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Subscribe to RSSMore than one in five middle-aged U.S. adults, and nearly half of adults over age 65, have more than one chronic health condition, such as hypertension and diabetes, according to a new government report.
The report said that in 2010, 21.3 percent of women and 20.1 percent of men between ages 45 and 64 had at least two chronic health conditions. In 2000, the rate among men was 15.2 percent, and among women it was 16.9 percent.
Increases were also seen in adults older than 65, with 49 percent of men and 42.5 percent of women reporting in 2010 that they had at least two chronic health conditions. In 2000, the rates were 39.2 percent of men and 35.8 percent of women.
Treatment for people with multiple chronic conditions is complex, the researchers said. By looking at trends in the rates of people with more than one condition, researchers are better able to make decisions about managing and preventing these diseases, and they can make better predictions about future health-care needs, they said.
The increases were due mainly to rises in three conditions: hypertension, diabetes and cancer, according to the report. These increases may be due to more new cases, or due to people living longer with the conditions because of advances in medical treatments.
The report also said that middle-aged adults with at least two chronic conditions had increasing difficulty, between 2000 and 2010, in getting the care and prescription drugs they needed because of cost. In 2010, 23 percent reported not receiving or delaying the medical care they needed, and 22 percent said they didn't get the prescriptions they needed. In 2000, these rates were 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
The CDC does not consider obesity itself to be a health condition; rather, it is a risk factor for other conditions, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The obesity rate in the U.S. increased in the United States over the past 30 years, but has leveled off in recent years, the report said.
The report is based on data gathered during the National Health Interview Survey, in which participants complete a detailed questionnaire about their health status and health-related behaviors. Participants reported whether a physician has diagnosed them with any of nine chronic health conditions: hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, current asthma and kidney disease.
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If people saw their doctors earlier, the problems could be caught and avoided entirely. Treatment would save untold dollars. Too bad we don't have universal health care coverage like every other developed nation on the planet. Oh, wait... If people never got the diseases, or the diseases were caught and treated at a much less expensive level, those poor health and pharmaceutical companies would lose money. Better to let Americans suffer and die than to harm stockholders' portfolios.
Sure, yearly check ups are important, but the most important thing is lifestyle. We have an abundance of food and junk food, especially. Americans don't know how to eat healthy and the Americans that eat the worst are the poor, who eat mostly processed food, frozen dinners, high fructose corn syrup, etc. And the fact that we're still biologically wired to consume fatty and sugary foods is also a culprit, though those cravings can be easily managed with temperance and moderation.
Big food companies are the problem with buying out COngress to make pizza a vegetable so that it can still be served in school lunches despite efforts to make our children healthier. I'm sure pharm companies have a hand in this too, but Americans seriously have to learn how to say "no." Unfortunately, the poor who have neither the means nor access to healthy, fresh foods are the ones who suffer the most....
There are too many lard-assed overeaters who blame it on genetics. You'll find the afflicted in front of the ice cream case at Walmart.
This article can't possibly be true. We are Americans and we are EXCEPTIONAL! We have the GREATEST health care system in the world! If you don't believe it, listen to Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and all the other Republicans! Don't make me listen to this cr*p! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA . . . USA, NUMBER 1 . . . USA, NUMBER 1!
You have to have a doctor to be able to "see them earlier." Many of us (although working) have no insurance and no money to pay for it.
my wal-mart got smart, put the ice-cream in the back... make you work for it
Going to the doctor doesn't translated into better health for most people. It's the foods and environment and medications that are making people sicker.
Look no further then 3rd world countries where people live into their 80s-90s-100s and have no health care and access to the junk/medicines we have here.
There is also a problem of over treatment. I'm amazed at the number of people I know that have drugs pushed on them by doctors even if a case is borderline or if the drug doesn't have a strong history of actually fixing anything. Then, if they do follow the doctor's advice, they end up with more problems from drug side effects. Blindly seeing doctors more often is not a cure-all, although it would certainly help some people, depending on their situation.
Going to the doctor regularly can help catch illnesses and problems in their early stages. Not all maladies are caused by lifestyle choices. However, people who ignore common sense in regards to lifestyle changes are probably not going to follow their doctors advice.
More Americans are in the healthcare loop now than ever, yet we're sicker than ever? Duh! An individual's health is THEIR responsibility, not the nation's!
Let's ban insurance companies and see who pays our medical bills.
Let's ban pharmacy companies and see who invents the next Lipitor or blockbuster anti cancer drug.
The study would have been more meaningful if it controlled for weight, smoking and other obvious health factors. Like most of our society, I am seeing "two America's " when it comes to health care. I see people eating right, exercising, avoiding drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. That America is probably healthier than ever due to advances in medicine and nutrition. I see another America that is obese, smokes, eats junk food, and watches 8 hours of tv per day. Without being and MD, I can tell you which America has diabetes and hyper tension.
We are rapidly descending into a society where it is the other guys job to do everything for us, including keeping us fit and healthy.
Agreed. But if most lifestyle choices are healthy, there is a much better chance that you will be healthier for a lot longer and possibly never develop any chronic condition.
