How About This Idea? Pay by the Kilo?

U.S fliers believe obese should buy second seat

Americans are getting bigger; airplanes are flying fuller, and the price of jet fuel remains stubbornly high. Is the solution to too many "seatmates of size" to weigh passengers in the terminal?

According to a public opinion survey by YouGov, an Internet market research company, 4 in 10 Americans say they wouldn't mind being publicly weighed at the airport. Conducted April 12–14, the results suggest that a once-unthinkable concept could become a fact of life for fliers.

“The airlines are always looking to reduce weight or the cost of carrying it,” said YouGov Senior Vice President Ray Martin, “and we’re finding that more people don’t seem to mind the concept.”

One airline, in fact, has already begun charging by the combined weight of passengers and their baggage. With a fleet of small planes and a local population with the highest obesity rates in the world, Samoa Air now charges passengers 93 cents to $1.06 per kilogram, depending on the flight.

“If Samoa Air can do it, then there’s scope for other airlines to follow suit,” said Martin, adding that “whoever it does it first is going to take the flak.”

They’d also take the brunt of any claims of discrimination: “If you’re going to treat people like freight, then you have to accommodate those people the way freight carriers do,” said Peggy Howell, spokesperson for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA).

“Freight carriers don’t try to fit a big box into a space the size of a 17-inch seat,” she told NBC News. “Are airlines going to reconfigure their planes so you have small, medium and large seats for passengers of different weights? Anything less would be discriminatory.”

As for the 40 percent of people who favor pre-flight weigh-ins, they might give new meaning to the phrase "penny wise, pound foolish." For airlines operating hundreds of flights and carrying thousands of passengers per day, implementation would likely be a nightmare, says George Hobica of AirfareWatchdog.com.

“You’d have to get to the airport two or three hours early; flights would be delayed, and you’d need more staff so it could lead to higher fares,” he told NBC News. "People just think they don't want fat people on planes but it would slow everything down — and planes on the ground don't make money."

A more sensible approach, says Hobica, would be for airlines to enforce so-called second-seat rules in which passengers are charged for a second seat if they can’t fit in a single seat with the armrest down. Such policies vary from airline to airline and are often inconsistently applied, which can further aggravate what is already an uncomfortable situation for all concerned.

In fact, according to Martin, 63 percent of survey respondents agreed that passengers should be required to buy a second seat if they couldn’t fit in a single seat with the armrest down.

“If you pay money for a seat, you expect to have use of all of it,” he said, “and even larger people said that if you don’t fit into one seat, you should pay.”

And that, suggests Martin, could be a first small step toward pay-by-the-pound flying beyond the South Pacific: “People are already comfortable with the two-seat concept,” he told NBC News. “That could be the way for the airlines to move along toward the point where they start weighing people.”

Hobica, on the other hand, says it will never happen, although he does see one potential benefit if the idea ever becomes standard operating procedure.

"A lot of people don't even weigh themselves once a year," he said. "It could be a good reality check for people and good for the health of the American public.

Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him on Twitter.

Milwaukee FD In the News

This short news feature caught my eye.

http://fox6now.com/2013/03/13/firefighters-focus-on-health-wellness-nutrition-to-aid-in-fighting-fires/#ooid=F0NjM2YToD6G5BRvCbLnUlKP7W8HG0qy?utm_source=Testimonial&utm_campaign=february+2013&utm_medium=email

On the one hand, as a citizen of the city (or any municipality), you might say, “That’s impressive.” But then again, “What’s taken us so long?”

It’s 2013. By some accounts, the fitness movement in this country peaked around 1979- based upon survey data from the general population. I can tell you that there appeared to be a great awakening within the fire service for the need for physical fitness during the 1970’s.

I was in constant demand as a speaker at conferences across the country. My company was contracted to prepare instructional materials, implement pilot programs and conduct Fitness Coordinator training certification. We conducted over 100, 40-hour programs. And then, like a lot initiatives in the fire service, it petered out.

A couple of years ago, I attended the educational sessions associated with the Congressional Fire Service Institute in Washington, D.C. The topic of discussion was the 16 initiatives for the “Everyone Goes Home” program. I listened incredulously to some fire chiefs who were pleading ignorance on how to get their departments physically fit. Really? Is it that hard.

All of this validates my theory that fitness is not a priority. Take a look at the recruit classes. Are these people really the best we can muster? If fitness was a priority, we’d hire the best. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that my eyes are deceiving me.

Charlotte Coca-Cola 600

In what will likely be the largest audience in our 22-year history, the Memorial Day weekend event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway- is an event that you won’t want to miss. We’ve got access to the parking lot that costs over $1M to rent.

