$344 Billion by 2018. Stop the Pussyfooting...

If obesity really will cost us $344 Billion by 2018, as yesterday's stunning report says, where's our state of emergency?

Are we refusing to address obesity due to implications on the Economy? Food/Bev/Pharma would all suffer if Americans ate right. But the economics have shifted grossly when the rest of us have to pay a $344 Billion Obesity Bailout.

We're at the point where 75% of our youth are unfit for military service. It's time to stop debating a baked chip vs. fried. It's time to really do what it takes to reverse obesity...and nobody's gonna like it. But can we afford to continue letting industry decide? Big Tobacco isn't at the table determining how to curb smoking. Why are Pepsi, Coke and Kellogg's at the table when it comes to obesity policy?

We need the soda tax, we need calories on menu boards, we need School Wellness Policies enforced around the country, we need formula pushers out of the ob/gyn offices and breast-feeding perks in, we need junk food out of daycare centers, we need more obesity-related diseases classified as "elective," we need to finally stop advertising junk food to kids (debated since the Carter administration!), we need affordable and easily accessible produce, we need clean, safe and abundant public recreational facilities, we need to stop freshly minting new fat kids everyday...

And we DON'T need to give special legal protection to the obese, as they have in Michigan...and are demanding in Massachusetts. Why should employers be forced to hire expensive employees who are so predominantly by lifestyle choice? Harassment and Disability laws are already on the books. Obese is the dominant population in the U.S., followed by Overweight. So the overwhelming majority--a majority of habitual improper eaters--are now demanding special treatment from the measly minority of us who exercise daily and eat right..?

This is a crisis. Sorry the name isn't as scary as "Swine Flu," but yes, President Obama, this is a crisis we can't afford now, and certainly can't afford the price tag coming our way as the majority of us succumb to decades of obesity-induced chronic disease.

Stop pussyfooting around. We need an Obesity Czar, (I'm available). We need a member from every cabinet office with a plan on how to reverse this crisis right now. Not one single more child should become fat on your watch, Sir--OUR watch.

Obama Likes Soft Drink Tax--Men's Health

It's gonna happen. Not much of a bold prediction since 40 states already tax candy, soft drinks, etc. But this newer, bigger tax on sweetened soft drinks is coming, and coming fast. Even the Congressional Budget Office is playing with the numbers and estimates a modest 3 cent tax per every 12 oz will yield $50 Billion over a decade...

We need help paying for this $147 Billion obesity bailout. Soft drinks are ubiquitous and nonessential--they're just ingestible entertainment. They also are linked to a whole host of health problems and they're the number one, single source of calories in the American diet. Gross.

The average man in the U.S. drinks 341 calories in sweetened drinks per day. If he'd dump the soft drinks and opt for water, he'd drop 30 lbs by this time next year.

As for kids. If you love them don't serve them soda. Period. Once they're adults, they can decide whether or not the consequences are worth it.

Just did an appearance on FOX Business Network with Brian Sullivan and Dagan McDowell an hour ago on this topic. (Check it out.) Seems the Libertarians are tired of picking up the paycheck for elective illness, and that's what many of today's leading illnesses have become. If you eat yourself into cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, it's your right. It's also your bill.

As for me, I represent the 8% of us who eat right, exercise daily, don't smoke, and drink only moderately if at all. Our future health outcomes are unknown just like anyone. But our effort to live a life "compliant to health" increases our odds of enjoying just that--health. If not, we've done what we can and deserve top notch care and reasonable costs associated with that care.

But our piddly 8% can't offset the 92% not even trying. No health-care plan can.

Michelle and Barack Obama tell the October 2009 Men's Health, Women's Health and Children's Health magazines they exercise regularly, eat right and don't serve their children sugary soft drinks. How 'bout we start keepin' up with the Obamas..? (not that smoking part of course...)