Is Palin NUTS????

[myrori 55]

Sarah Palin lashed out at Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign. (TLC/AP)

(CBS) Americans don't usually get fitness advice from Sarah Palin, but last week the mother of five lashed out at Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program to help curb childhood obesity by helping kids eat well and stay active.

"Take her anti-obesity thing that she is on. She is on this kick, right. What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat," Palin said on Laura Ingraham's national

.

"Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician's wife's priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions and then our country gets back on the right track."

The "God-given rights" Palin hopes to protect apparently involve not having to listen to healthy eating advice, learning about portion size and encouraging kids to play more sports and watch less TV.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years, putting millions of kids at risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and bone and joint disorders.

As for Palin's own family, exercise is a priority. According to a Wall Street Journal profile, the former Alaska governor's parents were marathon runners and Palin herself runs three miles a day. She even named her first son Track because he was born at the beginning of the running season.

"Conventional running is my sanity," she told the paper. The Palins eat well too. "My family and I eat a healthy diet heavy in wild Alaskan seafood, moose, caribou and fresh fruit, " she said

I wish my parents had had the education and push to feed us healthy. I think what Michele is doing is great! If we can change the way America eats we will save so many kids from hard lives.

[BZButterfly79 19]

There are times I love Sarah Palin and then there are times I reaaaaaaaly don't like her, I mean our country is an embarassment when it comes to obesity what is Michelle supposed to do...sit on her bottom all day, I think her agenda is unique and needed.

[thinoneday 445]

There are days I'm REALLY embarrassed at our country's obesity rate. Then there is that Michelle Obamma person who herself doesn't look that great in a bathing suit. . did anyone see her and her daughter at the beach wherever they were?? . . at least she should have wore a 1 piecer. Want to talk about an EMBARRASSMENT!! . .Sarah Palin may be foolish in some of her ways but at least she is in shape and doesn't preach "do as I say and not as I do" philosphopy. . .

[sleevesearch 14]

There are days I'm REALLY embarrassed at our country's obesity rate. Then there is that Michelle Obamma person who herself doesn't look that great in a bathing suit. . did anyone see her and her daughter at the beach wherever they were?? . . at least she should have wore a 1 piecer. Want to talk about an EMBARRASSMENT!! . .Sarah Palin may be foolish in some of her ways but at least she is in shape and doesn't preach "do as I say and not as I do" philosphopy. . .

This statement is EMBARRASSING!!!! OMG!

[Bumblestitch 0]

There are days I'm REALLY embarrassed at our country's obesity rate. Then there is that Michelle Obamma person who herself doesn't look that great in a bathing suit. . did anyone see her and her daughter at the beach wherever they were?? . . at least she should have wore a 1 piecer. Want to talk about an EMBARRASSMENT!! . .Sarah Palin may be foolish in some of her ways but at least she is in shape and doesn't preach "do as I say and not as I do" philosphopy. . .

Wow. Making fun of someone for being fat. Why are you on these boards again?

[sleevesearch 14]

More pointedly, the Obama's are NOT even overweight!!!

[sleeve 4 me 910]

YES! LOL!

[thinoneday 445]

LMAO!!! It's just my observation and once again, freedom of speech while I still can! LMAO!!! :lol: :lol:

[dbrjredd 0]

I, myself think it's ridiculous for the government, including the first lady, to tell me how to take care of my kids!

As a teacher...I see the CRAP they put on the kids plates (all in the name of being healthy) and the kids won't eat it. Therefore, they go all day without eating anything...then go home & pig out! That's where the obesity comes in at...they should allow the kids to eat a good lunch so they could work it off while still at school.(Recess, P.E., etc) The kids instead, go home, pig out on whatever & then sit on the couch & watch tv or play video games. I think we should spend more time educating our children about it instead of feeding them things they won't eat. Just my opinion...sorry if it offends anyone!

