We can't catch a break. 47th in education. Now 42nd in health issues. ADMIN EDIT: Political comments removed - please refrain from making political comments ... albeit, this is an Orlando "Slantinel" article and they don't substantiate who published the report, but it's still not good.

Two observations on the article:

1.) Infant mortality. I have seen many women of late having babies who are so obese you can't tell they're pregnant. That must have an effect on the baby's health and ability to survive. They say FL has low obesity rates in the article, but you wouldn't know that if you walked around the mall on a Saturday afternoon.

2.) A 97% increase in obesity since 1990! I heard a statistic the other day as follows: 44 million Americans are obese today with 4 million of those being "morbidly" obese. So if obesity is up nearly 100%, that means (roughly) that since I graduated HS in 1991, about 22 million people have become obese and 2 million have graduated from obese to morbidly obese. That's insane to me.

Without further adieu...

The Orlando Sentinel Article (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/health/orl-asecstatehealth09110904nov09,0,3847276.story?coll= orl-home-headlines)

Chin up, Blue! Alabama recently was # UNO for obesity of all the states (plus it scores "well" in terms of low education!). I think it was 28.4 and the next highest was 28.1 - a pretty decent showing by the Alabamians. I think colorado may have been the lowest at 16% or something relatively low.

Speaking of considerable women who are pregnant, I know one who's about 5 feet and 250+ and she's about to give birth, but nobody would really know it. She'd definitely not receive "Oh, when are you due?" from strangers, because they'd wonder if indeed she is due. Obesity is unhealthy for an unborn fetus, and it's especially stressful on the mother as well, since her heart is probably half dead anyway, and with the baby it's especially stressful on it.

The nation as a whole takes healthcare fairly seriously, but not the equally (or more so) important health maintenance and sickness prevention, which encourages healthy living. Any number of health crises affecting the industry could be tempered with more responsible living by those who would ultimately require its services!