I hope that the President is smart enough to understand the underlying reasoning behind obesity.

This is the turning point in human evolution when advanced science and technology derails man from its balance with nature.

Man was designed to search food for survival and not running away from it.

Machinery developed to replace human work is easier to conceive and adopt than demanding humans to keep working in order to maintain their physiology healthy.

The economic pressure force man away from a healthy lifestyle since many food or devices good for the economy may not be friendly to a natural human healthy.

The President need to be strong enough to admit that the most rich and powerful country in the world is so weak that it cannot close its mouth and shake it body for fitness. Unhappily a country running the world cannot even run their belly and bodies.

Nature is above us all and those ones who comply are gifted to a healthier existence. Obesity is stronger than atomic weapons because huge damage cannot be avoided by a single will.

Might I suggest that Democrat Bill Richardson show some sense of personal responsibility, and lose some weight himself before lecturing the rest of us?

There is an aggravation. A study is predicting that if this obesity trend maintains, by 2015 Americans will be 41% obese and 75% overweight.

Getting even worse, the US is a country with 300 million inhabitants while China is country with 1.3 billion people that wants to take the lead in the global role. Obesity is starting to grow there as Chinese people have more access to cheaper food and western diets richer in animal protein. I cannot imagine a country like China being more obese than Americans. Perhaps the world is not going to get warmer, but to sink by so many heavy people living together.

Americans are not only dragging themselves to a catastrophic self-inflicting damage but pulling along all the world behind making the future of human kind have shake that people behind global warming are not having a clue about.

The American President needs to have insights about obesity on a global scale and consider the shortage of brainpower to assess him/her. PhDs are not learning much about Theory of Science, not even the Ivy League, so few scientists do know about the functioning of nature. Humans are not pill poppers and Nature is cruel since a single misstep can lead to a smashing face in the ground.

Bill Richardson has fought the battle and won. He has changed his lifestyle and lost many pounds.

If we get universal healthcare, gov't mandated eating habits will surely follow.

Well, I can tell you right now that there is NO presidential candidate that has the experience to fight and win the 'war on obesity'. For one thing, there is no diet out there that works forever. They work in the short run, but most people who diet regain most, if not all, of what they lost within 5 years. How many of you reading this know what an obese person looks like? Ten years ago, that person wasn't obese, they were 'overweight', the overweight person was 'normal'. The guidelines were lowered for what is considered normal, and overnight, people who hadn't gained a pound were suddenly overweight or obese. Is there any scientific fact to back up the reasoning behind lowering the guidelines? Nope, but if you follow the money behind the studies quoting statistics, you'll see that most of it comes from the diet industry and big pharma, who stand to lose a heap of money if fewer people are considered candidates for weight loss.
Body diversity is nature's way of being able to survive a myriad of natural disasters. Making everyone the same size looks like a road to extinction to me, and it's one I don't want to follow.

This is an interesting article. It's clear that obesity is a problem, and that we need to start re-creating our lives. This starts with a mental change.

One very important factor is to focus on being HEALTHY—physically, mentally, and spiritually. That means building a LIFESTYLE full of good habits, and thriving on life.

Who cares if you don’t look like a model on a magazine cover? If you can enjoy life, do the things that you want to do, and are physically healthy, then you’re fine.

And really, the solution is quite simple. Consume less calories (without starving the body) and exercise more. Why do we have to overcomplicate fitness so much? Let’s start simplifying fitness. Start building good habits; start taking control of your life; start thriving!

Stuart Schaefer – Author of Lifetime Physique a book that reveals:

• Why transforming your body starts with a mental process;
• How to create a mindset that allows you to achieve anything;
• How to dissolve fat away by eating more;
• How to gain strength and create an endless source of energy
• How to transform your body by working out LESS, not more;
• How to build a sensible, sustainable lifestyle;
• How to take control of your mind—and your life.

stu@fitwithstu.com
www.lifetimephysique.com

Way to shamelessly promote your own book there, Stuart.

Obesity is now being touted as something which has reached epic proportions, but what most folks don't know is that the BMI standards which dictate if one is obese or not, continue to be lowered. As author Paul Campos has reported, the BMI standard for obesity was lowered from 27 to 25 within the past few years. In essence, 31 million Americans became obese overnight.

I think we must look at the special interest forces behind such measures. Could it be the diet industry, which makes its billions repeat customers? Or could it be pharmaceutical companies which tout prescription weight-loss medication? It could also be the rise in bariatric surgeries, originally meant to be a drastic and last-ditch procedure, but which is now being performed on people just 50 pounds overweight.

It's these same special interest groups which are vilifying obesity as something which is detrimental to one's health, but obesity is a paradox. Numerous studies have shown obesity to be beneficial in preventing heart disease and cancer, among others. Furthermore, studies also show that it isn't obesity which contributes to type II diabetes; it's where fat is stored in the body, which is genetically predetermined.

