The blog Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review came our with an interesting write-up on the troubling epidemic about obesity and the pressure it is putting on our health care system. As a lecturer in the field of health and obesity I have seen how our nation has become lazy and unwilling to do what is necessary to take back our health. Health care practitioners I lecture too have expressed utter frustration when trying to get people to change their habits. They just don’t want to be bothered. They would rather take a drug, or pop a few vitamins under the assumption that is all that is necessary to help them get healthy.

Health should be defined as not just the absence of disease but as the vibrance that comes with optimal health. We need to stop having the mind set that we don’t need to be responsible for our own health and that of our children. Making those who abuse their bodies by overeating, not exercising and having bad health habits pay more for their health care is the first step in reversing the growing obesity trend. If you want to abuse yourself, it will cost you more.

I don’t want to continue to pay higher and higher medical insurance bills for those of you who refuse to take care of themselves. That is a form of welfare that I am tired of supporting. Many of those people would scream and yell if they had to pay for people on welfare but would think nothing of taking subsidies from people who actually try to keep themselves healthy.