When you see pages of side effects from medications to treat things like high blood pressure, diabetes, and so on, you have to wonder what we're doing to ourselves.
I think that part of this is the over-diagnosis of certain maladies as well as the penchant for pushing a pill as the solution instead of pushing a change in lifestyle that would have the same effect. Add that to the fact that people are living longer and much of this is easily explainable. It is said that if you live long enough you will likely develop some form of cancer. The problem is that we have become so good at diagnosing it that more people are being treated than ever before, even some who should not be. Some older people with slow growth cancers are being treated with powerful chemotherapy and other treatments when it is really unnecessary and likely does more harm than good due to the side effects of the treatments. The person would most likely die from old age before the cancer ever got them, but the medical community is loathe to admit this and not treat someone. This is particularly true of things like so growth prostate cancer in men. In many cases the real best option is not to treat it at all, but it is hard to find a doctor who is progressive enough to recognize and admit this.
We need to focus on different ways to treat certain diseases like lifestyle changes instead of pills and make better decisions about when treatment is even warranted.
Corporate Leadership holds no national loyalty, only a loyalty to PROFIT. THEY WILL SELL whatever they sell TO THE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, as long as the agreed-upon price exceeds the cost of creating and using loopholes in US law to sell to states like Iran (see "Halliburton Products and Services Limited"). They work to diminish the value of American labor through engaging in political terrorism, actual terrorism, and telling you that those who work FOR YOU for a living are STEALING FROM YOU.
We are being treated as less than worthy of our national birthright. WE THE PEOPLE aren't a corporation, only through the laws that WE THE PEOPLE create is the only way corporations are able to EXIST. We have let this tail wag the dog far too long. It's time to squash these financial terrorists and their socialization of corporate losses on the back of American taxpayers. Then we might begin to heal our people and our land.
lolol this is all just a cluster****.
1. The jobs that pay the best are those where you sit on your arse all day
2. People eat absolute crap
3. Its in a company's best interest to put preservatives, carcinogens, metals in food to last longer on the shelf.
4. Prices are skyrocketing making vacations harder to come by.
5. Soaring medical costs cause people to avoid regular checkups.
And on top of all that people want free healthcare.....
This is nothing new - chronic disease has been on the rise (especially in those 65 and older) since modern medicine and hygiene have basically eradicated deadly infectious disease from our country. This is nothing more than a consequence of lifestyle and living longer.
The knee-jerk reactions on this board are unnecessary, however, they are exactly why MSNBC and other news outlets publish articles like this. Sensational stories use scary headlines to describe a pretty menial issue, but will get people's blood pressure up, and that brings in ratings...don't forget that media is just as big, cold, and calculating as many of the industries you all seem to hate so much.
When I saw the headlines the first thing I thought of was the sick that post their BS on these forums. Then I see that they are talking about the physically sick and not the mentally sick. My bad.
Lifestyle: Do not eat genetically modified/engineered foods that create obesity and other health problems.
No corn syrup (not found in nature) with fructose that is a backwards molecule and shouldn't be called fructose.
No modified corn, wheat, soy, canola, or other foods engineered by Monsanto.
No corn-fed meat, which produces fats that cannot be broken down. No highly-homogenized milk, which also fools the liver and creates a fat problem.
In other words, until we don't let profit dictate what we grow, we will continue to have these chronic diseases. Just putting some more inspectors in place would help: much of the "olive oil" that is sold is mixed with modified canola oil, fish oil, or whatever... in China when foods were found to have plastic in them, the perpetrators were thrown in jail (or worse). In America, it is business as usual, and deadly illnesses as usual.
Exactly which "third world" countries would that be?
This reeks of "facts" gathered from the rectum.
cheetah,
"There are too many lard-assed overeaters who blame it on genetics."
I haven't personally heard any over-eaters blame it on genetics. The excuse I've always heard is, "It's muh glands. That's what it is. It's muh glands". In truth, the only "gland" at fault is the mouth.
At least on the web page I saw this on the link for poor health in the US was just above the one for "Caskets for Rent".........Hmmm
Well, at least the Wingers can afford nicer coffins...
Wrong. Some medical conditions will happen no matter how many times you go to a doctor, or how well you take care of yourself.
Most of the people here go to the tried and true over eating crutch as the reason people are sick.
Degenerative arthritis isn't onset by fast food. Cancer isn't born by sitting on your ass. Lupus isn't contracted by drinking soda all day.
People can go to a doctor every week, eat right, exercise, and still fall victim to disease.
I agree with some who say that going to the doctor early will help but someone who weighs over 300 pounds does not need a doctor to tell him that he needs to make big changes. "MOST" of the time you can get rid of hypertension and diabetes with weight loss and healthy eating.
Gary 420
I have known many health nuts who eat right, exercise, have had zero exposure to tobacco products and they have all died from cancer.
As a matter of fact some researchers and doctors now claim you are more likely to die from disease if you do not have some body fat.
Life is terminal and and all of the polution just makes it easer to contract cancer.
Today's news story has been brought to you by the for-profit medical insurance companies af America.
Public option anyone??
The socialized medical system of Israel works very well, according to Romney.
Obviously, our present system run by health insurance executives is a total failure. When the next phase of Obamacare kicks in things will start getting better.
