Obesity

"VEEP" keeps getting better week by week. And the last couple of weeks, it feels as if the HBO comedy has really found its feet. Baltimore viewers will be especially interested in the ending of Sunday's episode as it sets the wheels in motion for a trip next week that will bring Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to Camden Yards. The episode includes appearances by Baltimore Orioles pitchers Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter, as well as former Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer.

"VEEP" keeps getting better week by week. And the last couple of weeks, it feels as if the HBO comedy has really found its feet. Baltimore viewers will be especially interested in the ending of Sunday's episode as it sets the wheels in motion for a trip next week that will bring Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to Camden Yards. The episode includes appearances by Baltimore Orioles pitchers Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter, as well as former Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer.

Editor: During the legislative session of Oct. 18, the Harford County Council acting in both its capacity as the Board of Health and the legislative body unanimously approved Resolution 28-11 establishing a Harford County Obesity Task Force.  According to our most recent data, the health of Harford County adults and children has declined from 1996 to 2010 with respect to numerous chronic diseases including, diabetes, heart disease, high...

As physicians who treat overweight children in Maryland daily, we strongly support the views expressed by Horizon Foundation CEO Nikki Highsmith Vernick in her recent commentary on childhood obesity ("A healthier way to snack," May 15). We urge parents to speak with their pediatricians about healthy food and beverage options for their children. We further suggest that parents advocate for their child's school to provide healthy alternatives to sugary foods and beverages that are often found in vending machines and school cafeterias.

The number of Americans considered obese is expected to rise from the current 34 percent to 42 percent by the year 2030, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and discussed at Monday's "Weight of the Nation" conference in Washington. Diabetes, kidney failure, heart disease, and other obesity-related ailments account for countless premature deaths and as much as 18 percent of the $2.6 trillion national cost of medical care. The leading causes of obesity are consumption of fat-laden meat and dairy products and lack of exercise.

Unless I completely misinterpret this story ("Fatter folks, sicker bay," April 20), which is easy to do any time a "lefty" talks, it is a complete load of garbage! When the writer suggests that the health of the Chesapeake Bay is affected by the obesity of those who live near it, I have to respond that this is just another desperate attempt to lay blame on people, which usually is a precursor to another invasive law and a further erosion of freedom and liberty. He writes about a book he is reading by medical researchers and associates their findings with meanderings of his own mental deficiency and says, "It's intriguing to compare graphs these [Bay health]

Give me a break. The first lady can't even grow a vegetable garden or warn of the dangers of childhood obesity without some Republican creep getting their nose out of joint or complaining about the excesses of government. To these old eyes the first lady is a strikingly gorgeous woman. She certainly has a lot of credibility when it comes to dietary counsel because she practices what she preaches, and whatever she is doing works well for her. And we could all heed her admonition to eat less.

When New York City passed legislation requiring restaurants to post calories next to menu items, it took a step toward obesity reduction that Baltimore and the rest of the nation should follow. We have seen the obesity epidemic grow to epic proportions over the last three decades. Skinny people are becoming an increasingly slim minority; more than one-third of Baltimore adults are medically obese, and another third are overweight. We pour millions of dollars into the health care system to treat obesity-related disease, and all the advances we have made researching drugs to lower the risk of heart attacks, strokes and diabetes are counteracted by the deleterious impact of obesity.

One afternoon, our daughter, a first-grader, was taking inventory of her latest collection of candy. She explained how the lollipops were from the morning and afternoon school bus drivers for behaving so well, how the Skittles, Peeps, jelly beans and chocolate eggs came from parents' donations to a holiday party and how her class had a popcorn party the day before for collecting the most box tops. Don't get us wrong, we like our weekly excursions for ice cream just like everyone. But as parents, we have been made keenly aware lately of the amount of non-nutritious snacks our children have been getting, some from us when we have been less than diligent, but a good portion of it obtained as part of some school party, contest or reward.

AS IF THE agony of filing taxes weren't complicated enough, the annual trek through the numbers of our lives could now involve one more awful calculation: that of our body mass index, the measure of how much fat we're carrying around. The social engineers at the Internal Revenue Service have just ruled that obesity, like smoking and alcoholism, is a disease. So, if a doctor says you're obese, then the cost of weight-loss programs could be tax deductible -- even if your extra pounds haven't yet made you sick.

