What Does United Airlines, Obesity, & Preventive Medicine Have In Common? (305 hits)
The recent press about United Airlines joining the ranks of other major carriers in establishing a tough policy about seating obese passengers brings up the larger issue of what we can do to stop the epidemic of obesity in this country. As a preventive cardiologist in Miami Beach and the author of The South Beach Diet Supercharged, I see the consequences of the obesity epidemic every day in my practice. Not only am I treating patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, diabetes, and advanced heart disease, but also patients with related ailments like sleep apnea, joint issues, and depression. Today an unbelievable two-thirds (66.5 percent) of Americans are either overweight or obese and that number appears to be growing, not shrinking.
Good point, Doc However, with the economy weighing everybody down (or out), people r each for comfort foods. We were conditioned in the 80's that we all needed a gym membership and now nobody can afford it. America seems to have catered to the junk food lifestyle for decades and even the drug makers add so much "increased appettite" ingredients that it seems useless to try to teach a whole generation of folks to do a U-Turn. We even went so far as to teach out children not to carry school books for fear of back injury...huh?
So, if the reports speak to the rise of folks overweight and the economy won't let you travel, how the heck does United Airlines expect to stay in business?
Now, I'm all for healthy lifestyle and watching my weight and I pass on information as much as possible and rarely do i pig out at fastfood restaurants...it just gets harder and harder to afford the good, healthy foods and gym memberships are too costly and I can't afford to fly anyway so let UA downsize so their corporate heads can wobble/walk with us...lol
Wednesday, April 22nd 2009 at 6:14PM
agnes levine
...so let UA downsize so their corporate heads can wobble/walk with us...lol
