[hsieh]

i saw briefly on discovery health last night people who weigh like 900 pounds and they said they are addicted to food the way smokers are addicted to nicotine. how about this - if it's mandatory to exercise to get health insurance how about it's mandatory not to be a ciggarette smoker to get insurance?

[SoldierNurse]

Originally Posted by cougarnurse

Mag, does that include those who are in ROTC? Over here, ROTC takes the place of PE.

My son is an Army ROTC Cadet at the University of Houston. They do a lot PT [Physical Training], as well as APFT's [Army Physical Fitness Tests]. So, yes ROTC [at least in college] easily takes the place of PE. Regards to Jr. ROTC in high school, I'm not familiar with their training regimen.

[SoldierNurse]

Originally Posted by hsieh

i saw briefly on discovery health last night people who weigh like 900 pounds and they said they are addicted to food the way smokers are addicted to nicotine. how about this - if it's mandatory to exercise to get health insurance how about it's mandatory not to be a ciggarette smoker to get insurance?

No problem. In fact, I almost included a no smoking policy in my original post. BTW, some health insurance companies give reduce rates to non-smokers.

[SoldierNurse]

Originally Posted by Ricu

Hey Mag,
...More to the point of this reply and what is really troublling to me is that as a national standard, public schools are not serving healthy meals in the cafeteria and optimal physical fitness is not taught as a goal. We know that lifestyle conditioning starts at an early age and while the school cannot directly impact what happens in the home, it can set up a way of thinking that will have an impact on the student. These students will have a far better chance of making healthy choices if they are educated properly.

R

Here is a sentence from my original post; "PE should be a mandatory requirement at ALL levels of education"

I will add healthy living should be taught at an early age and supported in the home, too. Healthy living includes a well balanced diet, exercise, proper amount of sleep, etc. Education for children must be a co-op effort between the school system & the home.

[Ricu]

Hi folks,

I'm with you on the matter of smoking too.

It is my belief that our lifestyle promotes addictive behavior. In our "Right Now!" culture of plenty, we become accustomed to immediate gratification which accompanies our relative ease of living. When we encounter hardship or something proves challenging, we find we cannot cope with the frustration or disappointment. We are thwarted. Coping with anything is a foreign concept. Working through challenges to meet with success takes time, patience and effort, also foreign concepts. Naturally, as is our societal need for immediate, we rely on immediate escape whether it is chemical, physical, emotional, or all of the above.

We live in a quick fix society and seem to be paying the price.

Just a few more thoughts.

R

[hsieh]

working in health care and psych with insurance companies (including medicade) paying so much it's become an industry to treat people who in the old days they would say - be courageous, or be self sufficient. my dad os 71. he no longer likes to sub teach because he says the kids are to spoiled. he said when he was a kid you didn't get in trouble at school because that meant you got in trouble or a spanking when you got home. now when kids get in trouble their parents defend them. psychiatrists make their bread and butter these days off people who back in the old days wouldn't be seing a psychiatrist. SOME of what tom cruise says about psych is true.

[Ricu]

Originally Posted by hsieh

working in health care and psych with insurance companies (including medicade) paying so much it's become an industry to treat people who in the old days they would say - be courageous, or be self sufficient. my dad os 71. he no longer likes to sub teach because he says the kids are to spoiled. he said when he was a kid you didn't get in trouble at school because that meant you got in trouble or a spanking when you got home. now when kids get in trouble their parents defend them. psychiatrists make their bread and butter these days off people who back in the old days wouldn't be seing a psychiatrist. SOME of what tom cruise says about psych is true.

Hmm, I wish I could say that what you say surprises me but it doesn't. What you write brings something to mind. A few replies ago, I almost went onto a tangent about how many of the common afflictions that plague our society today, like the ones that we're talking about right now morph into disabiling conditions. Hypothetically, let's suggest that an individual for one reason or another, manifests one of these "disease" processes. (S)he then goes to a physician for treatment most of which requires the individual to adhere to a program of lifestyle and diet changes. We know these are difficult things to do and said individual doesn't want to undergo the uncomfortable transformation. "Isn't there a pill I can take? What about those diet pills? Can I have something for sleep? I saw this ad on TV... What about my nerves? Got a pill for that? More quick fix things. The list goes on. The individual fails to comply, returns to the physician in no better health, develops depression, develops fibromyalgia and then is pronounced disabled. The physician files the necessary forms and it's done. Too bad the individual frequently is around 30-40 years old and will spend the rest of his or her life collecting a check to operate the system. It's become a career option.

I realize that there are people out there with bonafide disabilities but there are many more who have developed what I will call "western lifestyle syndrome." This is a real affliction but the treatment shouldn't be Medicaid,Paxil, OxyContin, Xanax, and the remote control.

R

[hsieh]

i went off on a tangent. i would never criticize a kid like that. my posts were aimed at adult behavior. i'm not implying anybody else is criticizing kids we all just went off on a tangent it looks like.

[Ricu]

Originally Posted by hsieh

i went off on a tangent. i would never criticize a kid like that. my posts were aimed at adult behavior. i'm not implying anybody else is criticizing kids we all just went off on a tangent it looks like.

I understood that you were focused on adult behavior. My comments are as well. I think that we all clearly see how the patterns of behavior established in childhood affect the individual in adulthood.

R

[hsieh]

we establish behavior in childhood by what we're taught by the adult world. unless you're raised by wolves.