I don't think the medical professionals (along with all the diet experts)have a clue about why Americans are not only getting fatter all the time, but also why most diets don't work.

Now that I'm officially a senior citizen, I have put a few more inches around my waistline.  But I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about all the YOUNG people who are obese or close to it.  

Something is going on and I don't think we can blame it on McDonald's etc.

It's a rare day when I think the Federal Trade Commission has actually performed a valuable public service and lived up to its motto, "For the Consumer." But last week, the agency charged with protecting us from unscrupulous marketers (among other corporate aggression) released a landmark report on food marketing to children. At the request of Congress, FTC subpoenaed 44 food and beverage companies to find out just how much money is spent targeting youth with food marketing. While the recommendations are worthless (more on that later), the data is priceless.

Building on last week's provocative Wall Street Journal Article, FOX reports:

REPORT: OBAMA'S SLIM BUILD COULD TURN OFF PORTLY VOTERS

Forget arrogance, Barack Obama is just too skinny to be president.

That’s the assertion put forth in an article by The Wall Street Journal, which reported Friday that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee may be turning off voters by refusing to chow down at every pit stop on the campaign trail. The newspaper notes that 66 percent of the voting-age population is overweight — while 32 percent fits the definition of obese — and that could be hurting Obama.

Filed under "Oh for the love of G-d," the Wall Street Journal reports:

In a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them.

On first look, you’d think the Wall Street Journal was kidding, but the author goes on to attempt a serious argument:

Here's some news to make you put down that sausage biscuit and and go for a jog this morning.

By 2030 nearly nine of every 10 adult Americans will be either overweight or obese. This is the finding of a new survey by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“National survey data show that the prevalence of overweight and obese adults in the U.S. has increased steadily over the past three decades,” said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition. “If these trends continue, more than 86 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by 2030 with approximately 96 percent of non-Hispanic black women and 91 percent of Mexican-American men affected. This would result in 1 of every 6 health care dollars spent in total direct health care costs paying for overweight and obesity-related costs.”

This dairy is only tangentially about politics but what the heck, it seems like everyone is traveling to Austin, except the Dog and you gentle readers, so let’s do something a little different. The Dog started cooking at about 12 years of age when his Grandmother told him that he would be making dinner that night. The immediate complaint was that the Dog did not know how to cook. Being the hard as nails Irish matriarch that Herself is, she pulled a cook book out and said, "if you can read, you can cook!". Ever since then the Dog has been a devotee of the way of the sauce pan.

So it was a beautiful saturday and my husband and I went to a lovely restaurant on the Harbor. The place has windows that look out onto the water, boats and a large group of sea mammals (mostly sea lions) who play and fight and chase boats for scraps. Birds of all types fly around. The level of activity at the port is like having a meal and a show.

We are dressed for success and interacting with other tourists. The day was perfect. But then something awful happened. The establishment has communal seating on the window tables so everyone may enjoy the view. You can be seated with other parties without permission. My husband and I had a 8 seat table to ourselves and the lunch rush hit. I was shocked and almost choked my food when the waitress sat an obese woman and a very retarded boy at the tabe with us. I tried my best to look the other way and not stare. My husband and I finished what we could of our meal and paid and left as quickly as possible. Why would someone seat such folks with normal people?

You know you live in a decadent country when basic facts of life are greeted with jeers and calls for excommunication from the realm like Paul Krugman is getting pilloried for his recent NYT piece on oil price inflation. Here's the deal folks, oil is priced in dollars and to bail out the U.S. banking system America's central bank is flooding the market with record amounts of dollars. What happens when too many dollars chase too few barrels of oil? Well, believe it or not, the price of oil goes up. Now this is not a political statement. This is a statement of fact. Speculators in the oil market (and the agriculture market) are a mere subset of the irresponsible credit expansion crazy people who run the Fed. And yes, the world has hit 'peak oil.' All three of the biggest oil fields in the world are now in decline. Demand for oil is rising toward 100mn. barrels a day, while production has peaked at around 86 mn. barrels a day. Too much money chasing too few barrels means the price goes up. And the Chinese are happy to pay. Seems simple enough...

This was a bit of a paraphrase to what I just heard from Tim Russert's doctor who was just interviewed on MSNBC about 30 minutes ago.  They are haunting words to me, because unfortunately I hear this from other patients in my health care field (physical therapy) all the time, including a patient who recently passed away from a heart attack as well.  

I've also just recently found out that my grandmother and father-in-law both have congestive heart failure, which isn't the same as the heart problem Mr. Russert passed away from, but is still a heart disease problem nonetheless.  What's more, many of the complications that result from their disease can be reduced if not eliminated if they were to simply follow a few better healthy guidelines - better eating and a little exercise (yes, even my 89 year old grandmother can do a little, as prescribed by her doctor).

