Self inflicted

My husband and I stopped for a quick dinner last week at one of the local restaurants serving a buffet and fell into what is an all too common discussion of health -- or more specifically, obesity.
Two rather large women came in, apparently mother and daughter, with a younger child in tow and settled in to round their plates with multiple helpings of Chinese food. The child, well below teen years, matched them round for round.

While our health care system preaches to us and lawsuits try to get compensation for high fat diet choices, the problem continues to grow -- literally -- and whatever our size, if we have health insurance, we're paying for it.

Many insurance companies are tacking on penalties for smokers, and if we're destined to continue dealing with the legal mess of health insurance, they should do the same for obesity or even being significantly overweight. In fact, while you might manage to lie about your tobacco use (altho at a former employer that was a firing offense), any visit to your physician will quickly reveal the truth behind the numbers.

Why further penalize people struggling with weight? Think about it. Many of them are not struggling. They're either wallowing in it (I can't do anything about it) by eating any and everything their heart desires or pretending it's not a health issue. At the same time they're racking up health care expenses for diabetes, heart disease and joint ailments. They're becoming disabled because their bodies can't carry them around in any functional way, and then they can watch TV and eat full time. And who pays for those trips to the doctor? Everyone with insurance or, once they have none themselves, everyone who pays taxes to support Medicaid. Then they wind up with free medical care. Once they're disabled, it's on the rest of us to support them. Yet it's an accepted and often multi-generational thing. And really, when you're struggling with weight issues, other than self determination, wouldn't some financial incentive help? It would at least keep you from buying a dozen donuts or something.

Then there's the fact that our society encourages it. You can buy a burger meal, complete with fries, softdrink, and all the fat your body can stand, much cheaper than a salad, despite the fact that hamburger is $3 a pound and lettuce a dollar a head. If you go to a restaurant, you don't have the option of getting a smaller serving unless you're a child or senior citizen, and then you're choices are limited. So you get this huge plate of food and you "by gosh don't want to waste a $12 meal, and who wants to fool with asking for carry outs besides it's the same calories later, so you may as well eat it now." Why can't good restaurants offer a smaller plate? Who said servings had to be so big or cost so much? And if they can design diet meals and ship them to you for $11 a day, why can't a restaurant serve them for just a bit more?

Sure, in a perfect world we'd all grow a garden of vegetables in our back yard or some community lot and have healthy food to eat, and we'd fix our meals at home, but we're a long way from a perfect world. As long as we're trying to squeeze several incomes and a lot of extracurricular activities into our days, we don't have time for either option. So we're going to eat out or buy what we can afford that's quick at the grocery store.

And while we blog on the Internet and read a dozen papers on line every day, we don't think we have time for exercise and fall into a reverse trap on physical fitness, thinking we need a $2,000 piece of equipment or a gym membership for a perfect body and if we can't have that we may as well stay on the couch and watch TV, when the truth is, walking is the best exercise and all we really need is a good pair of shoes and some commitment. (And that's what we're really lacking.)

Sure, some people really struggle with weight issues. They're working with their physicians, support groups, or personal trainers to address them. I give them credit and hope they reach their healthy goals. For the rest, it's a self-inflicted ailment that I'm tired of subsidizing.

Jumping in

Another beautiful January day! No really. And I've been wanting to try blogging instead of just responding so here I am. Whether anyone cares or not, that remains to be seen....

About me? Well, saying I'm a health nut would be taking it too far, but I've fallen into the category of "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself." So, I'm taking better care of myself. Two years ago, cholesterol and weight were up and I changed my diet some and started walking a lot. Now I'm 20 lbs. lighter (at least until Super Bowl weekend, then I'll need a while to recover) and much healthier. The walking is with every dog in the neighborhood, hence dogwalkr.

I'm intrigued with local politics; think state politics have a purpose and feel like everyone thinks they're from D.C. once they get there. One would think someone would have the sense to fix health care. I had skin cancer taken off four years ago and can't see the same doctor for my new concern because they're out of network. A new doctor wants a referral, so several of them can line up for a shot at my wallet. Insurance sucks and it's time for a change, but since it has to come from D.C., where government policies are good and lobbying strong, let's not hold our breath.

OK, back to weekend work. I'll get better at this, I promise