Ridiculous Media Scare Article of the Day

All U.S. adults could be overweight in 40 years via Reuters

Yes, there are some legitimate concerns over health and obesity, particularly with the increasing prevalence of processed foods in American diets. But the premise behind this article basically assumes that none of the adults in the U.S. are capable of exercising any sort of self-control or taking any responsibility for their own health and well-being.

Furthermore, the article doesn't state the tool used to determine a person's status, but I can only assume that they use the incredibly flawed BMI, or Body Mass Index, an extremely vague tool that compares a person's height with their weight, and thereby determines how overweight they are, which is absurd.

Using that tool, I get a score of 27.1, which is 2.9 points from "Obese." Under this form of measurement, I would already qualify as one of the overweight adults described in the article. I am not overweight. I exercise at least twice a week, running about 10 miles and lifting. But don't take my word for it. Here's a great piece on the insanity of using the BMI to judge fitness standards in the U.S. It just doesn't work.

If you don't have the time to read through it, here's all you really need to know. The following people, according to the BMI, are officially "Obese:"

Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Mark McGwire, and Arnold Schwarzenegger

If that's not enough, here's a list of people, according to the government, that are "Overweight:"

Will Smith, Pierce Brosnan, Michael Jordan, Cal Ripkin, Jr., and President Bush - (all of a sudden I don't feel bad about being officially overweight)

The BMI is just another tool for the government to exercise increased control over what we eat, how much we exercise, etc. If people want to eat unhealthy food and sit on their couches all day and get fat, that's their choice. It's because of articles like this that Mayor Bloomberg can get away with his trans fat bans and calorie counts for chain restaurants.