Originally Posted by Mikebert

Our weight loss story appears in the Huffington Post. My wife's doctor did take her off the beta blocker and the HDL came up. She's is great shape now and looks great!

Oh, congratulations! That's wonderful!

Originally Posted by Mikebert

Our weight loss story appears in the Huffington Post. My wife's doctor did take her off the beta blocker and the HDL came up. She's is great shape now and looks great!

You both look great! Congratulations.

I am slowly losing weight, but it's time to step up the physical activity. I'm doing Pilates again, but need to do it more often.

My personal response is, who cares about health care? Nothing will make any difference for those that are really being ignored by this system. Sure it's annoying for that rare emergency room trip you may make once or twice in a lifetime, but what about people who legitimately need medication every day. People with legitimate disorders who need medication still won't get the medication they need regardless of having some arbitrary "health care plan" or "health insurance." As an epileptic who needs medication daily, I find the opinion of most people on the subject of health care very disheartening.

And another thing, people assume that people like me want health insurance. I don't want fucking health insurance at ALL, ever in a million years. I think that's a total scam. Scam someone into getting insurance for some disease they may have a 2% chance of getting in the future, what rubbish. I don't want health insurance because I may have a heart attack like...30 years from now. The entire insurance industry is built on scaring the crap out of people into making them insure themselves. (when it may not even be necessary at all). If I had a choice it would be to not participate in this irrational insurance mania we've driven our country toward. Not just the patients but the doctors too and the companies that support hospitals, pay for technology, etc...Why do you think their prices are SO high! I used to have an "old fashioned" country doctor as a child. He charged 15 dollars a visit. That's because he didn't waste your hard earned money on saving his own ass from his own mistakes. Sorry but if you're a doctor and you make a mistake...you should most definitely pay for it...and with jail time. This idea that we can buy ourselves out of paying for something we're responsible for, is disgusting to me. If you're a doctor and someone dies from your mistakes, that's just sick.

As for our country's health...well it's obvious that our real problem is eating things from boxes and laboratories rather than naturally occurring foods. I'm not saying we all have to eat wheat germ, but if you think the increase in High Fructose Corn Syrup in our diet in the late 70s-present isn't directly correlated with the rising obesity rates during that same period than I think you're in denial or crazy. I also think these processed foods have a correlation with the rising cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autism rates we've seen. When we stop mutating our diets, we'll stop mutating ourselves.

Leaving salt and red meat out of your diet is significantly safer than eat wheat bread with High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, imo. You don't have to eat fish everyday...like mercury is healthier than sat...yeah right. Just check your labels and make sure everything is natural. Unfortunately this is something we're not even told to do. Also we're not given a choice in this either, they just stick this garbage in our food and then blame us for being fat. Fuck you corporations! The recent soda ban in small businesses in NYC makes me laugh...yea it's the soda that's the problem rather than the High Fructose Corn Syrup they started shoving in them in the late 80s and early 90s...give me a break.

Oh someone mentioned beta blockers, I used to take a medication with beta blockers and gained 30, 40 pounds on it. When I went off I lost all of that weight. (That was the least horrifying side effect I experienced being a guinea pig for my doctor) Our health is definitely related to some of these pills our doctors bully us into taking. No one cares as long as these pills sort of work and make a profit

I also think it's important for people to realize that visceral abdominal fat is the real killer, not just fat in general. The only way to burn that off is to jog or do some type of heavy cardio, doing the little bike thing at the gym for 30 minutes or walking is not going to do it. We live in a culture that loves to gorge, but I don't think it's necessarily the portions that are harmful. People ate plenty in the past and enjoyed it. They ate starches, they ate rice (come on Asian cultures only eat rice in some cases and when have you ever seen a fat Asian!) potatoes (the Irish only ate potatoes for centuries) what they didn't eat was processed crap.

As long as you do cardio, you should be able to burn that off everyday or at least maintain the same weight. Our real problem is the coke-like binges of Corn Syrup we consume in our diets. We're like addicted to this crap and barely eat natural foods.

