According to Ralph Keeney, a century ago only 5% of deaths were related to personal choice. Now a full 55% of deaths of people aged 15 to 64 can be attributed to decisions made that have alternatives (like smoking, overeating, driving without a seatbelt, etc.) – the other 45% are mainly attributed to disease. No surprise, as 23.1% of Canadian adults are clinically obese (almost double the rate from 1978).

His last line is interesting:

Keeney notes that society already holds people accountable for some actions: Some workplaces disqualify smokers as job candidates; alcoholics are often denied liver transplants. We could deploy more of these penalties: costlier health insurance for the obese, or criminalizing texting while driving the way we do drunk driving. But in the end, punishment is inevitable anyway. "The ultimate penalty is death," Keeney says. "I don’t want to totally thwart survival of the fittest."

Full article here.

In business, keeping weight down is very difficult. Hectic schedule makes getting into a regular work out routine hard and the schedule of off the plane, on the plane, in the hotel, dinner with client, business lunch or breakfast means that it is easy to gain weight (some cream with that dinner Mr. Weening?). Clean your plate at a business dinner and you are guaranteed to lose the battle of the waistline (sorry Mom). A friend of mine has a business dinner rule .. he only eats the size of his fist and leaves the rest.

In the end, I choose to allow nature to select me … I really do want to see 100. Imagine what the world will look like in 2068? In the article ‘To change effectively, change just one thing’, Peter Bergman has a few insights on how he lost weight and interesting details on a diet study (and how they are all the same).

I agree with him, just find that one thing. I also wear a seatbelt, don’t drink often and don’t smoke. It all adds up to better odds.