Personal Responsibility of Health Care

So, the President was on ABC talking about the health care reforms he's working on. A couple of thoughts. He talked about preventative measures each of us must take in order to stay healthy, therefore not needing as much doctor time/medication/expensive tests, etc. Good idea. But why was there a commercial immediately after that segment with a dozen people shoving greasy Big Macs in their mouths?

Nutrition Facts - McDonald’s Big Mac.

Calories - 540
Calories from Fat - 260
Total Fat - 29 grams
Carbs - 45 grams
Saturated Fat - 10 grams
Trans Fat - 1.5 grams
Cholesterol - 75 milligrams
Sodium - 1040 milligrams
Protein - 25 grams

Don't get me wrong, I think anyone that wants to should be able to eat whatever they want. However, the nutrient content of a this kind of meal, especially if it's eaten daily or several times a week, does nothing to promote health. In order to gain a pound a week, one must add 500 calories daily to one's diet...or 3,500 in seven days time. Ah, that's one Big Mac a day.... Or to loose one pound a week, the reverse is true and that's still one Big Mac a day. About 50% of these calories are from fats, 18% Protein and 33 % carbs. A healthy ratio is around 50% carbs, 25% each fat and protein.

Anyway...another thought occurred. What would happen if insurance companies, whether they are state, private or federal, increased co-payments for people that refused to try and change their health? Many of the diseases we face, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc., can often be controlled by diet and exercise or at least the amount of medication can be decreased.

If an overweight individual with these three diseases were to change their eating plan, add 30 minutes of exercise 3-5 times a week, the amount of medication could drastically be reduced or even eliminated. Multiply that by several hundred thousand Americans and look how much money we could save in health care. Now if you don't want to change your lifestyle, that's fine. But your co-pay for your medication will go up. Your choice.

Freeing up that money, would minimize the burden on those that can't control their diseases by simple measures like those outlined above....those with cancer, thyroid issues, etc.

Personal responsibility. Why should I change when there is a pill I can take?

Just a thought....

Mrs Obama agrees: In the same way she spoke out against low-nutrition processed and fast foods during a recent visit to Bancroft Elementary School, Mrs. Obama hit on this theme again. Mrs. Obama came to this awareness a few years ago, when the family pediatrician pointed out that daughters Sasha and Malia were both at risk for food-created disease such as diabetes and obesity, due to weight gain. "We were eating a lot of easy, fast foods, and I saw it starting to take a toll on my kids' health," Mrs. Obama said.

Mrs. Obama said the family began eliminating processed food and adding fruits and vegetables to their diet, and started to cook more and eat out less. Mrs. Obama stressed that "little, incremental changes" like walking more and limiting soda consumption are critical for personal health as well as health care reform, for her own family as well as everyone else who eats.

In advance of the President's Wednesday Health Care Town Hall in the White House, Mrs. Obama is stressing the fact that no matter what government does to promote health, personal food choice--and personal food education--becomes a critical issue, at the end of the day. "Government can't do it all," Mrs. Obama said.

Eliminating low-nutrition and processed foods from every one's daily diet is the most logical place to begin. "Those things will eliminate obesity and cut down on costs. I mean, we're spending about $120 billion additional a year on our health care system as a result of these sort of chronic illnesses that you see that are connected to obesity. We already know that," Mrs. Obama said.


I do realize it's a long shot. As my BFF says, "People will change their religion before they'll change their diet."

Victory!

I weigh less than 200 lbs! This is the lowest I can remember in 27 years!

---

From Obama Foodarama about the kitchen garden the First Lady and school children planted: "It's curiouser and curiouser that a tiny patch of veggies is threatening to some people. On the other hand, everything the Obamas do is open to criticism, right? This one's a particularly brilliant example of stupidity, however."

Progress Pics

Just wanted to share a couple of pics. As of the second pic, I've lost about 40 pounds. (The green t-shirt is a mens size XXL and the black t-shirt is a womans size XL.) I have hit a plateau, and am not currently loosing, but not gaining either. I'm doing several things to get past the "running and not getting anywhere" phase. I am varying the kind and amount of physical activity I do, when I do those activities, and the number of calories I eat per day. I use a random number generator to help me keep on the up and up, not avoiding the exercising I like less, and not eating more calories "cuz I can." I'm still loosing and gaining the same two pounds, but eventually, so "they" say, the randomness will keep my body guessing and get past the routine it settled into the last four months. I do have to say, though, the days I get more calories than I'd been eating daily for the last several months, are nice! You have no idea how good a strip of bacon is when you haven't had one for months. (Yes, I do eat turky bacon and it's good, but it's not, as my son calls it, pig bacon.)

It was a long trip home yesterday. I generally try to get my flights out in the morning, but this one was an evening flight, going west, which seems to make it even longer. We were really tired by the time we got to our beds last night. It was, however, uneventful. So, I didn't do any KIPing. I read and slept on the flights, and we only had a short layovers. I did work on the Athletic Socks for Third Son on the way to the airport, though.