Originally Posted by Mikebert

Our weight loss story appears in the Huffington Post. My wife's doctor did take her off the beta blocker and the HDL came up. She's is great shape now and looks great!

Wow! Inspirational to say the least.

BTW, how have the alternative cooking regimes panned-out? As a Chem E, I asusme you have a leg up on that process.

Originally Posted by Felix5

My personal response is, who cares about health care? Nothing will make any difference for those that are really being ignored by this system. Sure it's annoying for that rare emergency room trip you may make once or twice in a lifetime, but what about people who legitimately need medication every day. People with legitimate disorders who need medication still won't get the medication they need regardless of having some arbitrary "health care plan" or "health insurance." As an epileptic who needs medication daily, I find the opinion of most people on the subject of health care very disheartening.

And another thing, people assume that people like me want health insurance. I don't want fucking health insurance at ALL, ever in a million years. I think that's a total scam. Scam someone into getting insurance for some disease they may have a 2% chance of getting in the future, what rubbish. I don't want health insurance because I may have a heart attack like...30 years from now. The entire insurance industry is built on scaring the crap out of people into making them insure themselves. (when it may not even be necessary at all). If I had a choice it would be to not participate in this irrational insurance mania we've driven our country toward. Not just the patients but the doctors too and the companies that support hospitals, pay for technology, etc...Why do you think their prices are SO high! I used to have an "old fashioned" country doctor as a child. He charged 15 dollars a visit. That's because he didn't waste your hard earned money on saving his own ass from his own mistakes. Sorry but if you're a doctor and you make a mistake...you should most definitely pay for it...and with jail time. This idea that we can buy ourselves out of paying for something we're responsible for, is disgusting to me. If you're a doctor and someone dies from your mistakes, that's just sick.

As for our country's health...well it's obvious that our real problem is eating things from boxes and laboratories rather than naturally occurring foods. I'm not saying we all have to eat wheat germ, but if you think the increase in High Fructose Corn Syrup in our diet in the late 70s-present isn't directly correlated with the rising obesity rates during that same period than I think you're in denial or crazy. I also think these processed foods have a correlation with the rising cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autism rates we've seen. When we stop mutating our diets, we'll stop mutating ourselves.

Leaving salt and red meat out of your diet is significantly safer than eat wheat bread with High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, imo. You don't have to eat fish everyday...like mercury is healthier than sat...yeah right. Just check your labels and make sure everything is natural. Unfortunately this is something we're not even told to do. Also we're not given a choice in this either, they just stick this garbage in our food and then blame us for being fat. Fuck you corporations! The recent soda ban in small businesses in NYC makes me laugh...yea it's the soda that's the problem rather than the High Fructose Corn Syrup they started shoving in them in the late 80s and early 90s...give me a break.

Oh someone mentioned beta blockers, I used to take a medication with beta blockers and gained 30, 40 pounds on it. When I went off I lost all of that weight. (That was the least horrifying side effect I experienced being a guinea pig for my doctor) Our health is definitely related to some of these pills our doctors bully us into taking. No one cares as long as these pills sort of work and make a profit

I also think it's important for people to realize that visceral abdominal fat is the real killer, not just fat in general. The only way to burn that off is to jog or do some type of heavy cardio, doing the little bike thing at the gym for 30 minutes or walking is not going to do it. We live in a culture that loves to gorge, but I don't think it's necessarily the portions that are harmful. People ate plenty in the past and enjoyed it. They ate starches, they ate rice (come on Asian cultures only eat rice in some cases and when have you ever seen a fat Asian!) potatoes (the Irish only ate potatoes for centuries) what they didn't eat was processed crap.

As long as you do cardio, you should be able to burn that off everyday or at least maintain the same weight. Our real problem is the coke-like binges of Corn Syrup we consume in our diets. We're like addicted to this crap and barely eat natural foods.

Let's see how your helath plan works when you're 50+, or more to the point 65+. To be honest, I'm stunned that someone with a chronic conditon would prefer to NOT be insured. I've lived with my wife's chronic condition since she was 27. She's 53 today. She's alive because we're insured ... period.

