The news last week that several airlines are considering
charging overweight people for two airline seats evokes thoughts from me from two
extremes. On one end I work as a concerned and empathetic health care provider
to be sensitive to the challenges and struggles that overweight people face.
From the opposite end of the spectrum, still wearing my health care provider

Yes, the stats about the numbers of children and adolescents who are overweight (and obese) are glum. And these stats are often topped off with the dismal fact that today’s generation of children are on the road to a shorter life expectancy than recent generations due to obesity, poor eating habits and limited physical activity.

Revised numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were just published in the National Diabetes Fact Sheet and they are, once again, disheartening and staggering but not surprising: