[GGG]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Well, I was about to go off half-cocked, but Thor wrote just about everything I was going to...

I just watched "Hungry for Change" on the weekend (available on Netflix) and it repeated much of what I have been hearing from one of my doctors. As most of you know, I lost 170 pounds in a year and while I'm much fitter and much happier, keeping off the weight has been absolute hell, so I am working with an eating disorder clinic doctor. These are the things he has been presenting to me:
1) Weight is a bad measure for determining health. Fitness is a much better indicator, but far more difficult thing to measure. There are fit people that are overweight. There are thin people that are horribly unhealthy.
2) In terms of nutrition, it is better to eat a lot of good, natural, healthy foods (3000 calories) than a moderate diet (2000 calories) of crap (chemicals, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, processed anything).

So he is working with me to put weight back on, but still remain as fit as I am today. I do plan on running my first marathon next month. And I'll be doing it by eating much better than I have in the past.

So where was I going with this? Oh yeah... weight should not come into play for such things as health care. It is one of a myriad of factors that play into how healthy one is. Someone that eats 3000 calories of good nutritious food and exercises every day is not likely to be a drain on the health system as someone that eats poorly and is sedentary.

One thing I though with the 3000 calories of healthy food is better than 2000 calories of unhealthy food is that it is difficult to eat 3000 clean calories a day. Rather than taxing outcomes for additional health care we need to tax the consumption end of it so you target bad behaviours rather than genetics.