Let's see how your helath plan works when you're 50+, or more to the point 65+. To be honest, I'm stunned that someone with a chronic conditon would prefer to NOT be insured. I've lived with my wife's chronic condition since she was 27. She's 53 today. She's alive because we're insured ... period.

Chronic? Epilepsy is not exactly chronic, it's just a disorder that needs to be maintained. Insurance is not necessary if I only need medication...I don't need to go to the emergency room everyday. Insurance is good for old people (risk of heart attack and other issues) and people with chronic diseases. The rest of us are just scared into buying it and that's the reality of our country right now. Doctors are scared of being sued for malpractice by greedy people, people are afraid that they may be run over by a bus one day and not have the insurance to cover it. It's absurd.

I'm not going to give a shit when I'm 65!! You think I want to live on this planet until I'm 90 and wheeling myself around? I want to be able to think critically, have arguments with people, and do things.

My grandmother follows this diet, she's 87 years old and one of the healthiest damn people I've ever met. I've never seen her open a bag of potato chips.

Stop eating processed food and you'll live longer. Everything else is just plain ignorance and nonsense.

Originally Posted by Felix5

Stop eating processed food and you'll live longer. Everything else is just plain ignorance and nonsense.

Yeah, a large part of the healthcare crisis is a diet/food-industry crisis. The real cost of "convenient" food is incalculable because you only get one life and good health is priceless. Fresh food isn't really more expensive than junk food, it just takes a little extra effort and time to prepare.

Our national food policy is built around surviving nuclear winter, but should we really always be eating stuff the bugs and mold won't touch?

Originally Posted by Felix5

Chronic? Epilepsy is not exactly chronic, it's just a disorder that needs to be maintained. Insurance is not necessary if I only need medication...I don't need to go to the emergency room everyday. Insurance is good for old people (risk of heart attack and other issues) and people with chronic diseases. The rest of us are just scared into buying it and that's the reality of our country right now. Doctors are scared of being sued for malpractice by greedy people, people are afraid that they may be run over by a bus one day and not have the insurance to cover it. It's absurd.

I'm not going to give a shit when I'm 65!! You think I want to live on this planet until I'm 90 and wheeling myself around? I want to be able to think critically, have arguments with people, and do things.

My grandmother follows this diet, she's 87 years old and one of the healthiest damn people I've ever met. I've never seen her open a bag of potato chips.

Stop eating processed food and you'll live longer. Everything else is just plain ignorance and nonsense.

Sensible living is always a good idea, but it can't fix things that are broken due to no fault of you or anyone else. If your body is programmed to grow cancers, it probably will. The same applies to organ issues. Even mental health often has links to physical maladies that are outside your control. Pretending otherwise is called gambling. And don't assume these things only arise in your later years. Breast cancer typically strikes the young the hardest. So does schizophrenia.

... and yes, eplilepsy is chronic, by definition.

Originally Posted by Felix5

Chronic? Epilepsy is not exactly chronic, it's just a disorder that needs to be maintained. Insurance is not necessary if I only need medication...I don't need to go to the emergency room everyday. Insurance is good for old people (risk of heart attack and other issues) and people with chronic diseases. The rest of us are just scared into buying it and that's the reality of our country right now. Doctors are scared of being sued for malpractice by greedy people, people are afraid that they may be run over by a bus one day and not have the insurance to cover it. It's absurd.

I'm not going to give a shit when I'm 65!! You think I want to live on this planet until I'm 90 and wheeling myself around? I want to be able to think critically, have arguments with people, and do things.

My grandmother follows this diet, she's 87 years old and one of the healthiest damn people I've ever met. I've never seen her open a bag of potato chips.

Stop eating processed food and you'll live longer. Everything else is just plain ignorance and nonsense.[/COLOR]

"A disorder that needs to be maintained" is the definition of "chronic"!

Originally Posted by JohnMc82

Our national food policy is built around surviving nuclear winter

You know, I never thought about it that way, before. Then again, I have no memory of the Cold War and thus never had to worry about a nuclear holocaust.