However, with crowds numbering around a quarter million, you can’t just show up at the last minute.

We’re working on a daily schedule of activities such as garage passes for our athletes. So, be sure to keep checking the hot news for updates on what’s being scheduled each of the days’ we’ll be there.

I couldn’t help but insert this link where Jeff Gordon takes a Chevy salesman and a Camaro for a ride; it think you’ll get a real kick out of it.

http://kdvr.com/2013/03/12/undercover-jeff-gordon-takes-car-salesman-on-wild-test-drive/

If We’re Reducing Calories, Why are we Still Not Losing Weight

This article written by Alexandra Sifferlin from the Time Magazine website asks, and answers an interesting question. 

The good news: we’re eating fewer calories. The bad news: that’s not translating into lower obesity rates.

Two federal studies on the amount of calories Americans eat show that we are eating less than we did about a decade ago, and that we’re also limiting the amount of fast food we consume.

Between 2007 to 2010, about 11.3% of daily calories came from from fast food, down from 12.8% reported between 2003 to 2006, according to data collected by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fast food consumption decreased with age, with adults aged 60 and older eating the least of this type of food. For younger adults, non-Hispanic black adults reporting eating the most fast food, with more than one-fifth of their daily calories coming from fast food chains.

Not surprisingly, those who took in the most calories from fast food favorites also weighed the most. “The good news from this study is that as we get older, perhaps we do get wiser and eat less fast food,” Samantha Heller, a clinical nutritionist at the NYU Center for Musculoskeletal Care in New York City told HealthDay. ”However, a take-home message is that the study suggests that the more fast food you eat, the fatter you get.”

The second study, also conducted by the CDC, looked at American kids aged 2 to 19 and found that boys were eating fewer calories, dropping from an average of 2,258 calories a day in 1999-2000 to approximately 2,100 calories in 2009-2010. The trend also applied to girls, who ate 76 fewer calories on average in the same time period. Most of this decline came in the form of carbohydrates; children continued to eat about the same amount of fats while increasing the protein they consumed.

“The children had a decrease in carbohydrates, and one of the carbohydrates is added sugars,” says CDC researcher Cynthia L. Ogden, who oversaw the research. ”There is evidence showing that added sugars have decreased in general,  and that these things are related to obesity. I think it will be interesting to continue to watch these trends and see what happens nationally.” Ogden says a major source of added sugar in diets comes from sugar-sweetened beverages, and as research shows limiting this sweet drinks can curb weight gain, parents may be curbing the amount of sweetened sodas children drink.

But if Americans are eating less fast food overall, why are obesity rates still so high? As encouraging as the calorie data are, the decreases aren’t significant enough to make a dent in upward trend of obesity. “To reverse the current prevalence of obesity, these numbers have to be a lot bigger,” Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University told the New York Times. “But they are trending in the right direction, and that’s good news.”

It may depend on how you look at the data. According to Ogden, while obesity rates may be high, the latest statistics show they may be stable, and not continuing to climb upward. “The rate of obesity has been flat recently in both children and in adults and some studies have come out recently that have found a decrease in obesity or childhood obesity in some cities. Still, a third of U.S. adults are obese and 17% of children are obese, but given this relatively stability, I think that these two studies show very interesting results,” says Ogden.

“I think [these findings] are a great start. I am happy to see there is a slight decrease. It still shows that for as much effort that has been put into messaging and positive nutrition promotion, we still have a lot of work to do. There are a lot of people who still need to be touched,” says Laura Jeffers, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Refining that message may require delving deeper in what Americans are eating, and addressing the balance between the amount of calories that we eat and the amount we burn off daily through physical activity. Jeffers speculates that even though fast food consumption is down, Americans may be eating unhealthy calories elsewhere. “I think that overall, people are not consuming the majority of their meals at fast food. Even-though maybe fast food has decreased, the majority of calorie consumption is not from the fast food restaurants. Looking at portion sizes and what people are getting in the home and the nutrition and health from those foods, should be another focus as to why the obesity rate is continuing to climb,” she says.

And while eating less is a good way to start addressing the obesity epidemic, it may be that slimming the national waistline means we also have to boost the amount of exercise we get every day.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/22/americans-are-eating-fewer-calories-so-why-are-we-still-obese/#ixzz2MPffPWnI

Fatter FDNY Recruits Failing

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/the_fat_has_hit_the_fire_1KPvaJzLXAT1Ymvu
9S6mGM

Fatter FDNY recruits failing
By BRAD HAMILTON
Last Updated: 10:15 AM, March 3, 2013

They're New York's Fattest.

