep related disorders, arthritis, heart disease and strokes flowing naturally from this trend.
The achillies heel of democracy, in the flavour that is consumed in both the USA and Australia, is that 4 year terms inevitably mean that polititians favour the short term over the long term. Short term pain for long term gain is a very difficult thing to convince a polititian to even contemplate let alone legislate for. It would be a collosal irony if the thing that lead to the collapse of the USA as a world economic powerhouse was the individual consumption of its citizens.
There are many jewels hidden amongst the leaves in this forgotten part of the ancient forest. Spend some time browsing and you are sure to find some. Click here or continue your search below
or read the most recent entries here.Hiya Greenman!
May I suggest an alternate cause for the "obesity epidemic"? See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/weekinreview/19kola.html?ex=1261198800&en=b08c1389f6813d1b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
Be well,
Dave H.
Good point Dave.
There is for example, the case of middle europeans, Italians, Greeks etc who are on average much heavier than their American counterparts and yet are much healthier. This is attributed to the fact that, although they have a higher kilojoule intake, the majority is in the form of vegitable fats, in particular olive oil, and fish.
Certainly Americans, and Australians for that matter, are living longer and are dying less often from stroke and heart disease. This is undoubtedly because of the excellent quality of medical services.
There are however long term health consequences arising from obesity which are costing big dollars. Additionally the quality of life for the obese is less than if they were lighter and that American ideal "the pursuit of happiness" just that little bit harder.
Posted by: greenman at June 8, 2005 03:19 PMtomorrow the destructive mountain cattlemen are protesting against the decision to protect the alpine national park in victoria.
the protesters have a web site that conytains all their contact details and I am going to call them all and tell them that I think the cattle grazing should be banned to protect the environment. i suggest everyone else does the same.
their details are
CONTACT PERSONS:
Rally logistics
Kersten 0418 331 465
Dave Stoney 0418 653 658
Horses
Charlie Lovick 03 5777 5715
Bruce McCormack 0427 752 886
MCAV Branch Key Contact People
Omeo - Chris Commins 0428 573 296
Dargo & Gippsland - David Treasure 03 5140 1235
Benambra – John Cook 03 5159 9276
Tom Groggin - Trevor Davis 02 6076 9510
North-East - Jack Hicks 0408 691 865
Mansfield - Bruce McCormack 0427 752 886
Overnight Camps (Berwick & Beveridge)
Bob 0402 658 012
Scott 0438 556 020
Media
Kim Stoney 0417 503 000
Chris Stoney 0417 503 528
Stumble It!