The costs of excess weight

A recent report just came out that said that obesity costs an extra 10% per year on healthcare costs.  This report mentions that medical spending is an additional 1400 dollars for obese individuals compared with 'normal weight' individuals. 

With the recent increases in healthcare coverage, this is alarming to me.  What are we doing as a nation to help this problem???? 

Food is so easily accessible for most people.  People who didn't have money for food used to be underweight and malnourished.  Now, people who are having a difficult time making ends meet are often extremely overweight.  That's not to say that they aren't malnourished.  Calories are cheap.  You can get a large amount of calories in a little package that doesn't cost much. 

It bothers me however, when people tell me that eating healthy costs more.  It doesn't have to.  It takes some hard work and some dedication to eat healthy and it doesn't have to cost a ton.  For example, take a look at the prices of chips.  At $3.50 a bag, that may buy almost 2 pounds of boneless chicken breast when it's on sale.  That could feed a family of 4 for at least 2 meals as compared to a bag of junk food that is loaded with calories and no nutrients. 

I've talked a lot about CSA's and local produce.  Even CSA's have sliding scales and have payment plans so you can get local produce at a reasonable price.  If you have a small bit of land or some pots, you can plant some seeds and grow your own veggies.  This is very inexpensive.

Well, I'm not so sure what our country is doing to help our obesity epidemic.  I hear the key word 'prevention' used all the time.  Where is our preventative medicine in the US?  Where is it in VT?  Our community doesn't have access to diabetes education anymore, nor do they have access to a dietitian to help them with their weight.  The excess costs of these services have made it impossible for our hospital to continue to offer them.  This is a scary cycle.  We can't afford to offer these services and the people who need them can't get them.  What's going to happen next?  I guess we can wait and see.......