I think the next president should emphasize fitness over fatness, and encourage health at every size. He should have no part in the continued discrimination and marginalization of obese people.

To amend my post above: He OR SHE should have no part in the continued discrimination and marginalization of obese people.

The saddest part of this is a clear example of how much we try to "drive" our children to better health, many of the gym teachers HATE fat kids. They DO see them as lazy and treat them inappropriately. If we want to see them healthier than we're going to have to work with them on THEIR level. The fact is not everyone is going to be an athlete - YES, they can be healthy, but not everyone is going to be able to run up and down the bleachers 20 times.

You can read this article that shows studies on how Gym teachers feel about fat kids. http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/03/is-school-pe-really-answer-to-childhood.html

You see my daughter encountered this very type of prejudice this summer - at Summer Gym. She has Insulin Resistance and PCOS. No one wanted to test my daughter, even though I have it and struggle with my weight. I finally begged a doctor to check her insulin levels and they were SKY high. After medicating the problem and eating a moderate carb diet she had shed almost 50lbs. Most doctors wouldn't even CONSIDER checking her. The studies show, the treatment works FAR better for girls than women and yet they won't check them???

Add to this that she went into Summer Gym with great expectation to improve her physical fitness. A positive attitude, even though she came home so sore she could barely walk and would sleep for 2-3 hrs after gym (she wasn't the only one btw). But time again the same teacher (they were rotated throughout the kids), kept PUBLICLY trying to humilate her. She's only in a size 14 - not SUPER large by any stretch, but she acknowledges that she's not super fit and was looking to get better fit. But instead she left summer gym with a new HATRED of exercising. Is it really necessary to make her run up and down the football stadium's bleachers 20-30 times?? Is it necessary when she does 15 and says he can't do anymore to publicly humilate her by making her do more alone to "teach her a lesson"?

I think physical fitness in school in fine, IF they put in compassionate teachers that WORK with the kids instead of trying to make everyone an athlete and by NOT humiliating the kids who are CLEARY fatter than our generations.

I fear that we will just continue to make fat kids feel inferior and outcasts by this drive to "drive out obesity". There are REAL people living in the obese bodies and it's beginning to feel a bit more like a fight on the obese.

Let’s assume that all problems have a solution.

Nobody is allowed to walk on the streets naked even if we are born wearing nothing. So, there is a code requiring human to cover their bodies. We just need another code to keep such bodies under healthy conditions.

So, people may be required some procedures in their lives to prevent obesity:

Employers may require each employee at paid working hours to walk 5 hrs per week or jog 3 hours per week.

Each employee that is able to keep him/her BMI below 25 should receive a regular premium let us say 20% of their salary.

All employers will be required to remove junk food from their facilities and offer constantly healthy diets like fruits and vegetables.

Keep in mind that there is no free will to walk naked on the streets. The free will of eating and exercising should be reviewed down the line for our own good because obesity can make more harm than nudity.

Rachel and vesta44 have it right on. A "war on obesity" is really a war on "obese" people. The next president needs to advocate for the rights of all Americans, including those who do not fit the current cultural straightjacket for body shape and size. If the next president wants to declare war on something (and don't we have enough of those wars going on already?), he or she should be declaring war on discrimination against people of size, or on the media-diet-medical industrial complex which manipulates the hopes and fears of Americans in order to make huge profits at the cost of untold amounts of time, money, and energy of people who become obsessed with their bodies. Just think of what we could all do in the world if we encouraged each other to rejoice in the bodies and food we have in such abundance, and turn our problem-solving efforts to real problems.

Dr. Silva,

First are realted to writer Mark Silva?

Second, you choice of words: need another code, require (3 times)

"free will of eating and exercising should be reviewed down the line"

I'm not sure what your PHD (piled higher & deeper) is in, but are you absolutely insane? I hope you aren't taeching our young skulls full of mush this socialist crap. Can you just keep that Marxist stuff in Brazil.

This is the direction we will head if we get a gov't run healthcare system. Nothing but mandates.

I did like the employer giving "a regular premium let us say 20% of their salary." Not sure what you mean by regular, but I could make some money off of that! I just hope you would let the employers' make the decision on this instead of having it as another one of your "requirements"

Terry,

My most important credential can be seen if you click this link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6YeN_OXzg
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tubarc&search=Search

I got college in Animal Production, Master in Animal Nutrition, and PhD in Soil Science/Spatial Applied Hydrology at Penn State Univ. and by chance Bill Clinton was the speecher of my commencement on May 10, 1996 delivering his first speech for reelection. I have a good idea on what a President can say and what they deliver afterwards.

Also, I speak Portuguese and French making English just my second language. It is better to make imprecise descriptions of good ideas than perfect writing of bad ones. Science is full of perfectly written nonsense.