Kimpossible
I suggest you compare the health problem rise with that of the increase in foodstamps.
I see every first of the month the most overweight people purchasing the most fat laden foods in large quanties.
The other funny thing is that the more we ban, the worse our health seems to be getting.
A third observation, Isn't it interesting how the government mandated food safety processes actually can make our problems worse.
Chemtrails & Monsanto's gentically engineered foods come to mind.
Elizabeth
You missed the over use of anti-biotics in farm animals.
"I have known many health nuts who eat right, exercise, have had zero exposure to tobacco products and they have all died from cancer."
Paul, I knew you were full of crap when you stated "they ALL died of cancer", Perhaps if you would have claimed that you knew a few "health nuts" that died of cancer your lie might have been more believable. Anyway I have known tons of fat, lazy, TV watching, bacon cheeseburger eating, morons who call people "health nuts" who have ALL DIED OF HEART DISEASE or CANCER. But I have never known any "health nut" who died of heart disease or cancer. Plus it is the quality of your life while you are alive that matters, if you are so fat that you get winded just bending over to tie your shoes then you have zero quality of life.
You just go on eating your genetically modified, hormone and antibiotic laced, disease ridden garbage, and please invite all your wingnut friends over for dinner so you can sit around stuffing your faces and making fun of us granola eating "health nuts". The faster Monsanto kills you people off the sooner us health nuts can get the world straightened out from the mess you made of it.
Yea, I missed that, and also mercury in chicken, etc. There's so much bad stuff in our foods: last night I ate a salmon salad, and then realized that I was probably ingesting something from Fukushima. There's almost no escape.
BodyDouble
I don't care if you are delusional, and don't believe that health nuts die from cancer and heart disease.
Our government ostensibly (doesn't matter what administration is in place) is concerned about the health of our citizens, in particular, the obesity epidemic. Here's a fact: the government began subsidizing the dairy industry in the 1950's by buying cheese (100% fat), which it has been stockpiling ever since. Ever notice how the Domino's Pizza products are almost entirely cheese lately (stuffed crust, etc.)? The government has told the fast food industry (specifically pizza makers) to push cheese in their products so they can chip away at the cheese stockpile; yet, Mrs. Obama is attempting to get children to eat healthful food. Howze that for sending mixed messages? They also include a large block of cheese in their handouts to welfare and food stamp recipients.
cheese stockpile? There's an image. While I agree that cheese has been stuffed, literally, into our pizzas, I don't think they've been actually storing the stuff up. No need to since the dairies just keep cranking out more milk.
I know what I'm talking about. My source is Time magazine. For years, the federal government bought the industry’s excess cheese and butter, an outgrowth of a Depression-era commitment to use price supports and other tools to maintain the dairy industry. This stockpile, packed in cool caves in Missouri, grew to a value of more than $4 billion by 1983, when Washington switched gears.
In 1995 under Reagan, our government decided to take a different tack and created Dairy Management Inc., a nonprofit with an annual budget approaching $140 million, financed through a fee imposed on the dairy industry and several million dollars annually from the Department of Agriculture. Their job is to increase dairy consumption, hence the phrase "Got milk?"
Our government subsidizes the dairy industry, which produces too much milk, which the government then has to find a market for. Dairy Management, Inc., last year took on the project of revitalizing the image of Domino’s Pizza. It teamed up with Domino’s to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese and proceeded to devise and pay for a $12 million marketing campaign. So the government paid for a $12 million marketing campaign for a private, for-profit company, in order to get the company to use 40% more cheese and sell more cheesy pizzas, and these new pizzas contain 2/3 of the maximum recommended daily value of artery-clogging saturated fat per slice. The same government that is currently devising ways to spend more money to fight obesity, is also spending money on making pizza - American's favorite food - more fattening.
Um, did you just pull this 'wisdom' out of your ass?
Most people have it all wrong. It all starts with what we have available to put in our mouth to satisfy our bodies hunger and nutritional needs. The problem runs very deep and is a topic that would fill volumes of literature, much to much for one post to cover.
To start with, most people have bought into the idea that milk, cheese - animal fats in general - are bad for the body. Nothing could be further from the truth. While the world cries lower the fat, lower the fat, the population just keeps getting fatter and sicker. It is the quality of the fat we eat that matters most, not the amount. If we fill our diet with good fats and vitamins sources, we find that our cravings for the junk food just naturally fall away.
Another fact is that our food production industry has also lost sight of quality over quantity. The dairy industry, for one, in an effort to control costs pushes production from cows that are inferior in their genetic makeup. If the whole industry switched out the cows they have in the production line over to cows that are A2A2, most of the problems with diabetes and hypertension would be resolved.
Humans have been drinking milk and eating animal fats as well as consuming what grows from the ground for all of our evolution, and we have been pretty successful in that endeavor, considering how our overpopulation is affecting this planet. What has changed over our history is the QUALITY of the food we consume. We have developed, pushed for and mandated ways to genetically modify all of the foods we grow and have allowed for and promoted genetic divergence in all the wrong directions for the meats we raise for eating, all in the interest of high production and corporate profit.
