It's Time to Panic...About Obesity

I think it is interesting how obesity gets it easy compared to say smoking or drinking. Some wives get angry if their husbands have 6 pints on the way home from work but if the husband politely calls the wife fat every day - it is abuse.

I see anti smoking signs of old sick people in the Elementary School but none of a fat person's heart or crapped stained underwear because he could not wipe back door properly.

Sorry for the negative comment. I'm just cranky tonight.

I agree Bethany...always better to limit your concerns with something you can control. Going out for that long walk now! Thanks!

I think obesity is a problem not just for health reasons, but also quality of life. It's hard to do many of life's essential functions when carrying around a lot of extra weight. I don't think we're serious about it, as long as everyone is pushing personal responsibility, while the media and culture push junk food, laziness, excessive automobile use, processed carb based diets. I look forward to the day when fruits and veggies are cheaper and easily available to everyone, and McDonalds and gluttony (even among thing people) are looked down upon.

from the story:
"So yes, at this point in time swine flu is a public health issue that's completely out of our control, and that scares us."

Swine flu is not out of our control, simple measures like handwashing and other hygienic practices can help stem the passage of this flu. Just like it helps prevent colds and other flus. People don't bother to think about what they're touching or practice decent hygiene. Seems like people don't like to think about anything, maybe that's the problem.

I disagree with saying that we need to panic about obesity. When people get scared or panic about something thats when they start going for desperation tactics and it just seems like that would lead them down the "quick magic fix" path instead of sitting down and making a lifestyle change that will actually help them in the long run.

Swine flu is still a FLU. Having a strong immune system and taking proper pre-cautions(like hand washing as mentioned above) can go a LOONG way in helping you prevent catching that virus.

Take a shot of apple cider vinegar everyday. Should keep you on your toes.

There are lots of things we could "panic" about. I agree with many above about keeping a healthy immune system & washing our hands etc. This is another flu & there have been worse. I rarely get the flu or a cold (knock on wood) and I think it has to do with eating well, working out & staying strong. Yes, go take a walk or just MOVE.

Why on earth should I panic about obesity? It's not catching, is it?

If people want to dig their own graves with their forks, it's not my problem.

You're a bit late.. the Swine flu thing died down a few weeks ago.

Of course, by socializing health care, and taking the personal responsibility out of the equation, you're just going to see more and more reckless behavior and more and more obesity. Why take care of yourself if you don't have to pay the bill? Yes, of course this is a generalization and doesn't apply to all people. But don't tell me that when something is free you won't get more people using and abusing it.

Me thinks someone forgot to look up the definition of panic.

Panic: A sudden strong feeling of fear that prevents reasonable thought or action.

I think it's only a small matter of time before obese people become the next fair target. Like others said before, smokers are already fair game...it's totally ok to call smokers things like disgusting, smelly, coughing, wheezing, etc. but heaven forbid you call anybody "fat", let alone obese. People didn't want to be associated with gross, black lungs and emphysema, so they quit smoking so much. More people smoked when it was chic and sexy; not so much now. Maybe by making people a lot more aware of the bad stuff associated with being obese, more people would be inspired to lose some weight.