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<p>Ceteris paribus</p>
<p>Perhaps one of the reasons Christie says he is not ready is because he would like to try to lose weight before entering the race…maybe for 2016?</p>
<p>I would submit that a General is in a position very subordinate to a President. His/her weight would not be as much of a concern to me.</p>
<p>There are companies that won’t hire smokers now, and they regularly test their employees, this is all due to high cost of health care.</p>
<p>I would not exclude a candidate for presidency based on his/her weight alone. Obviously we want a candidate healthy enough to complete his/her term, but ability to govern/ solve problems , being pragmatic and able to make the best possible decision for the given scenario precedes any physical characteristics.</p>
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<p>Over at the diet and exercise forum, we do concern ourselves with
losing weight but that’s because of where we come from. We are also
concerned with building muscle tissue and maintaining joint health.
You need strength as you age to compensate for other problems that
can develop.</p>
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<p>Take a stroll at your local WalMart and let me know if everyone in
the store is obsessed with having a perfect body.</p>
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<p>Most of us on the diet/exercise thread are a bit on the old side to be
worried about the coolness factor. We want to be able to walk up and
down stairs with out joint pain. To be able to handle the coughing
from a very long cold or flu without chest pain by having strong
abs. To have the strength to lift a 30 pound bag of dog food and carry
it from the driveway into the home. Or to change a flat tire.</p>
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<p>Life can be as limiting or expansive as you want it to be. Good health
allows more of the latter.</p>
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<p>Different times and different understanding.</p>
<p>What do our generals look like today where they have the understanding
about health and fitness?</p>
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<p>I just heard that on the news today. My husband is a smoker. Yes, he is continually harassed by the company for ‘using too many health resources’. This, in spite of the fact that he has had no more than 5 sick days in almost 30 years of work. This, in spite of the fact that he took it upon himself to successfully implement and maintain life-style changes in order to avoid the cholesterol medical regimen his Dr had originally insisted on. This, in spite of his belief that he will die before he ever gets much chance to use those health resources, compared to those of us who may spend many years in nursing homes.</p>
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Doesn’t this mean “all things being equal”? It seems to me that is not what this debate is here. There are posters who it appears would turn elections into a boxing match by placing a scale and measuring tape onstage and elimiinating anyone over a particular BMI, regardless of their policies or accomplishments up to that time. And, apparently, without regard to any other health information such as blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.</p>
<p>I can’t believe we’re debating that. In fact, we elect a president who assembles an administration with certain policies, and who brings a vice president along, who is supposedly capable of leading in his or her absence. The notion that we elect a President and could not withstand that President’s illness or death is absurd. Every four years we put ourselves at peril then, because we hold elections where that person could be replaced along with their entire administration. </p>
<p>All things being equal otherwise, would the fitter candidate be preferable? Of course. But that’s not what I’m seeing here. </p>
<p>And will the first poster here who is more successful than Oprah let us know your identity?</p>
<p>On Facebook, someone in my high school class posted a photo of a bunch of us in 1979. Something struck me as odd, but it took me a moment to figure it out. ALL the kids were slender!! Very different from the photo of the group of kids who went to my son’s prom together. Quite a few of the kids were overweight, and some were obese. That’s scary.</p>
<p>There wasn’t much concern with cardiovascular fitness back in George Washington’s day.</p>
<p>Sewhappy- You display an amazing lack of comprehension. You also love to jump to extremes. The majority of people who value health and fitness are not obsessive or anorexic. Demi Moore is not running for president. I just finished a two day charity bike ride with 1000 other people. Some were thin, some were not. Some were in much better shape than others. Most of us enjoyed a few drinks at last nkght’s party. Most of us value health and fitness. </p>
<p>My world is clearly not yours, sewhappy, but in the last 25 or 30 years the recognition that aerobic exercise and a reasonably heathly diet are important for
cardiovascular health and longevity is pretty universal.</p>
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Perhaps if the freedom of your nation were at stake?</p>
<p>Sew happy- pop on over to our fitness thread. We’ll help you lose those pounds!</p>
<p>Smoking is the single worst thing you can do to yourself. Being obese comes next. I can’t even comprehend why anyone with a brain would smoke.</p>
<p>MOWC, for me the extreme would be to rule out a political candidate due to his fatness. For me, that is veering on an obsessive preoccupation with fitness.</p>
<p>I usually like Gene Robinson very much, but I thought his column on Christie’s weight was mean. And his advice to, “eat a salad and take a walk” is simplistic. I don’t agree with Christie on much, but I have great sympathy for his struggles with his weight. He is clearly well aware of the issue and does not need it to become a topic of national debate. </p>
<p>Plenty of presidential candidates have health issues. Many of them are so old that health problems during their term is almost a given. John McCain was over 70 and had had melanoma 4 times. Someone pointed out that Cheney has a serious cardiac condition. He had his first heart attack in his 30’s. </p>
<p>George Bush was probably in the best shape of any recent president. This served him well when the shoe was thrown - his reflexes were amazing and they saved him from injury.</p>
<p>I think that if Christie decides to run, everyone can make his own decision about whether or not to vote for him based on his policies and experience. His weight does not disqualify him, in my view. Anyone is, of course, free to not vote for him because of his weight. But I hope that the uproar over it dies down. And I hope he is able to find a way to better health.</p>
<p>I wish that he could join the Weightloss for Dummies thread - I think our approach could be just what he needs.</p>
<p>sewhappy, I guess that’s why we have elections - everyone has to pick a candidate based on what is important to him or her. We will never agree on the critieria!</p>
<p>If anything, our society is overly obsessed with having a perfect body.</p>
<p>If only. :(</p>
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</p>
<p>[The</a> Times Record > Archives > Opinion > Commentaries > Treat obesity as an epidemic](<a href=“http://www.timesrecord.com/articles/2011/09/30/opinion/commentaries/doc4e86029220956717592148.txt]The”>http://www.timesrecord.com/articles/2011/09/30/opinion/commentaries/doc4e86029220956717592148.txt)</p>
<p>^ and it sure makes it fun, doesn’t it?</p>
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<p>A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy
based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position.[1] To “attack a
straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition
by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent
proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having
actually refuted the original position.[1][2]</p>
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<p>In 1994, at the Marine Corps Marathon, Oprah Winfrey ran a 4:29:20 in
her first and only marathon.</p>
<p>Her finish time is roughly the average finish time of the Top 25
Marathons.</p>
<p>Oprah’s Finish Time: 4:29
New York City Average Time: 4:24
Chicago Marathon Average Time: 4:41
Marine Corps Marathon Average Time: 4:44</p>
<p>I think you can be obese and run for President (a good portion of our country is overweight as it is, so I’m sure they can relate) - you just need a very capable VP to back you up. A thin person running for President can be just as unhealthy as an overweight person if you start looking at things like cholesterol, etc.</p>
<p>Going along with what emeralkty and a few others have said about increasing obesity rates in children and young adults, I went to a supermarket today for the first time in over a year. (I do my grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s and a small health food store usually.) It was shocking to see the amount of garbage food on offer. The bakery section had table after table of cakes, cookies, pies, much of it frosted and decorated. I found myself wondering who actually takes those foods home. They really weren’t even appealing. There was an entire aisle, the length of a football field, lined with potato chips and other greasy, salty snacks. Of course, there was a huge produce section, too, and many healthful foods throughout the store.</p>