We are so willing to buy into the idea that our corporate funded government entities have created regulations are going to ensure that the food we eat is good for us. If our government is so good at food safety, then why are we inundated with news every month or so of new bacterial outbreaks in everything from spinach to chickens. We need to free our farmers to grow quality foods and release them from the government oversight and red tape that is supposed to be in place to ensure food safety, but has conveniently disregarded value from both a nutritional and an agricultural perspective. In truth, they have no interest is what is actually good for us. Instead these agencies are run by people who's primary purpose is their job description and what is in their pocket.
The consumer is the one who can change the industry, and get us back on the road to better health, but they need to start focusing on quality. A few areas to start is to stop buying GMO produced foods. Demand more naturally raised produce and meat. Refuse to buy hormone and antibiotic infused meats and vegetables. Demand A2 milk and grass fed meats. Support the farmers rights to grow healthy heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables. Stop supporting big corporate controlled farms and big corporations that try to control independent farmers.
The report also said that middle-aged adults with at least two chronic conditions had increasing difficulty, between 2000 and 2010, in getting the care and prescription drugs they needed because of cost. In 2010, 23 percent reported not receiving or delaying the medical care they needed, and 22 percent said they didn't get the prescriptions they needed. In 2000, these rates were 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
With a health care system that favors huge profit over actually providing health care, this is not terribly surprising. Health insurance companies charge absurdly high premiums, then refuse to provide medical care to make huge profits. Pharmaceutical companies arbitrarily or maybe not so arbitrarily put absurdly huge prices on their drugs, not caring that many who need the drugs wont be able to afford them, to make huge profits. There is nothing wrong with making a profit, but using a model that prices out most people in order to make huge profits translates into a health care system that is not interested in providing health care.
Good post.
I would add that while the health care "debate" has been going on, the USA has slipped from 37th in health care to 42nd. But we remain solidly in first place in medical malpractice, which is the 5th leading cause of death in this country. It is not even in the top 10 in any other country in the world.
Not a good post. Pharm companies can charge $$$$$ for their drugs because of patent laws, and they can charge whatever they want for 7 years, possibly 14 if they ask for an extension. Generic brands bring down cost of drugs tremendously, but with big name brands, until the patent runs out, then we're SOL.
Insurance premiums are high right now in light of the healthcare bill because companies know that when 2014 hits, their prices are gonna tank. Also, they have to use 80% of your money specifically for you. If not, expect a huge @$$ check in the mail.
Americans like to solve problems with drugs rather than, God forbid, go out and walk a mile everyday. Granted, there are people with genetic obesity problems, like high biosynthesized cholesterol (not consumed cholesterol) that will give them all sorts of problems, but come on, I bet only 1:20 of those 1:5 adults actually have a biological problem.
I responded previously about lifestyle: most foods are not inspected and are dangerous to your health.
However, when it comes to medicine, I would kick in the "privacy laws" and how they are administered. Your insurance company knows about every doctor you see, but every doctor, even in the same hospital down the hall from each other working on the same case, does not know about your other problems. Ever wonder why you must bring a list to EVERY doctor of your: medications, lab results, treatments including all surgeries, and especially health history? It might make sense if you went to three different hospitals for treatment, but if all your doctors worked out of the same place, they should see immediately everything that is wrong so that they could coordinate a treatment plan for the whole person.
Your insurance company has no trouble communicating with all those different doctors and departments, so there is no excuse why your doctors can't.
To those who want us to "walk a mile:" Try walking a mile in another person's shoes. I walked constantly, and so did my husband, and it didn't keep the problems away. The only differences I can see between us and our parents are: 1. the much worse food sources, what used to be on every store shelf would be considered super organic now; and 2. they had terrible stress in World War II and in the great Depression, but there was also better relief for the poor, and more of a spirit of compassion in general and a "we can do it" attitude in our nation, without as much hatred between us in general. Those who had little safety net did have more chronic conditions and lived shorter lives; now that the rest of us have had our safety net taken away, we are all getting sick.
It doesn't help if you are eating a bag of Dorritos after your walk.
Big pharma exec, in voice of Mr. Burns from Simpsons;
"Excellent, excellent!"
'Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.'
'Many can't go there; and many would rather die.'
'If they would rather die,' said Scrooge, 'they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.'
Those who promulgate murder by making life difficult and hoping people kill themselves are murderers and they will be held accountable by God. Who ever supports a global economy is a murderer of the innocent of life.
The Republicans promulgate murder by making life difficult and hoping people kill themselves. They seek to make life more difficult for millions.
Hah. The democrats promote murder by insisting we all rely on the government. The government does a poor job at anything. So due to the 60% income tax that would insue, and the lack of jobs...the suicide rate would go up. Making democrats murderers. See we can all play this game.
There is a good way to decrease the population: Abstinence. I mean, seriously, both Christians and Buddhists who had huge monasteries and convents always came to a zero population growth point, and those monasteries and convents would do jobs that most people didn't want to bother with, such as hospitals, schools, etc. Those who call themselves religious (any religion) but want to overpopulate their land and then make war or let people die of famine or disease, don't belong to a religion that respects a higher intelligence. A second way to reduce population is birth control and planning; for those who are against this practice, they should join the monastics, but they should understand that not everybody can do that. A third way is to kill people, and that is unacceptable, but it is being practiced wherever there is famine, disease, or war in the whole world. All of us are culpable.
