You know obesity can lead to a lot of serious health problems, but did you know it kills more than 25,000 people a year in the United States? Now a new study finds weighing too much can take up to ten years off your life.  Researchers from Oxford University in England say if you’re 40 or more pounds over a healthy weight, you may be cutting about three years off your life, mostly from heart disease and stroke. And if you’re about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, you could be shortening your life by as many as 10 years.

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My jaw is still in the dropped position. I just saw that PETA wants Ben & Jerry’s to get milk for its ice cream from breast milk (as in nursing moms) instead of cows. Ummm… what???! Breast milk in Ben & Jerry’s???

Yes, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote the ice cream guys a letter asking them to make the switch because cow’s milk can cause health problems in us humans and the trade off would also reduce the suffering of cows and calves.

PETA says, “Because, like all mammals, cows only give milk during or after pregnancy, in order for humans to constantly milk them, they are forcefully impregnated every nine months. Many live in filthy conditions and are forced to give 10 times more milk than they would naturally. It’s truly an awful life.”

Apparently, PETA came up with the idea when the group heard that a restaurant in Switzerland has a new menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent human breast milk.

Okay, I get the animal rights thing… and if you don’t want to drink cow’s milk, that’s fine, too. But seriously – breast milk? How would you get that much breast milk? How is that Swiss restaurant going about this?

Back to the PETA/Ben & Jerry’s issue…

Ben & Jerry’s response: “We applaud PETA’s novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother’s milk is best used for her child.”

PETA’s response to the response: “Hey, guys, that’s our point: Cow’s milk is for baby cows.”

Ahhh. Now I get it – this is just PETA’s way to bring attention to the issue! I think it’s working.

Photo Credit: Ben & Jerry’s

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You know I talk a lot about the obesity epidemic in this country here at FFTV, but this is something that even shocked me. New research finds if things don’t change, most American adults – 86 percent – will be overweight or obese by the year 2030. 86 percent!

And the cost of this crisis? The study – which is in the online issue of Obesity - projects health care spending related to overweight and obesity to reach as much as $956.9 billion as health problems soar. Both the overweight and obese are more at risk for having several health conditions, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Another scary effect of all this – researchers say children and young adults may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents if the obesity epidemic is left unaddressed.

Even as we keep getting more sombering news about obesity in the U.S., I still think the trend can be reversed if we all do our part – you know, the “it takes a village” mentality. I have been busy talking to a lot of people lately who are already Making a Healthy Difference and will share their stories with you very soon.

In the meantime, I’m curious – what do you think needs to be done to get us out of this mess and really turn things around?

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