#I'm back
8 messages in this thread
I'm getting some early uneasy tremors from the current goings-on here over
creating a national health policy, which the U.S. alone of industrial nations
has never had as a universal thing (it exists, but only for the poor and the
badly handicapped). Instead of just letting well enough alone and doing a
decent national insurance scheme, they're talking about using it to improve
behavior and force people to be healthier. It's been suggested that large
surtaxes might be in order for people who are overweight, or drink, or smoke,
or aren't on a recognized exercise regimen, or whatever. They do that and it'll
never pass, but you can see the thinking.
Jack,
Of course, all the fat, alcoholic, smokers who _never_ make a claim won't get
any refund either, while all those who do 'all the _right_ things(ie what Big
Brother wants them to do' yet are in hospital frequently won't get penalised at
all.
BTW I'm not overweight(yet<g> one of these days I'll get caught out, but my
weight doesn't change irrespective of what I eat), but everything else I do is
'wrong' <g>
Adrian
There is medical evidence up the kazoo that weight is caused primarily by
genes; fat folks were the ones who survived the periodic famines. The largest
percentage any of the dozens of research projects has come up with for
PSYCHOLOGICAL obesity is about 15%; alas, that's large enough to make a
missionary corps. In the other 85%, the less you eat the quicker your body
switches to starvation mode in which the entire metabolism changes to become
much more efficient so more can be stored. That's why diets tend to hit walls
after the water's lost, and why weight gain is so dramatic in most people who
lose a lot of weight within 2 years of going off the diet. Only exercise really
can change the body's set point; other than that, you just must pick your
parents more carefully.
I've always been a very large person and it's never bothered me, although
it bothers other people sometimes. The others it bothers are people I'd just
assume not associate with. My parents DID endow me with congenital LOW blood
pressure, too, so my capacity for pressure-raising caffiene is almost infinite
and I don't have the baggage everybody assumes with large people. In fact, I
believe I will one day lose my left arm to prejudiced nurses who insist on
taking my blood pressure four or five times because they simply can't believe
that a large person can have low blood pressure. Naturally, by that time my
arm's numb and I'm screaming at them and that tends to raise my pressure to
almost normal so they're happy.
I often wondered how many earlier deaths by overweight people are due to
the stress placed on them by others rather than from anything they themselves
consume. Poor Bill Clinton–I can't jog a lick, this fellow jogs a couple of
miles every day and is hardly winded, and the reporters who are gasping for
breath keeping up with him don't hesitate to criticize him for eating well and
being a tad over the insurance company weight norms! If you don't smoke, don't
drink, and jog 5km a day with ease, you're in very good shape no matter what
else they may say.
More than once I've thought of the current generation as ones so terrified
of dying and so fixated on the superficial that they don't know how to live.
Jack,
>> kazoo ?? <– Americanism<g>, no idea what this means
I'm an inch under 6 feet tall and weigh 140 pounds. The most exercise I get is
walking the 6 flights of steps from my flat to my car<bg>. The most I've _ever_
weighed was ten and a half stone, but it _was_ Christmas<ebg>
>> low blood pressure
I've never had my blood pressure measured. Could this be why I drink a _large_
quantity of coffee every day (other than that it tastes nice<g>)?
I live for today. After all I can get killed crossing the street any time.
Probably more chance of dying that way than any other.
Adrian
>>kazoo ??<<
Adrian:
Also known as wazoo, among about 150 others. Common British euphamism:
bum.
It is also the name for a toy wind instrument into which one hums a
tune–sort of like wax paper on a comb. Also a fond contraction for a city in
Michigan: Kalamazoo.
-Ed
Ed,
Thanks for the explanation. These 'foreign' words catch me out occasionally,
although I should be getting used to them by now as I've been on CI$ nearly
every day for over 2 years<bg>
Adrian
You must have a heck of a CI$ bill, I'd say!
Sorry about the slang; I don't think "bum" is the proper comparative,
though. Up the kazoo means generally up to your neck or not only more of
something than you needed but more than you ever wanted, usually applied to
something less than normally welcome in the first place.
As I say, picking you parents has a lot to do with things as well. You
really ought to get your blood pressure checked once or twice a year; you have
certainly had it taken when you went to a doctor for something–it's something
every single GP or clinic I've ever been in, including ones in Europe, do
routinely whether you need it or not. However, high blood pressure is a killer
with no symptoms whatsoever and can hit anyone at any age. Having it checked
regularly is a good idea, particularly as you get older. Even if you discover
that you, too, have low blood pressure you will be able to put that out of the
way. May also explain the coffee. Have it checked BEFORE the coffee, by the
way.
Jack,
I try not to think too much about my CI$ bill<bg>, otherwise I'd probably lie
awake screaming<ebg>
Well, I hardly ever go to the doctor<g>. I think I've been twice in the last 20
years<g>, and one of those was for a vaccination.
Dentists are different. I've had to go to the dentist a lot. Seems I get away
with the 6 monthly checkups for about 2 years, then a spate of being at the
dentist every week for 3 months, then the cycle starts again.
Adrian