And now with obamatyrantcare people will start dropping like flies. Obama is a murderer not a savior.
Obamacare give 30 million more people insurance.......it's the reverse of what your saying. Obama is a savior not a murderer.
Of course the Republicans were all for it when Dole came up with the individual mandate. And Romney (who, in case you didn't know, is a Republican) instituted an individual mandate.
Obama's plan is Republican.
...which started out as Romneycare when he was governor.
@Oliver,
I would also point out that the Republican-created Medicare Part D has an individual mandate that definitely is NOT a tax. Medicare Part D is much like AHCA in that it functions by requiring you to buy private medical insurance to cover prescriptions. If you do not sign up for Part D the moment (actually within 24 hours) you become eligible for Medicare Part A (which is free, but cannot be opted out of except to opt out of all Social Security benefits ientirely) you will be fined $5,000. In addition, for every month until you buy the private insurance mandated by Part D, your Part D premiums will increase by 1% with no cap. It cannot be construed as a "tax" as Justice Roberts declared, because unlike AHCA, the fine and penalties are collected by conficating Social Security checks until they are paid.
I am 68. I became eligible for Part D in December 2009. That was about 31 months ago. If I were to sign up today, I would lose my Social Sercurity checks until ther $5,00 fine was paid, and my Part D premiums would be permanently 31% higher the "normal" person.
Why is it that no one protested the individual mandate or complained loudly when W signed Part D into law? I guess that stupid right-wingers are unable to think about anything except what Rupert Murdoch tells them to think.
And they didn't find anything wrong when a virtually identical health care mandate was pushed through by Romney in Massacheusetts.
And they accepted it blindly when Clinton bowed to GOP pressure and included a mandate in his health care initiative (which failed.)
And they refuse to acknowledge that the Heritage Foundation, a conservative political think tank, came up with the individual mandate as an "absolutely minimum requirement" for any federal or state comprehensive health care plan.
Come on, Tea Baggers. Grow a pair and admit it was your idea and they you hate Obama for other, more "colorful" reasons. You hate Obama so badly that you are willing to vote for a non-Christian who imposed an individual health care mandate on a whole state. That takes some seriously stupid rationalization.
Are you like 12 years old? Run along now.
Because the number one users of the medicare welfare program are white rural people who hate their medicare so much that they have all opted out and bought private insurance (available from BC for 7000 a month per couple)...
With the implementation of Obamacare, Physicians are either retiring early or leaving practice. I mean Physicians, not PA's or NP's. I for one believes that if someone would like to practice medicine and surgery, he must be a medical school graduate, licensed and board certified. PA's and NP's can help the practice, I mean HELP, under a direct supervision of an MD, as decreed by law.
Obama talks peace, but in reality he goes about seeing who he can devour and cause to kill themselves. Obama and anyone who promulgates such wickedness are responsible and God will hold them accountable.
The current Republican plan: 'Die quickly.'
If anyone is going to be held accountable before God, it will be the Republicans who are putting profits before the lives of their fellow men.
6448092 - Have you ever considered seeking treatment for your mental illness?
Of course we're all sick, look at what we're eating: Monsanto. 'Nuff said.
Without modern agriculture methods and plant breeding, genetic changes and fertilizers you might not be eating at all. So don't buy the chips, boxes of junk food and try growing your own veggies in a pot on your patio if you don't have a garden AND then ACTUALLY EAT the food you grew rather than buying all that stuffed canned and frozen
I agree, OBXRon, I have a little "garden" on my patio of different herbs--basil, mint for mojitos & ice cream, rosemary, thyme, oregano-- I've also tried broccoli & tomatoes, but those were a wash, I'm apparently not terribly good at growing veggies! I really like planting stuff, it's actually very fun and awesome to be able to use your own herbs in meals.
Monsanto
Agent Orange
PCBs
Saccharin
DDT
BST (bovine growth hormone)
Nutrasweet
etc
etc
These are the people you want controlling your food supply. Damn, no wonder so many people are sick.
.... 6448091,
And I'll bet you're voting for Romney --- a non-Christian.
Irrelevant point since religion has nothing to do with faith. Although romney does not strike me as a person of faith.
@Morlack,
This did not seem to bother Karl Rove and company when the GOP tried to make Obama's religion an issue. The GOP stated over and over that "religion is fair game."
Like many hawkish politicians of his generation, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney managed to avoid serving in the Vietnam War through family and religious connections. The young Romney could not use a student deferment from the draft — having dropped out of Stanford University after only two semesters — but avoided service anyway with the assistance of the Mormon elders. He was one of a limited number of Mormon youth chosen as missionaries — a status that protected him from the draft between July 1966 and February 1969 as a “minister of religion or divinity student.” Essentially, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints re-routed Romney from Vietnam to the south of France, where he served as missionary.
