So I was cruising the web, looking for a picture of an elderly woman on a motorized scooter, for a blog post I had planned on healthcare reform. Tonight I read an article about a man's finger getting bitten off at a recent rally for health care reform when a senior citizen and another man threw down. Anyhow, I was going to title the post, Hell on Wheels and discuss how out of hand things have gotten when we really need to be solving a serious and critical issue as a nation.
All that went out the window when during my search for a suitable scooter image, I stumbled upon a strange and fascinating site called ScooterFatties.info. Apparently the mission of this blog is to collect pictures of obese people riding motorized scooters. I really tried to look away, to not click my mouse again and look beyond the first post but the lure was unexplainable.
I find it disturbing that our solution to obesity involves giving people a motorized chair with wheels that enables them to walk the absolute minimum number of steps possible. I do understand that obesity leads to complicating conditions making it difficult to walk. Wouldn't it be more fitting for an obese person's health insurance to pay for a nutritionist and personal trainer for a three month conditioning and weight loss program? In the long run it would be much less expensive for their insurance than a scooter and continued obesity. Obesity is a chronic condition that must be managed. The costs to society are great; because of obesity the current generation will be the first one projected to have a shorter life span than their parents. Obesity also rivals smoking with regard to costs in health care spending. The healthcare costs of obesity have doubled in the last decade to 147 billion in 2008.
When I was pregnant I was confined to bed rest for ten weeks and only allowed out of bed for a brief shower or to use the rest room. Six of those weeks were spent in a hospital room with only fluorescent lights and no access to the natural world. I can tell you honestly that it was the worst challenge I have ever been through in my life. After my children were born the first thing I wanted to do was get moving. Within four weeks I was running slowly around my neighborhood, earning an evil eye from my OB who nonetheless said he knew better than to say no. I never wanted to be confined again and it was beautiful to be free, to run outside in the fresh air and have a body that was no longer a prison. I try to share the joy of moving with my family, just to have a healthy body is a gift that we have a responsibility to care for and love. I know one day my kids will want to watch more TV and play video games but I hope they always have the joy of movement.
Get up and move while you can.