Rhonda

[thinoneday 445]

Rhonda, never be sorry for talking your feelings. . it's your human right and i am soooooooooooo with you I do not believe that the government or that obama family should tell anyone what to eat, how to dress, how to pray, where to pray, when or when not to put up a nativity scene, etc. or even this forum asking me why i'm on this forum????? ummmmmmm figure it out???? LMAO once again! . . never apologize for your feelings cause for now we have the freedom of speech until it gets changed. . . cheers!!!!!!!!

[myrori 55]

As a former lunch Mom I have to agree those federal meals are horrid and I would hope that is one thing that would be addressed. However I think the point here is there is a problem in America and people don't know what to eat to be healthy, otherwise we would not have the obesity rate we have in America.

I think that anyone who wants to step forward and help America learn healthy eating be in Michelle Obama or Nobody from no where, more power to them. The answer to this problem is education. I don't think Michele is trying to dictate to anyone what they have to eat, I think she is taking on the very needed role of education America. What we do with the educating is up to us.

[SouthernSleever 228]

Michelle Obama overweight.....AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH......AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHaahahahahahahahaaaaa To say Michelle should stay out of it is to say that Laura Bush or Nancy Reagan shouldn't have encouraged America's children to read they should have just stayed out of it and let Americans decide for themselves if they wanted to learn to read or not. Have you seen what kids eat in lunchrooms across America? Have you seen how little activity they get in and out of school. To say at that anyone turns a blind eye to this and the healthcare/budget problems this will result in is plain STUPID.

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

Wow. Making fun of someone for being fat. Why are you on these boards again?

Thank you! My exact thoughts. I think she's in very fine shape, especially considering she's in her what, 40s, and has had 2 kids. I'd be very pleased with myself if I look like that at her age and with children.

On another note, I think the government definitely needs to do more to prevent and treat obesity. I think a good place to start would be getting out of bed with the food industry. Government intervention has worked quite well for smoking, the same needs to be done for junk food. As far as the idea that people can take care of themselves, I don't think it's working. If we were all really that apt at taking care of ourselves, people wouldn't be getting up to 400 lbs. There needs to be a major overhaul of basically every aspect of our society to beat obesity:

In school - 1) education - start talking about healthy food in elementary school, tell older students about the chemicals in processed food, teach them how to read labels

2) school lunches - make them healthy

3) exercise - make it a more significant component of the school day, encourage children to play active games

At work - 1) provide incentives for people to exercise (reimbursement for gym membership, offer workout facilities on site if the office is big enough, etc)

2) choose healthy catering - one thing I see at the hospital ALL THE TIME is people bringing in donuts and Desserts to everything, yet 2/3 of the nurses are so obese, I don't even know how they walk around, much less do an oftentimes physically demanding job

3) provide vending machines with healthy food - the emergency room at the hospital by my medical school has vending machines with fresh fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese

Everywhere - 1) improve public transportation so people use it more and charge more for parking so people have a financial incentive to take public transit

2) Mandate nutrition information for restaurant meals - and make it obvious. I can't tell you how many times I've attempted to obtain nutrition info from a restaurant only to find that nobody has any ideas where it is - often, it's locked in the manager's desk drawer and the manager is not even there

3) Tax crap food and subsidize vegetables and fruits instead of wheat that ends up being dumped on African countries and destroying whatever semblance of self-sufficiency they might have

4) Get some sort of grip on how large restaurant portions should be. Most places serve 3-4x more than one should eat in today's society, considering how few calories we expend if we don't purposely make an effort to exercise. I went to this Italian place the other day and the portion on my plate was the size of a SOCCER BALL. A SOCCER BALL OF Pasta. What the hell is wrong with this world?

Also, there's definitely a component of people having their head up their #@$. Watched "Food Inc" a few months ago and this family kept going on about how they are so poor and they have to eat fast food for every meal (they also talked about how expensive insulin was - ironic, because if they ate better and exercised more, they probably would spend a lot less on it). Yes, they can't afford scallops and fresh peaches, but there are lots of affordable healthy things. Grains, milk, eggs, potatoes, Beans, canned/frozen fruit and vegetables are not more expensive than fast food. And if you are crafty, like my friends and I were in college, nothing beats the Whole Foods dumpster for fruit and vegetables that are barely damaged (a bruised peach or a bunch of lettuce where the ends of the leaves are just starting to turn brown - just rip off the tips and you are good to go!).