While Romney was building his career at Bain Capital, he was also a Mormon bishop (equivalent to a pastor) and a stake president (presiding over several area congregations) in suburban Belmont, Mass. Because the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no paid clergy, Mormon men take turns overseeing wards (congregations) and regional stakes while continuing their full-time careers.
Better cherish that cup of coffee. Romney is as much against coffee and tea as he is against marijuana or heroin. Not hard to imagine DEA agents raiding Starbucks' coffee shops under President Romney.
And religion is a great issue partly because Mormons are not Christians (unless you believe that God is married and lives on Kolob with other gods.) If you ask your priest/pastor/minister, he will tell you that ALL Christians accept the Nicene (Apostles') Creed as the absolute statement of Christian faith. MOrmons do not accept the Nicene Creed and actually have a "co-equal" scripture in the Book of Mormon which describe Christ among the American Indians who are describes as a lost tribe of Israel, and turning them brown because they refused to follow Him. Just ask the Old Mittster about his "garment" if you want to see him shut down instantly. Carter, Clinton, Bush and others had no trouble discussing their underwear. But Romney sought an injunction (which was denied as prior restraint) to stop journalists from asking any questions about his underwear.
Do we really want a President with secret skivvies?
@Chris:
Mitt is a Liar, Liar, Garmies on Fire!
you don't mean mittens is a chickenhawk in the vsame vein as cheney and his vp bush do you? Talks tough but managed to bail on his military obligations
@jacalope,
I needed that --- a good laugh. And a reminder to lighten up a bit. I sometimes forget that the Mitt fanbois can't really help it.
Spirituality is a great help to those who are sick, sometimes focusing a spiritual connection will keep a person alive for many years if they have cancer, for example. But, when it comes to a POLITICAL religion, the opposite is true. Consider those who use religion to harm women; I'm talking about pregnant women who might have a condition that could kill them, but who can't have an abortion because it won't kill them TODAY, only in a few months when surgery is too late. (High blood pressure that appears only in pregnancy kills women with pre-existing heart conditions, but in states that do not allow abortion, it is too late to treat them by the time they have the high blood pressure episode. I know of three women who survived their eclampsia by a miracle because they did not have a heart condition on top of it, but they nearly died after their C-sections.)
President Obama gave a very faithful Christian speech at the Christmas tree lighting; he went farther into his faith than required. We haven't heard much lately about Romney from his own words, but there is a history of him being a bishop in a church that is not Christian: believes in three separate gods, invented stories about races, etc. Why in the world would the faith of a President matter? When it comes to signing legislature into law, I would want a man who applies his religion in a spiritual way to keep people alive, not to tell a woman, for example, that sorry, you can't get medical treatment because you do not fit a description of a person who is in trouble TODAY. Of course, the knowledge that the sun doesn't contain or have behind it a second sun, or that the Native Americans have their own unique history not dictated by others, would also be rather important in a leader of our country. Who would convince him to go to war just because of their own ideology... he has already promised war against Iran. Give us a break!
Blame incompetent General Practitioners/Family Physicians who can't diagnose illnesses & only spend 5 mins. with the Patient.
Because that's the customer's attention span when the lecture is about nutrition.
We're fatter, less active and eat too much junk..
yeah, sicker in the HEAD!
Lets see... GMO Frankenfood now found in almost all processed food, our soils depleted of essential nutrients, our livestock pumped up full of antibiotics, our water filled with pesticide run-offs, plastics leaching their chemicals into the ground water, interfering with our hormones, being told to AVOID the sun at all costs, high fructose corn syrup clogging almost anything you eat that comes in a jar or a can, aspartame as a sugar substitute that degrades into formaldehyde in the body, sitting in front of the idiot box watching mind-numbing drivel instead of taking a walk, constant stress from being out of work, or worked too hard, or trying to meet that mortgage, or forestall foreclosure...
My, my, my... I wonder why people are getting sicker and sicker. It is a puzzlement indeed!
Prevention, taking responsiblity for ourselves, eating better, exercising. Stop blaming everyone else (doctors, food producers, TV, the government, etc.) and take care of yourself.
I guess you grow your own food; congratulations to you for using only organic compost and manure to stay healthy. Yes, stop blaming everybody else who is trying honestly to be healthy but can't get there.
If you have a limited budget and live in a city (not by choice I might add), you
can't always eat healthy. I was making lunch this morning, and noticed the buns
my GF bought had 4 grams of Trans fat. add a slice of cheese(3 grams), and some
lunch meat, and you’re up to about 8 grams. That’s not saturated, but Trans
fat. Being a guy, I can wolf down about half a dozen of those, so I’m not surprised
about this article. I try to eat healthy, not eating chips and hitting the
Micki D's only about once a month. But it still adds up, and even with exercise
I don't think you can undo everything you eat. Point is, if you’re poor you
can't always eat as you should. Companies could do a lot of good if they
reduced or eliminated the bad things in processed foods. I would be willing to
take a financial hit if it means I’m not going to the emergency room in 30
years with a ruptured main artery.
Years ago, my husband used to eat corn chips at the office, not saying the brand, but that it had trans-fat and also who knows what corn source. We ate healthy at home: veges, garlic, etc. Now he has cancer. Don't wait 30 years to get bad news like this: if poor eat rice and beans and some veges once in a while, unless you can't deal with the beans, but don't eat the lunch meat. Nitrates and nitrites can kill you, as well as the trans fat.
