Semper Fidelis Milkshake

Listening to NPR the other morning I was officially horrified.

Over 25% Americans in their late teens and early twenties are now so overweight, they have been deemed to fat to fight as members of the armed services. Too fat to join the army. The weight limit for girls is 241. For men 259. Additionally body fat percentage limit for women 36% men 30%. Twenty-seven percent of teens are over this threshold.

This should be shocking to you, especially since only 15 years ago the percent of teens who fell over this threshold was 12%. Moreover 1,200 persons a year are already members of the armed services are now being discharged because they can’t maintain this fitness standard (an expensive issue). So, coupled with other issues like lack of high school education and drug use or criminal records only 1 in 4 teens are eligible to enlist and stay enlisted.

The problem, not mentioned in the report, is worse still among minorities. Minority teens who want to take advantage of the educational opportunities of the military (including college and graduate programs like law school and professional military careers) are now not able. Great, now our youth is getting fatter, less disciplined and dumber.

You might be asking: Shouldn’t 18 year olds be responsible for their own weight problems. Don’t they have no one to blame but themselves if they can’t drop the weight to joined the armed forces and take advantage of the opportunities there?

No.  Not in my opinion.

I’m all for personal responsibility and I expect it from older individuals, but the fact is 80% of obese children end up being obese adults and it is no mystery to me why. Do we expect young children who are stuffed full of 700 - 1000 more calories a day than they need from the age of toddler to young teen suddenly divert from the diets ingrained in them their whole lives and embrace eating habits with fruits and veggies half the calories NONE of the trans fats, one quarter of the high fructose corn syrup and half the salt? Most adults can’t do that, how do we expect teenagers to be able to?

Get the fried meat and pizza out of the schools (and homes), ditch the chocolate and strawberry milk and teach kids that eating healthy isn’t an option - it’s a necessity. I know sugar drinks and breaded food tastes better than the healthy options, but it shouldn’t be up to kids to be able to choose junk food as a meal on a regular basis because it's not only holding them back IT’S KILLING THEM.

DAMN this topic gets me angry.

Click Here for the Army Weight Calculator

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Next Time on Popular Excuses: By request - Antioxidants
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Reading List
NPR Article: Too Fat To Fight
“Food, Inc.” by Karl Weber - Article “Childhood Obesity” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation p.259
CNN Blog: Are Fat Soldiers a National Security Threat