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MyHealthNewsDaily
When asked to name the most urgent health problem currently facing the United States, more people than ever say obesity, a new Gallup poll finds.
Nearly 1 in 6 people (16 percent) say obesity is the country's greatest health problem, up from 1 in 7 (14 percent) earlier this year, and 1 in 100 in 1999, according to the nationally representative poll.
The growing concern is parallel with the rising rates of obesity in the U.S.
However, the top-named concern is access to health care, with 23 percent calling it the nation's most- pressing health problem. Obesity ranks as the third most commonly named problem; the cost of health care ranks second, with 19 percent.
Health care access and cost have been the top two concerns since 2003, according to Gallup. Polls conducted in 2001 named bioterrorism as the top concern, and AIDS topped the list several times during the late 1980s and 1990s.
Ranking fourth in this year's poll, with 13 percent, is cancer.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.7 percent of U.S. adults, and 17 percent of children are obese.
Unless the nation's growing obesity rate is curbed, "it is likely this issue will continue to make its way to the top of Americans' list of the most urgent health problems in the country," Gallup said.
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Since weight does not equate health, tracking a person’s BMI as a “vital sign” doesn’t make sense and only
goes to make the person feel pigeon-holed or stereotyped. If HEALTH is the real concern, I recommend that you investigate Health At Every Size®. NAAFA has created a free brochure geared toward healthcare workers that treat fat patients that can be found at:
For more information on Health At Every Size, you can find the guiding principles at the Association For Size Diversity and Health’s website () or find in-depth research-based information in the book Health At Every Size - The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Dr. Linda Bacon ().
The brochure can be found at naafa.org.
Americans should worry about obesity. Up to two-thirds of our population is overweight. Obesity is very preventable, but people refuse to accept responsibility for their lives and actions. Eat less, exercise more. These two simple concepts can curb the number of overweight people. Bring real physical education back to schools, the kind where students dress in PE clothes and actually engage in physical activities instead of sitting in the bleachers and talking. Families should promote good eating and exercise habits. It's not hard to do.
Obesity confirms the theory of evolution. There is now a new species in the animal kingdom called "Pachydermi Americani."
Reading this article, I am reminded of some jokes I heard on the radio just the other day.Proof that fatism is going strong in this land of milk and honey. How sad Americans still freely practice it openly, even as they gain weight themselves in record numbers. In a number of surveys done, people were willing to go blind, or lose a limb rather then become obese.
Yet making fun and being prejudice against those who are overweight is perfectly acceptable in our society. It is embraced in our culture through the media, politically, in social circles, even within family units. In fact if one doesn't join in on the fun when others are doing it, then that person is seen as weird.And not hiring a person, nor promoting them because of their weight is perfectly legal.
Because everybody knows, fat people are lazy, stupid, ugly, pitifully sad, no good failures who will deserve all the bad things that ever happen to them. They are fat because they are slobs, who stuff their faces, eat way too much and it's all their own fault for being over weight.Right? Not!
While the slender folks are the beautiful,smart, sexy, happy,rich,lucky, hard working, get ahead, successful ones who will get all the great opportunities in life. Right? Not!
Who bothers to care if some of them have medical problems, take medication which made them gain weight, have genes for overweight which runs in the family or through early life experiences their metabolism runs extremely slow, so they store energy super efficiently and can gain weight on 1200 cal a day. People just think that all folks overweight must be just stuffing their faces. Even though some people are eating too much and not exercising.
So it is ironic how many folks are making fun of those overweight.Mostly it is because people don't realize how they themselves look. The mental image doesn't match the reality.People need to take better care of themselves, and judge others less harshly. Starting with letting others know, those fat lady jokes aren't so funny after all, or the fat guy jokes. Just like picking on a race of people to make fun of isn't, nor nationality, or sex orientation.
Prejudice is never acceptable. If one must pick on something pick on the devil.You won't hurt his feelings one bit.While hopefully people start watching their weight.