There is no reason to use any fat or oil in buns; in winter, if you have an oven, make bread.
Leave out for several hours in a covered bowl: a half teaspoon of yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 5 cups good flour, and 2 cups water mixed and kneaded. After it has risen, punch it down (knead a little), divide into two loaves, let rise just a little more, and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or more if you hear a drum sound in the bread, or less time if you make this into buns. It's fun to do, and you will have fresh bread that doesn't use any oil at all, much cheaper than buying it. If you want to make this more fancy on special occasions, put an egg or two into the dough instead of some of the water.
Processed meat is given as one of the top 5 foods linked to cancer, especially digestive cancer. Very glad that I am vegetarian.
sorry to hear about that Elizabeth. Thank you for the tips, and good luck to you and your Husband
poverty and stress.
more like meat and potato...
Get your fat ass off the couch, quit eating crap, exercise and stay busy. It's not difficult to figure out, it just takes will power and determination.
Left wing propaganda. Basically their way of saying "Fat Americans".
People are sicker because of environmentalists and the EPA.
Years ago, the EPA was good. They did the right thing and saw to it that the air and water was made much cleaner, but the easy cost effective measures were already made well before Obama's Barbra Boxer started catering to the extremists. They have implemented measures that go too far and are too expensive for the economy. The measures Obama has implemented caused business too much red tape and are too expensive. So jobs are lost or are never created. It may not be great to breath the air from a coal power plant, but it is worse to not have a job and not be able to support your family. If I knew the reasonable and prudent steps were taken to make coal as clean as effectively possible, I would rather breath that air knowing I had a job and health insurance than be unemployed and my family have no health insurance.
Unemployed peopled have much higher rates of numerous heath problems. Including diabetes, heart conditions, cancer, suicide and stress related disease.
"It may not be great to breath the air from a coal power plant, but it is worse to not have a job and not be able to support your family"
Priceless !
(doesn't matter that you cant breath just as long as you can pay your debts....aka food,rent,insurance...etc..........and on time or you'll get penalized)
Oops.. I meant to click on NO VALUE and "upped" you by mistake. Sorry.. I don't support RWNJs.
gemini618, that's okay. I did it for you.
Of course, you would rather that your child is exposed to uranium, mercury, arsenic, and other things that will kill them from the coal slag than find a better job somewhere else. Breathe? It is in the water, not just air, but gasping for air is no joke, and if you ever see a child do it, your heart would break (if you had a heart).
"It is in the water, not just air, but gasping for air is no joke, and if you ever see a child do it, your heart would break (if you had a heart)."
Except you bleeding hearts have no plan and can not see that the life of that child gasping for air was only madet possible by those fossil fuels. The child gasping for air has a better chance of surviving in an economy rich enough to provide the necessities of life the extremists are bent on destroying. You kill the child when you feel sorry for him/her.
You think I have no heart, but in reality, you have no brain.
It's just lazy people , pull up them bootstraps.
Make sure and point your finger at the lazy people and tell them they better pull up them bootstraps, it's your job and patriotic duty to make others be better so get on it.
That's the whole trouble: we don't use boot straps anymore. I think everybody should ride horses and have boots with straps.
Thats why some of the fittest people including athletes are dying right? Morons like you have no CLUE at all. Hopefully it's your family that dies from these problems of lack of health care. It would help clean the gene pool.
"The CDC does not consider obesity itself to be a health condition; rather, it is a risk factor for other conditions, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The obesity rate in the U.S. increased in the United States over the past 30 years, but has leveled off in recent years, the report said."
This is the most absurd statement I've heard of late. Obesity is an illness period and should be considered a pre-existing condition in any healthcare insurance policy.Do not sugar coat it (no pun intended). Many in this great nation are addicted to junk food and in gargantuan proportions. This is destroying our health, costing us enormous sums in healthcare and insurance costs, costs us billions more in lost productivity, and what is not easily talked about is that our friends and competitors (did I hear anyone say the Asians) around the world view us with scorn as a bunch of lazy, overstuffed fatasses.
Our obesity problem, dare I say, is one of the leading prohibitors that is preventing the American people collectively and individually from being all they can be. Have a healthy day everybody!
Obesity is neither a risk factor nor an illness. It is a symptom of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance. A symptom just the same as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high BP, etc... All symptoms of the root cause, eating grains and sugars and driving insulin level up. Its so obvious it's ridiculous!
Labeling it an "illness" will just result in those overweight denying responsibility. It's the same reason alcoholics are not "sick". They choose to put another drink in their mouth, the same way those obese choose to gorge out and then sit around watching TV.
