The Frugal Yankee hopes you had a great Thanksgiving with a lot to be thankful for- good health, good family, good friends, a good job or if you're truly lucky all of the above. As you sat down to eat a great meal did you ogle the mashed potatoes swimming in gravy or pumpkin pie topped with some Ben & Jerry's ice cream? All those great foods with all those not so great calories. Well, here is a little reality cheek, oops, I mean check.
As a nation we are getting fatter and fatter. Yes, I know you've heard this a million times and the constant beating of that drum may be falling on deaf ears. We all know there is serious medical issues which we will all ending paying for, but there is another issue. It's BIG BOTTOMS.
Like the Spinal Tap song, big bottoms can be a turn on for some folks, just don't say that to the airlines or your EMTs. Airlines have had to get bigger seats due to the spreading of the cheeks. Of course, this means other passengers have to pay the added costs.
On a local level, ambulances are being forced to retrofit their emergency equipment to provide the weight challenged safe trips to the hospital. Most vehicles are designed to accommodate people with above average weight, but when it comes to larger people, the gurneys can't handle it and the ambulances themselves may not either. There needs to newer, bigger equipment to handle the extra poundage.
The NY Times recently reported that the number of "calls from obese patients has increased 25% in recent years". Ambulances equipped for obese people costs $40,000 more than the regular ambulance which costs $70,000.
Towns or EMT companies in smaller communities may find that expense a big burden and they may not even be aware of the problem. Additionally, if the communities cannot afford or don't have an ambulance that can safely transport large people, these people may suffer perhaps tragically.
It's an issue spreading across the nation.
So as your mind starts to rationalize how you can eat all that caloric ladened food, think. Is that once cute tushy now a big problem, a big bottom?
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Comments: 4
Talk about bum cakes, my girl's got 'em . . ."
So "This Is Spinal Tap" did more than entertain, it also foretold the future of a big, big, big problem.
Talking to one obese friend, she said it made her feel powerful, physically strong, to be fat, and she said that I was a weakling to her because I was so skinny. Nevermind that I actually was physically stronger than she was because I exercised a lot more, and mentally much stronger than she was because I had more self-discipline and self-control, she just felt stronger than me because she was a lot bigger than me, pound for pound, about twice my weight. Now isn't THAT a comment about perceptions and self-perceptions.
She ate more, made herself fatter intentionally, because she wanted to "keep up with the Jones" of rising obesity in America. She didn't feel powerful when she was physically smaller than somebody else, and obesity was something that she could do, something that she had control over, to level the playing field. When she was diagnosed with diabetes II, she still didn't diet to anything less than twice my weight (twice her own ideal weight) because she honestly did not want to become a skinny weakling even to save her own life. But she did cut out the sugar-laden donuts and started eating more vegetables.
Over-eating is merely a symptom, not the cause, of rising obesity in America. And until the root cause is dealt with and treated correctly, the symptom will never go away.