Real Time.... Too Fat to Fight

Watching the Real Time episode from this past week. Bill does an excellent commentary on what the U.S. Army's new Fitness Report... It seems that the thing that is keeping folks from joining the Army is weight (27%). I, being one of those overweight people who wouldn't be able to serve (well, that's one reason), actually find this not surprising. The interesting part of the discussion was the picture that was shown from the early days of the Barnum and Bailey's Freak show. It showed "the fat man".. who really looked like someone who you can find almost anywhere these days... probably even if you looked at me. Since I don't have a really accurate self image, its possible that I look exactly like this one time freak show "fat man". On the flip side, i happen to live in Minneapolis... one of the healthiest cities in the U.S. I am working towards losing weight and have successfully lost over 50 pounds. The point is that it was a real wake up call to me about how we really live compared to 100 years ago. But with all the information out there about how and what we eat now it really shouldn't have been as surprising. I've read Pollan, watched "Food, Inc. and am choosy about what I put in my body, especially now that i'm getting older and that hasn't always been the case. So if you get a chance to look around the web... go to http://www.neatorama.com/2010/04/19/freak-show-fat/ and you can see the picture that Bill showed on his Real Time episode this past weekend. Here's love for you all and especially for my favorite family in Tashkent, who just got bigger by one for at least a few weeks! (bigger in Tashkent... not in general)