Tag Archives: healthcare

Obesity Caused By Over Eating? Not So Fast.

Coming out soon is a book that Gary Taubes, a New York City journalist has written called The Diet Delusion by Vermilion. In it he writes that obesity is not simply eating too many calories but the abnormal effect on ones hormones. Taube wrote in the recent New Scientist magazine (January 19-25th, 2008) that “There is considerable evidence that the obesity epidemic is caused by a hormonal phenomenon, specifically by the consumption of refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars, all of which prompt (sooner or later) excessive insulin secretion.”

Furthermore, he skewers many in the diet industry by saying “Obesity researchers, nutritionists and health authorities have refused to contemplate this scenario, partly because it would imply that diet-book doctors advocating carbohydrate-restricted diets – Robert Atkins et al – were right all along. Instead, these alleged experts and guardians of our health have wasted a good part of a century on research based on a high-school misconception, watching their compatriots grow ever fatter while blaming everyone but themselves. In the process, they have created a field of clinical medicine that functions more like a religion than a science. It is time to put science back in charge.”

I agree with him that hormones are at the root of obesity but I want to add something he hasn’t looked at (or at least I don’t think he has which is the effect of environmental toxins on hormones and obesity. To me, it is the very cornerstone of why the world is getting fat. Toxins like phthalates, bisphenol A, benzene, toluene, and xylene, all have been shown to have an effect on hormones. Heavy metals which can also interfere with hormones as well so just putting the blame on bad carbohydrates, is only part of the story.  I highly suggest reading the article in the New Scientist and getting a subscription while you’re at it.

Veto Spending by the Democrats but Not the Republicans

I find it quite unbelievable that President Bush would veto the SCHIPs insurance bill to help people pay for medical care for children because it’s too expensive but when the Republican’s were in control and spending money like drunken sailors on their last day on dry land, he didn’t seem to worry about our money. When Senator Ted Stevens (R) of Alaska put a multi-million dollar appropriation for a bridge in the middle of Alaska that would have served around 100 people; the President didn’t use his line-item veto power to save us money. No this self-proclaimed “compasionate conservative” who would watch over our money and bring back fiscal responsibility, is the most politically motivated President we have ever had.
If a Republican wants to spend billions of tax payer dollars is that somehow different than when a Democrat does it? Apparently. Giving billions and billions of dollars to the pharmaceutical industry via the Medicare reform bill which stopped negotiated pricing for drugs is okay but spend the same money to help insure children isn’t? Compassionate? You be the judge.
Spend hundreds of billions of dollars on wars in foreign countries is ok, but helping our citizens live better lives is not ok. Enrich Halliburton but not our citizens is what this administration is all about. Corporate handouts, not aid to the people.
How can any self-proclaimed Republican or conservative stand by and not ask for his immediate resignation? No wonder recent polls show that Americans are not optimistic about our future. We don’t think we’re moving forward because we’re not. Our once great nation has seen the most disastrous Presidency’s ever.

Bush Vetoes Bill for Child Health Care and Goes Back on Campaign Promise – Again!

In a not too surprising action today, President Bush, decided to once again break a campaign promise he made in 2004 in order to continue to fatten the wallets of his supporters in big business.  His veto of an expansion of the Child Health Insurance Bill wasn’t just about “fiscal responsibility” he and his fellow Republicans who supported his veto claim. It was also about removing mercury from vacines. He claimed it would cost too much. To whom?  The pharmaceutical industry with it multi-billion dollar profits?  Of course. Who pays for this? The poor and lower middle class.

In 2004, President Bush said:

“I support the removal of Thimerosal from vaccines on the childhood national vaccine schedule. During a second term as President, I will continue to support increased funding to support a wide variety of research initiatives aimed at seeking definitive causes and/or triggers of autism. It is important to note that while there are many possible theories about causes or triggers of autism, no one material has been definitely included or excluded.”

He went back on that campaign promise which will allow the further poisoning of children. You might say that there was a paper published that said that thimerasol used in vaccines was safe wasn’t there?  Look down a few articles back and see my comments on that horrendous “study” (they called it a study, I call it drivel).

I am a firm believer in cutting back on a bloated government, but not when it comes to health care for children. It is my hope that Congress overturns this veto and shows that they care about our children. This trend of subsidizing big business on the backs of the poor and middle class needs to stop now.

EDIT: I want to add something here about Bush’s reasoning behind his veto. He claims that it would allow people who make over $83,000 to get coverage for their kids. According to this blog, that’s just a lie.

Health Care Reform – Reform Ourselves First

We continue to hear politicians running for President yap about health care reform and how our system is broken and doesn’t help millions of Americans which, on the surface is true, but they refuse to acknowledge another real dillema and that is the need for tens of millions of Americans to reform themselves first. The explosion of type II diabetes in our country is not due to the high cost of medical insurance, it is due to us eating too much fast food, drinking too much soda and thinking that exercise is the use of a remote control and standing up to go to the fridge to get a beer.

We can easily blame the food industry who sells us items they call food but we make our own decisions and many of them are obviously wrong. As I walk through Costco or Wall-Mart and look at the shopping carts of people who are so obese that they waddle, I notice very little in real food. Mostly I see chips, sodas, frozen pre-made meals, and all other sorts of junk with little in the way of fresh or healthy foods. These are the same people who we have to pay for when their open heart surgeries are done, when they line up at the pharmacy to fill their 5 or 6 prescriptions that cover up their decades of unhealthy living.

You want to eat junk, pay higher premiums. You want health care, act like it means something. When it comes to adults, we need to force people to accept responsibility for their actions. For children, we need to give them universal health care and health education.  If their parents won’t change, teach the children to. If we don’t, our society will eat itself out of existance. What the terrorists outside our country want to do to us, we are already well on our way to doing to ourselves.