Bottom line: I think we've proven that our ability to look out for ourselves is limited and the government needs to intervene to change this fat-promoting environment that our society has turned into. We are ok with psychiatric hospitals detaining patients who are trying to kill themselves, but we are not ok with the government imposing junk food taxes so we'd stop killing ourselves with garbage food?

[Lila21 36]

Thank you! My exact thoughts. I think she's in very fine shape, especially considering she's in her what, 40s, and has had 2 kids. I'd be very pleased with myself if I look like that at her age and with children.

On another note, I think the government definitely needs to do more to prevent and treat obesity. I think a good place to start would be getting out of bed with the food industry. Government intervention has worked quite well for smoking, the same needs to be done for junk food. As far as the idea that people can take care of themselves, I don't think it's working. If we were all really that apt at taking care of ourselves, people wouldn't be getting up to 400 lbs. There needs to be a major overhaul of basically every aspect of our society to beat obesity:

In school - 1) education - start talking about healthy food in elementary school, tell older students about the chemicals in processed food, teach them how to read labels

2) school lunches - make them healthy

3) exercise - make it a more significant component of the school day, encourage children to play active games

At work - 1) provide incentives for people to exercise (reimbursement for gym membership, offer workout facilities on site if the office is big enough, etc)

2) choose healthy catering - one thing I see at the hospital ALL THE TIME is people bringing in donuts and Desserts to everything, yet 2/3 of the nurses are so obese, I don't even know how they walk around, much less do an oftentimes physically demanding job

3) provide vending machines with healthy food - the emergency room at the hospital by my medical school has vending machines with fresh fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese

Everywhere - 1) improve public transportation so people use it more and charge more for parking so people have a financial incentive to take public transit

2) Mandate nutrition information for restaurant meals - and make it obvious. I can't tell you how many times I've attempted to obtain nutrition info from a restaurant only to find that nobody has any ideas where it is - often, it's locked in the manager's desk drawer and the manager is not even there

3) Tax crap food and subsidize vegetables and fruits instead of wheat that ends up being dumped on African countries and destroying whatever semblance of self-sufficiency they might have

4) Get some sort of grip on how large restaurant portions should be. Most places serve 3-4x more than one should eat in today's society, considering how few calories we expend if we don't purposely make an effort to exercise. I went to this Italian place the other day and the portion on my plate was the size of a SOCCER BALL. A SOCCER BALL OF Pasta. What the hell is wrong with this world?

Also, there's definitely a component of people having their head up their #@$. Watched "Food Inc" a few months ago and this family kept going on about how they are so poor and they have to eat fast food for every meal (they also talked about how expensive insulin was - ironic, because if they ate better and exercised more, they probably would spend a lot less on it). Yes, they can't afford scallops and fresh peaches, but there are lots of affordable healthy things. Grains, milk, eggs, potatoes, Beans, canned/frozen fruit and vegetables are not more expensive than fast food. And if you are crafty, like my friends and I were in college, nothing beats the Whole Foods dumpster for fruit and vegetables that are barely damaged (a bruised peach or a bunch of lettuce where the ends of the leaves are just starting to turn brown - just rip off the tips and you are good to go!).

Bottom line: I think we've proven that our ability to look out for ourselves is limited and the government needs to intervene to change this fat-promoting environment that our society has turned into. We are ok with psychiatric hospitals detaining patients who are trying to kill themselves, but we are not ok with the government imposing junk food taxes so we'd stop killing ourselves with garbage food?

Well said. P.S. Weren't people CRAZY to get Michelle Obama's arms? I seem to remember this being a "hot news item" right after the election :-)

[Jane_J 117]

Its sooo fashionable to hate Pailin, well it is in the UK. Our 'intellegensia' are knocking themselves out on this at the moment, like they did with Bush. I am reserving judgement, being a social liberal but an economic conservative and all.

Jane x