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Years ago American families were quite large. While we can discuss the many different factors for that reversal, the bottom line is that we’re not having kids at a rate that is conducive to the long-term health of the nation.
A recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services bears this out.
The number of births declined 1 percent in 2011 to 3,953,590. The general fertility rate also declined 1 percent, to 63.2 per 1,000 women 15 to 44 years.
The teenage birth rate fell 8 percent to 31.3 per 1,000. Birth rates declined for women in their twenties, were unchanged for women 30 – 34 years and rose for women aged 35 to 44 years.
The total fertility rate (estimated number of births over a woman’s lifetime) declined 2 percent to 1,894 per 1,000 women.
The odd thing is, while the birth rate continues to decline our obesity rates seem to be getting worse. It’s so bad, in fact, that the AMA recently decided to categorize obesity as a disease — even though it’s not.
The reason? In short, they’ve taken the “Umm, let’s do ‘something’ approach.”
The American Medical Assn. voted Tuesday to declare obesity a disease, a move that effectively defines 78 million American adults and 12 million children as having a medical condition requiring treatment.
The nation’s leading physicians organization took the vote after debating whether the action would do more to help affected patients get useful treatment or would further stigmatize a condition with many causes and few easy fixes. …
Recently I was in Wal-Mart with my wife and I became fascinated by jumbo-sized bags of cereal. They reminded me of the dog food bags I used to stock as a college student working Target’s overnight shift. While I’ve been aware for years of the jars of mayonnaise that would last me a decade or the bags of rice better suited for restaurant owners, I still couldn’t help but stop and stare.
As a conservative, the question “What American family with one or two children needs to buy giant bags of ‘Coco Roos’ every week?” is simple: “It’s none of my business.”
Indeed, from a freedom and liberty perspective it is none of my business. Buying in bulk is cheaper and there are thousands of other reasons why a family might feed their children like they feed the family pet. However, I still can’t help but think the only people who would need to regularly buy such quantities of cereal would be those who consume unhealthy amounts of it and women like GloZell.
The 9th Verse of Lao Tzu’s “Tao Te Ching” tells us:
To keep on filling
is not as good as stopping.
Overfilled, the cupped hands drip,
better to stop pouring.Sharpen a blade too much
and its edge will soon be lost.
Fill your house with jade and gold
and it brings insecurity.
Puff yourself with honor and pride
and no one can save you from a fall.Retire when the work is done;
this is the way of heaven.
America has always been about bigger, better, faster — and that’s great — but at one time it was also about prudence and common sense. Somewhere along the way we seemed to abandon the principles that kept everything in balance, and it is reflected in our national debt, our waistlines and our mental health.
We are fat and we are falling. That combination is recipe for disaster.
When the cup is full, stop pouring. The same advice goes for your bowl of Coco Roos.
Douglas Ernst Blog 
Stop eating!!! That would mean self-control and a lack of that may be a disease. We need someone to regulate our food portions because we all know politicians know better than us.
M and M’s? Was that pic shot in Eliot Spitzer’s apartment, or tweeted by Weiner?
Jim, I can see that you’re not familiar with Glozell’s “cereal challenge.” You should be thankful. Your mind will not carry the scar that comes along with watching the video. I’m afraid that it will haunt my dreams for years to come.