This post originally appeared on EquityBlog and was written by Rajni Banthia, a senior associate with the PolicyLink Center for Health and Place

The obesity crisis is spreading worldwide. Obesity and related chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer- once deemed the preserve of industrialized nations - are now major health problems in developing countries as well. In 2000, the world’s population reached a milestone when for the first time in recorded history, the number of adults with excess weight surpassed the number of those who are underweight.

More after the jump....

Bush bashing is all the rage on DK, but if people are able to really be fair-minded, they will have to admit that he has done a lot for the average American citizen during his reign.

Let's look at some major American problems, shall we? And try to suspend your cynicism and open your liberal minds for a few minutes. Who knows, you might learn something.

And before we begin, also remember that you can't judge your insides by other people's outsides. Just because Bush looks like he doesn't get bothered by all the low ratings, being misunderstood and Bush bashing doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings. Can't we have Compassionate Liberalism?

THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try to make a positive change in my personal life (as opposed to the activist types of changes I usually try to make for everyone else).  I decided that I wanted to visit a nutritionist in order to improve my diet and lose weight. Logical, I thought, since I am now officially obese.

So, I made an appointment with my primary care physician who confirmed that I am indeed obese. She ordered a battery of tests and referred me to a nutritionist.

Then I did what any fiscally responsible individual would try to do. I called my insurance company to see if they would cover nutritional counselling.

Special Note - I did not write this but felt obligated to post it here.  It's very well written and relevant.  I've seen very few postings here in this election season about riding a bike as an alternative to driving a car.  In addition, May is "Bike to Work Month."  

This was written by Scott McKinney and cross-posted at http://www.cyclefolsom.com  
A direct link to the source piece is found here: http://www.cyclefolsom.com/...

*****I have his written permission to use this material here*****

Scott is a regular bike commuter here in the Sacramento, and puts close to 10,000 miles on his bike on an annual basis.  Here's what Scott has to say:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
There’s an old fable that claims if you drop a frog into boiling water he will immediately jump free – the
shock of sudden change to cold-blood causing "flight." However, if you put a frog in cold water and slowly increase the temperature, he will gradually get comfortable with the heat until he boils alive.
Stupid frog.

Asthma has been on my mind lately, because a child in my extended family was recently diagnosed with it after going to the hospital for respiratory problems. The chronic disease is one of the leading causes of hospitalization in children.

In addition, at least 20 million American adults are estimated to have asthma.

Yesterday was World Asthma Day, in connection with Asthma Awareness Month.

Join me after the jump to read about five policies our society should implement, as well as five steps individuals can take, to reduce the incidence and severity of asthma in our households and across the country.

   Is there a connection between non-disease obesity and learning in the classroom and at home?  I think so.  The number one culprit is laziness.  The number two culprit is not enough time to prepare healthy foods for the family when everybody is working multiple jobs.  Let's see how these two factors can affect a child's learning behavior.

StrangeAnimals has posted the latest in the Thursday Night Health Care series, an outstanding contribution on preventing childhood obesity.  This problem is epidemic in our society, and threatens to shorten the lives of millions of Americans who just happen to be shorter than most of us right now.

The advice in this excellent diary isn't just for kids, either.  All of us with a bit more upholstery than we might prefer can benefit from the wisdom Dr. StrangeAnimals offers.

Head on over and check it out.  You and a little person near you might be glad you did.

*THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series*

Today in this country one out of every five meals eaten by children is a fast food meal. Combine this with the knowledge that American children spend an average of almost five hours each day in front of some sort of screen, and it should come as no surprise that the percentage of overweight and obese children has tripled in just the past twenty-five years.

Roughly one-third of American children are now overweight or obese. Minority children, and children from poor households, are even more likely to tip the scales. Today’s generation of children is facing the likelihood of being the first in modern history to live shorter life spans than their parent’s. This is nothing less than a national tragedy in slow motion.

Once rare in children, one-fourth of new cases of type 2 diabetes are now diagnosed under age 21. Of children born in 2000, one in three are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetime; nearly one in two if a person of color. What are we doing to our children?

I have often wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic we seem to be having, worldwide, and if so, could it be related to the equally massive injection of flavors into our food, particularly MSG. The answer is maybe, in fact quite possibly.

Have you noticed that pharmaceutical companies are spending millions of dollars developing glutamate blockers with which to fight neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's disease, while the glutes are pouring (often hidden) processed glutamate (MSG) into our food? Their answer to this: the glutamate industry claims that glutamic acid and aspartic acid are natural components of protein and, therefore, cannot be harmful.  What they fail to mention is that when glutamic acid and aspartic acid are freed from protein through a manufacturing process, they will invariably be accompanied by contaminants.  If the manufacturing process used to free amino acids from protein is acid hydrolysis, carcinogenic propanols will be included as contaminants.