You�re going to have to excuse me for a moment, because I�m about to go on a very judgemental rampage. Every morning I scan the headlines on CNN and Yahoo! News to see what�s going on in the world. As a general rule, I ignore the politics articles simply because it seems like a pointless waste of time to read them. Candidate A slings mud at Candidate B, etc. Plus, a lot of the headlines are so sensational as to grab people�s attention to the fact that the economy is in the crapper [well, no duh] and that Medicare costs tons of money and will be bankrupt by 2019.
Yes, Medicare is going to need a major overhaul, especially after the amount of money that Bushie has thrown into it in his overhaul. What does this mean to me? It means that I�m going to have to pay even more out of my check to help support the retiring baby-boomers.
There�s not much that can be done about that aspect. It�s simple math. There�s a lot of people who are going to retire relatively soon, and not enough people in the workforce to support them. However, that should also encourage the economy because of the job openings that are created.
That�s not the part that I have the problem with.
The part that I have the problem with hit me when I was swimming laps at the gym after meeting with my trainer. As usual, the pool area was filled with very overweight middle aged people who sit around like sloths in the hot tub. I don�t think that they go upstairs to the cardio/weights area�at all.
Why does this piss me off? It�s simple. Medicare is going to go broke not only because of the amount of people retiring, but also because of all of the diseases that they�re going to have due to the fact that 60% of adults are overweight.
Here�s where I get judgemental�.
Yes, the food industry and the government didn�t always have our best interests at heart when coming up with dietary guidelines. I remember back in elementary school being told that eating 6-11 pieces of bread a day would make me lose weight. Today, that advice is blasphemous. So, yeah, not everyone always knew that white bread was bad for you. However, who in the hell ever thought that McDonalds would be good for you?
What is so hard about not stuffing your face every single day with too much junk food? Okay, yeah, some people eat really well and carry around a few extra pounds�that�s part of life. I�m talking about the people who are 40+ lbs overweight. I�m talking about people who are obese. I shouldn�t have to pay extra taxes to help you take care of your diabetes that could have been preventable if you decided to drink less soda and more water. Pretty soon, people are going to be saying, �What�s a carrot?� with the amount of artery clogging shit that they stuff in their face every day.
It�s quite simple. Vegetables and fruits are good for you. Saturated fat is not. Whole grain bread is good for you. High fructose corn syrup is not.
I�m not going to pretend that I have all of the answers on how to eat properly, but I have a pretty decent idea. And someone tell me what is so hard about getting your ass out of the hot tub and walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes?
Why shouldn't I get a tax write-off because I choose to take care of myself? I attend a gym. I have a trainer, but because I�m not overweight or obese, I can�t write it off. Meanwhile, some of the obese people sign up for the gym, write it off their taxes, and never leave the hot tub.
I�m going to go broke with the amount of taxes it�s going to cost to cover the health care of the soon-to-be retirees and it�s all because they�d rather watch 4 hours of TV a day than go for a walk.