The Fire Department's new class of recruits - all current city EMTs or
paramedics who want to become firefighters - are flaming out fast, failing
the Fire Academy in record numbers, according to FDNY sources.

As many as 30 of the 318 probationary trainees - who are older, weaker and
fatter than those in previous years - have already quit, and more are
expected to drop out before their 18-week course on Randalls Island
concludes in May, the sources said.

During the first week of the academy, 166 of the probies flunked the
physical-fitness test - which requires four pull-ups, 30 push-ups in one
minute, 30 sit-ups in one minute and a 1.5-mile run in 12 minutes.

Recruits are required to pass the physical-fitness test in order to
graduate.

"There are a lot of people saying this is the worst FDNY class in the
department's history," said a source.

The oversized and under-performing candidates will be given remedial
physical training. They'll also catch a break on the running requirements,
according to one high-ranking FDNY insider.

"They're allowing them to do it in 13 or 14 minutes," he said.

The Academy class, the first in the FDNY since 2008, was formed after a
federal judge forced the department to become more racially diverse, finding
that its recruitment practices discriminated against minorities.

So FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano excluded applicants from the general
population for this Academy class, limiting the pool to medics, whose ranks
include a higher percentage of minorities than is found in firehouses.

This year's class is the most diverse ever - 42 percent are black, Hispanic
or Asian, and six are women.

But they were rated only on a written exam. In years past, applicants had to
score high on both a written and a physical test.

About 870 medics took the written test and were ranked by score. But 300
were dropped after failing a cardiovascular stress test on a stair-climbing
machine, sources said.

More flunked out when they failed to complete an obstacle course in time,
failing at such tasks as dragging a hose and a weighted dummy, carrying
equipment, and raising a ladder. Insiders note this Candidate Physical
Ability Test is less challenging than the one required for graduation.

So instead of plucking the cream of the EMT crop, the department "had to
keep going farther down the list," a source said.

"On the open exam for the general public, only candidates who score a 97 are
likely to be called," said the source. "But because so many of this class
flunked their Stair Master, [scores] went as low as 72."

Veteran firefighters are fuming over the quality of the new recruits.

"Seems to me that the EMS Promotional Candidates came to work unprepared and
half of them out of shape," posted "Duke" on firefighter-complaint Web site
FDNY Rant.

"Fatbodies!" wrote "queenstl." A retired city medic wasn't surprised by the
flabby failures.

"EMS people are fat - we're like the AV squad at school," he told The Post.
"You sit in an ambulance for 8 to 16 hours a day. When are you supposed to
exercise?"

A quartermaster was overheard saying about the new class, "I've never given
out so many size-38 pants before."

The department's own EMS Academy head, Lt. David Russell, admitted in a 2011
report that even when FDNY recruits from EMS got extra help, "the overall
fitness of these recruits is still poor."

Cassano seemed to acknowledge this when he told the class, "The next 18
weeks will be the most difficult of your life and will push you like never
before."

The 318 entered the academy on Jan. 15 - and quickly began dropping out.
Four left on Jan. 30, including a 29-year-old from Brooklyn who notched the
highest written-exam score, a 100.

At least one man left because he didn't realize he'd be taking a pay cut.

A first-year firefighter makes $39,370, more than $4,000 a year less than
the paramedic's starting salary of $43,690. EMTs start at $31,981.

FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon acknowledged the losses. "We've got people
dropping out - every day it changes, almost. I don't have exact numbers."

He claimed the rate was "about the same as it usually is," then conceded it
might be "slightly higher" this year. Yet he defended the fitness of the
class.

"They all had to pass to get in," he said. "Every day there is physical
training, and it is rigorous.

Time Magazine: The Bitter Pill

This week’s Time magazine has been completely devoted to the subject of why our health care system is screwed up beyond all recognition. I’ve been a subscriber of Time since 1965 and arguably, this is the best article of all times.

The author lays out a very balanced analysis of where things are completely out of control. It’s a expansive article and will take some time to read, but as a frontline health care provider, you’ll find the whole story mesmerizing.

You don’t have to be a subscriber as you can read it on line. After you do, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the subject. One thing that I came away with is a healthy appreciation for how well Medicare is managed. Basically, everyone should be on Medicare!

Check it out here:

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/?xid=newsletter-weekly

Know Your Smoke

I just finished watching the link below; it’s only 10 minutes long. But you’ll think a lot more seriously about being in proximity to any fire, including food on the stove without your Air-Pak!

I can recall doing salvage and overhaul, checking for extension with a pike pole and seeing a glow in the dark; it was a guy smoking a cigarette! I hope those days have been extinguished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMjUgdS7SQM