Growing up in Texas, I played softball - fast pitch. After playing in the hot Texas sun, our team, the Sweetpeas, had a snack of oranges and water, in containers brought from home. Today, my husband and I are new Howard County residents, and we have gotten our children, ages 6 and 4, involved in sports activities, beginning with T-ball. We have been struck by the well-groomed baseball fields and the engaged volunteer parents. We were impressed with it all - until the post-game snacks came out. Over the last three weeks, these snacks have included chips, fruit roll-ups, sugary rice treats, chocolate-covered doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles, assorted fruit punch, and sports drinks.

The number of Americans considered obese is expected to rise from the current 34 percent to 42 percent by the year 2030, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and discussed at Monday's "Weight of the Nation" conference in Washington. Diabetes, kidney failure, heart disease, and other obesity-related ailments account for countless premature deaths and as much as 18 percent of the $2.6 trillion national cost of medical care. The leading causes of obesity are consumption of fat-laden meat and dairy products and lack of exercise.

You did a write up on HBO's documentary "The Weight of the Nation" in which you called our obesity epidemic a wake up call for America ("Salad bars take root," May 1). Nothing new here. The alarm bells have been sounding for a while now. I am an endocrinologist, and 90 percent of my patients are obese or near obese. This is a frustrating problem for doctors. There are no rewards for treating obesity. It is well known among physicians that a diagnosis code of obesity on your insurance claim can get you rejected for payment.

Unless I completely misinterpret this story ("Fatter folks, sicker bay," April 20), which is easy to do any time a "lefty" talks, it is a complete load of garbage! When the writer suggests that the health of the Chesapeake Bay is affected by the obesity of those who live near it, I have to respond that this is just another desperate attempt to lay blame on people, which usually is a precursor to another invasive law and a further erosion of freedom and liberty. He writes about a book he is reading by medical researchers and associates their findings with meanderings of his own mental deficiency and says, "It's intriguing to compare graphs these [Bay health]

For insight as to why we're having trouble restoring the Chesapeake Bay, I'm reading "The Evolution of Obesity" by medical researchers Michael L. Power and Jay Schulkin. It's an illuminating look at how we got so fat. It's epidemic - more than a fifth of the world's population is overweight or obese. In the United States, obesity-related health problems are soaring. The standard revolving door has gone from six to eight feet, and hauling our ampler butts costs airlines a quarter-billion more in fuel than it used to. The proportion of normal-weight Americans is at an all-time low. But what's a fat book got to do with the state of the Chesapeake Bay?

Editor: Your recent article about obesity in Harford County was interesting. Obesity is up all over the country. Harford County is no exception. The suggestion that everyone get more "active" is easier said than done. I applaud the county council member who had weight loss surgery. I underwent the same surgery. It is a radical lifestyle change. I was fortunate in that my insurance covered it. A lot of people have insurance that either doesn't cover it or requires the patient to pay thousands of dollars up front.

You did a write up on HBO's documentary "The Weight of the Nation" in which you called our obesity epidemic a wake up call for America ("Salad bars take root," May 1). Nothing new here. The alarm bells have been sounding for a while now. I am an endocrinologist, and 90 percent of my patients are obese or near obese. This is a frustrating problem for doctors. There are no rewards for treating obesity. It is well known among physicians that a diagnosis code of obesity on your insurance claim can get you rejected for payment.

The Sun editorial "Getting exercised over exercise" (March 28) makes some good points and then loses them in careless arguments that equate the need for healthy movement and activity with the war on obesity. There is no controversy about our need for more activity and the personal responsibility, along with civic choices, that are part of that. There is little question that doing away with recess and physical education are bad ideas with long term costs that far outweigh any initial savings.

Jay Perman feels a touch ashamed now of the thoughts he had when he first started seeing droplets of fat in the livers of adolescent patients. Like any person on the street might, the pediatrician believed these hefty kids simply needed to stop gorging themselves on fried foods and sweets. He had yet to grasp the big picture. Decades later, as the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Perman has an entirely different take on childhood obesity. He regards it as the leading pediatric health challenge of our time, an endlessly complicated tangle of social, economic and medical problems with the potential for devastating, nation-changing effects.

Editor: During the legislative session of Oct. 18, the Harford County Council acting in both its capacity as the Board of Health and the legislative body unanimously approved Resolution 28-11 establishing a Harford County Obesity Task Force.  According to our most recent data, the health of Harford County adults and children has declined from 1996 to 2010 with respect to numerous chronic diseases including, diabetes, heart disease, high...