Japanese Government Cracking Down!
What are your thoughts on the new policy instituted by the Japanese government. Watch this whole video and leave a comment!
- Strict waistline guidelines
- Mandated (huge) fines for business if their employees do not meet the waistline restrictions
- Exercise stations on every floor
- Exercise two times a day at work
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/06/23/kyung.fat.busters.cnn
Smitty
June 24th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I am torn on this one. I lean libertarian, so I don’t like people telling me what to do, on the other hand I wish we got exercise breaks at my job. On another note, waistline doesn’t mean that much. I remember hearing that Michael Jordan in his prime would have been overweight according to BMI. And then of course there’s all the guys who carry a belly but can outperform any skinny triathlete on the planet.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I’m a big believer in “you” are responsible for “you”. I’m responsible for “me” and I’m responsible for teaching this to my children. It shouldn’t be any government’s responsibility to do this. Sadly, obesity is a problem…as much in this country as any other, probably worse, but ultimately the issue lies with each individual to change. I wouldn’t think there are correlations between workplace productivity/creativity and body fat percentage.
June 29th, 2008 at 4:09 am
I’m not a libertarian. I believe obesity is a structural problem—not an individual one.
In response to David . . . In Australia, obesity causes a loss in productivity in the order of 2 billion dollars a year (we’re a small country . . . I’d imagine in the US it would be 10 to 20 times that amount). The total cost of obesity in Australia is over 20 billion a year.
In Australia the government (via tax-funded health-care) all ready pays for the consequences of obesity. So it makes sense to me to try and deal with the actual problem rather than it’s consequences.
That being said, I’m not convinced the way Japan is going about it will help them achieve the results they’re looking for.
I’m interested to see how this all pans out. My gut feeling is (no pun intended) their obesity policies will have little to no OVERALL effect on obesity numbers, though I think it will have a significant effect on workplace participation (where, who, what & how).
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I just came back from Hawaii and I could not believe the number of Asians who had a big gut. I thought only us yanks had the big fat asses, I was wrong. I am 61 years old and I lift and run stadium steps. I learned this in school when I was a kid,you talk about old school! We as a nation need to get up off our butts and go outside,live people,for Gods sake get out from in front of the tube and live! Thanks for letting me rant! P.S. I’m going to learn how to throw the hammer this Summer.