Sorry for delivering insights far beyond your intellectual reach to grab their meaning. Any person that is fit is not going to be a burden to the health system meaning that any financial compensation is just a bargain and motivation to prevent further expenses.

My education is so high that I have a simple protocol of being polite and respectful. All humans have potential and limitation; nobody is practically insane just because they can see with different point of view.

By your own words I wish everybody were insane like me and obesity would not be around haunting a balance with nature.

Terry, be smart and treat everybody fairly, starting with your own body trying to understand what your physiology need to let you have a healthy body and mind.

Please, do not be stupid believing that a nerd will bring a miracle to human existence when s/he cannot control their own.

Your insights weren't that impressive.

You ideas wren't bad, it was your choice of words is what got me with the constant use of the word "require". That is a lack of freedom, which we are gradually giving to the gov't for handouts - see universal healthcare.

I would rather have a bunch of overweight people that have freedom in their lives, then a bunch of health nuts that live by gov't mandates.

As far as credentials: I'll keep my certification in my profession and my masters from a rather well done midwestern university.

During my PhD at Penn State Univ. I ran two half-marathons. I started running when I was 22 during my master degree. My approach was quite easy and tenable. I started doing 4 minutes and increased steadily half-minute every other day. Six months afterwards my colleagues invited me to run the Porto Alegre marathon. I took it as a joke, but ended up subscribing for curiosity and for my surprise I finished it in 3h23min.

There are many important reasons for people to engage on body fitness that I had discovered reading on the subject lately:

1. Increase memory and cognitive functions because higher blood flow in our brain trigger neurogenesis, which results to more neurons for mind functioning. So, it can help on professional career and daily life.
2. Increase calcium retention because of mechanical requirements for stronger bones.
3. Provides a stronger body for hard work or demanding adventures. I did a counterclockwise tour during 33 days in the US driving 12,000 miles camping and visiting 14 National Parks having 3 kids under 5 years in my team.
4. Reduce stress due to the internal fluid dynamics.
5. Maintain higher sexual performance for physical ability and libido
6. Helps to maintain a more stylistic body for having appropriate corporal mass.
7. Encourage general healthy lifestyle.
8. Promote more social relationship.

Smart people will do body fitness on their own and consequently get even wiser on their lives.

The day society assumes body fitness as important as wearing clothes obesity will be over. It will take place, perhaps in 50, or 100, or 500 years. If humans want to claim as intelligent beings, complying with nature is just a simple logical consequence.

PHD,

I agree with you thoughts on fitness having BEEN a past marathon runner myself 3 times with a best of 3:01. I just don't like the word "REQUIRE".

Terry,

I did half-marathon in 1h26min in Pennsylvania. My body is not that good for long distance running since I have strong muscles and thick bones.

Lately I read that exaggerated body exercise can drive people to unrecoverable damages to tendons, joints, etc. This make sense because our body is a biological machine with limited strengthen. Some people violating the limits can get so spoiled of never being able to practice again.

Nowadays I do just 25 minutes every other day which is enough to keep my body healthy and have low risk of injuries.

You are aware that the word ‘require’ is to make it mandatory. Some people would do only if required, and for the freedom it is not that bad demanding people to do things for their own good.

Requiring people to be fit is less damaging than requiring them to go to war.

Freedom is very subtle because values can change according to necessity. People are not free to walk naked.

Walking naked does not make more damage than being obese because there is a freedom to eat and not doing body fitness.

PHD,

I don't believe their is one of soliders, sailors, airmen,or marines that have not chosen the lives they lead and knew that enlisting moght bring the possibility of going to war.

Big difference in "requiring" someone to wear clothes and someone to "be in shape".

“Big difference in "requiring" someone to wear clothes and someone to "be in shape".”

Indeed it is since nature never required humans to wear clothes. To some animals nature provided protection like feathers, hairs, scales, fleece, pelage, etc.

For millions of years man had lived naked in the fields hunting and gathering food, always in shape due to continuous body struggle and scarce food. Nowadays still some man live naked in the remote corners of civilizations.

Excessive food and modern machinery makes man eat more than needed and spend less energy that it should, leading to a continuous accumulation of energy reserves as fat.

There is no obesity in Ethiopia simply because food there is still scarce.

Government has limiting power to provide a rich environment plenty of food and demand people to eat moderately, to provide plenty of machinery and demand people to continue working their bodies.

In name of freedom perhaps government should suggest people to walk naked and show what kind of body they had been hiding.

From the Logic point of view to human health it makes more sense requiring people to be in shape than wear clothes.

Fewer and fewer people are getting a body that is worth displaying naked around.

War on obesity is the turning point on human evolution when man spoils itself for not being as intelligent as used to claim around.