Dead Weight: The Real Consequences of the Obesity Epidemic

[ZarathustraParticipant 2246]

I love the show Mayday, which profiles airline disasters. One of the episodes reviews the causes of the crash of Air Midwest Flight 5481 on January 8 2003, which crashed in Charlotte N.C. killing all aboard.

At first the investigators could not determine the cause of the crash. There was no pilot error; the weather was perfect; the plane was in perfect working order. The only thing that made sense, given the evidence, is that the plane was too heavy on take-off. Yet how could this be since the fuel, baggage, and passengers had all been weighed accurately and found to be in acceptable limits?
The investigators realized the weight of the passengers could be at issue since their weight is not exactly determined, but rather the result of a formula, e.g. they use an average weight per passenger, women men and children, of 170LBS. Thinking this may have caused the problem they subpoenaed the medical records of all passengers and determined this was indeed the problem. The average weight was well above 170LBS.

Pending this investigation the NTSB changed the weigh tables to reflect the average weight for Americans, a weight table that had served faithfully for over 50 years. They changed it again in 2012, proving that not only are Americans getting fatter, they are getting fatter at an ever increasing, exponential rate.

The plane that crashed was a smaller commuter plane and in the case of larger planes the weight of the passengers probably balances. However, I would be leery of travelling on smaller jets with a lot of obese.

Now consider this… for every extra pound being ferried on cars, busses, airplanes trains etc… there is an increase in fuel consumption, which increase our carbon footprint, which increases global warming. I believe in Global Warming, perhaps you do not, but even so we pay for this increased prices at the pump, when demand increases so does the cost.

And it doesn’t stop there… every calorie you eat takes energy to produce and transport to the consumer and again this increases energy usage.
Think of the BILLIONS of extra pounds being shuttled around on N. American Highways, and the BILLIONS of extra calories being shipped. Its staggering.
Obviously there are other costs to obesity but in conclusion I just wanted to note how deluded these people are. Being fat has a cost and physics is a bitch. The liberal media machine may molly coddle fat people but you cannot escape the reality of physics.

[MorpheusParticipant 2177]

The airlines should charge the ticket based on the passenger weight just like luggage. Like no extra charge till 180 or 200 lbs.

[ZarathustraParticipant 2246]

Solaire: I agree. And people bitch about paying for luggage these days… they don’t consider that the fat they are carrying is the extra luggage. 170 LB man + 50 LBS luggage = 220 LB man. That’s why they charge for luggage. They have to.

[MarketWatcherParticipant]

Morpheus wrote:

The airlines should charge the ticket based on the passenger weight just like luggage. Like no extra charge till 180 or 200 lbs.

That would be nice, but the land whale backlash might cut into profits.

[MorpheusParticipant 2177]

MarketWatcher wrote:

Solaire wrote:

The airlines should charge the ticket based on the passenger weight just like luggage. Like no extra charge till 180 or 200 lbs.

That would be nice, but the land whale backlash might cut into profits.

Or that land whale can meet the ocean whale.

[Faust For ScienceParticipant 22521]

It is not an epidemic, it is a mass poisoning. Think of all that sugar injected into all the food Americans eat. It is not like there is a choice. All the globalist own food companies, which all the food companies there are in the U.S. pump sugar into their food and juice products.

[ResParticipant 542]

Faust For Science wrote:

It is not an epidemic, it is a mass poisoning. Think of all that sugar injected into all the food Americans eat. It is not like there is a choice. All the globalist own food companies, which all the food companies there are in the U.S. pump sugar into their food and juice products.

I have to agree with this. Overseas it may be different, but here in the US where most food is made of corn or corn byproducts, it’s hard to avoid sugar.

Thinking of going on a ketogenic diet myself to lose weight, but the question is HOW. The local grocery stores don’t sell foods low in carbs unless you eat salad at every meal (and I suck at cooking). F~~~, 1 *SLICE* of white bread is 15 *GRAMS* of carbs!

Mr. Boats: "'Avoid the reeking herd! Shun the polluted flock! Live like that stoic bird, the eagle of the rock!' You know what that means, son?" -American Splendor

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