Everybody knows somebody who is obese. They have more trouble finding jobs. They do not sit in front of the TV; most do not gorge themselves on anything. Each case is unique, but it doesn't help that it is much more expensive to buy healthy foods than junk foods. That is all caused by food policy: the great agriculture laws that allow genetically modified franken-corn, wheat, and soy, and produce tons of junk food based on these frankenfoods. Look at any grocery store: which aisles are longest? That is not because people buy cookies, candy, chips, cereal, and beer but because the manufacturers PAY for the aisle space! When walking around the store, often you must go to the farthest corner to find the milk and eggs. Vegetables are near the beginning, but are so overpriced compared to any meats that they are too expensive to buy for most people. This is not just policy, but GREED. The same GREEDY people then call others fat. Look what the pot said to the kettle.
other way around. Insulin resistance is a symptom (more precisely a result) of obesity
Obesity is not necessarily a symptom of anythiing, including metabolic syndrome, diabetes, etc. Many obese people simply eat too much. it's kind of like cigarettes. Most smokers don't die of lung cancer, and most of the obese don't have diabetes. But in both cases you are much, much more likely to get the cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.
look at all the BS they put in our foods the fda allows poison into our foods for bribes and we just eat it all up that why i buy from local farmers
Makes me glad they'll be mandated to buy insurance.
And Republican Congressmen and Senators, who work 125 days a year, and get lifetime retirement after 4 years, want YOU to work until 70 or 72 before Social Security because (some) people are living longer! And how about those 40 hour work weeks that became 60 hours (with only 40 paid) because everyone is "exempt" and "highly compensated" these days? How many years of 50 -55 hr weeks add to health declines, just as companies are dropping health plans, insurers are endlessly raising both costs and deductibles, and employers are NOT Funding promised pension plans! Is this any surprise? Capitalism - the race to the bottom (including national health) - except for the top 5%!
I don't know percentage-wise what the bottom of the top 5 percent earns, but for many people, you describe why people have poor health to a T. Cell phones and pagers add to it: how many people now are called at all hours about a work problem, and are not paid for it? We were all told (by Reagan) to have 401K retirement plans instead of pensions, but then the 401Ks were raided twice: in 1987 and in 2008, and what do we do, start over? With no time to do it? And the age has been raised and raised on Social Security because a very few (rich) people live to 100? It doesn't add up, and our generation will live much less time than the previous generation. They want to kill us off with chronic diseases: they got people to stop smoking, so now they have to kill us with genetically modified foods and pollution. Nobody has even mentioned the rise in world-wide leukemia following the nuclear tests of the 1950s and 1960s: that has probably gone way up after Chernobyl and Fukushima, but because of all the other sources of pollution now, nobody will notice.
Universal health, even free health care wont stop Americans from being fat asses, eating huge portions, eating junk food, soda, to much salt and NOT exercising !. Then driving home from the all you can eat buffet only to then sit there obese selves in front of the TV for the rest of the night- God forbid they have to get up to turn the channel. Many of these conditions are self inflicted
There's no such thing as free healthcare. Please stop spewing that myth.
It was sarcasm- . My point IS- that even if there was this nanny state from cradle to grave and your every need was paid for, Americans are FAT and LAZY and we would still have these problems regardless of the health care system
Very true. Universal coverage would be great, and it's something the U.S. should have since anything less is just plain backwards. But where it works best in countries that have healthy lifestyles as well so that preventive care actually has a chance of preventing these chronic "fat-ass" illnesses. On top of that, healthier lifestyles mean lower overall cost of health care. In the U.S. there is no chance of people becoming healthier due to lifestyle. Universal care can still help with costs in the long-term as the population seeks out and treats illness earlier, thereby improving the overall health of society, but without a healthy lifestyle people can't reach their health potential. That being said...50K endurance race this weekend...I can't wait.
Just remember that they smoke a lot more than we do in France, but their life expectancy is longer because they have life-long health care.
Celtic 1 I am not going to be too harsh with my words; I will just state a fact or two for you to mull over... Many overweight people are that way because of MEDICATIONS. Nearly every antidepressant and every other long-term medication have "weight gain" and "hair loss" as common side effects. I know a woman who became depressed because she was having a hard time losing weight after her second child was born... she started seeing a doctor who prescribed antidepressants... her weight was 160 lbs. when she began the antidepressants a little over a year ago... she now weighs almost 300 lbs... she had been petite all of her life until now... grow up a little and stop calling people lazy that you know nothing about...
Untrue. The only thing that makes you gain weight is food. Some diseases may slow your metabolism, others may increase your appetite, but it all comes back to eating
Furthermore, the vast majority of obesity in country comes from unassisted, plain old fashioned pigging out
If you have any evidence to back up your assertion of medication inducing most causes of obesity, Id like to see it
i can tell you what most americans are sick of, that is our republican and democrat leaders, if that is what you call them. i am sick of the republicans stonewalling everything that obama is trying to do. i am sick of the republicans wanting to go to war, they dont care who we go to war with, just so that we send our troops to be killed so that there buddies at haliburton can make trillions. iam sick of the republicans wanting to take away womens rights. i am sick of republicans wanting to do away with medicare, healthcare, medicaid, unions, voting rights for americans, republican rresidents who give amnesty to millions of illegsls. i am sick of republicans running people who are not qualified to be the president of the united states. these are the things that really makes real americans sick. i am sick of the democrats because they dont seem to have any fight in them. the democrats need to kick some of the republicans in the azz and pay no attention to them at all.
I think you're sick from all the kool-aid you've been chugging!