You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

ID_Scorpion081 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:23:50 GMT

I knew something like this would start becoming commonplace in the USA! This definitely has the global fingerprint of the CODEX ALIMENTARIUS organization all over it! This is the kind of the policy they would endorse along with re-adjusting the nutritional "recommended requirements" of our foods and foodstuffs. This is definitely big government by proxy of the big industry! I haved followed Dr. Mercola's line of thinking until this article. I must say that I am taken aback at such careless and thoughtless statements such as this! The insurance agencies ( industry, et al ), food processing industry, pharmacopeia, corporate factory farms, and the "nanny-state" continue to push the envelop of despotism to new lows! I guess Pres. George W. was right, "The Constitution is just a g-- d--- piece of paper!" If We, The People don't say no to all of this nonsense, this is the same as saying "yes"; the Constitution then, is only that! That piece of paper is meaningless if we decide not to back it up with our voices and our actions!

What you do at home is your business and no one else's. I have always been opposed to the arbitrary use of "drug tests" and "credit checks" as a condition of hire. This is one more slap in the face of the rights of the people and of the concept of a society of free people.

My message to the good Doc., please rethink your politics be thinking carefully before reacting. Policies like these only further serve the interests of those with deep pockets and the desire to control others!

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

cblum — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:39:31 GMT

The health insurance companies are not going to lower their prices for health care. It will not matter whether everyone is trimming down at work and does not have high cholesterol etc. Insurance is a business that makes profit. I don't understand why companies would think that their healthcare costs will decrease as a result. Can anyone take a shot at this?

Volvox

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

DJones3423 — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:50:40 GMT

I'm appallled, Dr. Mercola. I never thought I would see you come out in support of something that takes away our ability to choose what we put into our own bodies.

Would you support my employer forcing me to follow a "healthy" food pyramid diet even though I'm a Protein type? My last doctor before you tried to get me to follow that, and I thought I was going to die before I found you as a doctor, and your nutritionist recommended almost exactly the opposite diet for me. Should I be penalized for eating for my nutritional type because conventional medicine tells us that there's only one "healthy" way to eat?

What about my employer force-feeding me medications for the health problems created that the food pyramid diet would create for me? It would be for my own good, right? To heck with the side effects. Another drug or two will take care of those. Should I quit eating red meats and stop salting my foods again the way the first doctor told me to do? I can always go back on thyroid medication when the lack of iodide catches up to me again, and I'm sure they can give me something for the low blood iron, the low blood sodium, and the low blood chloride levels. At least this time, we'll know what to check for so we know what supplements or drugs I need. At least I'll be following the rules and doing what I'm told so that I will qualify as "healthy" and be able to hold down a job. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll live to be at least 70 and only have to take a dozen or so pills a day to feel halfway decent on my "healthy" diet.

I'm completely disgusted with your response. We need to take control and responsibility for ourselves, and no one should be telling us what we can and can't do in a one-size-fits-all type of lifestyle. Our bodies are NOT all the same, as you have been tellilng us forever. What works for one person may or may not work for the next.

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

pdscripture — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:50:44 GMT

I've run my own business for fifty years, and I've never hired smokers or fatties, or anyone with indications of a health problem. I have always provided health insurance, and this has really helped to keep the cost down. My 70genetic background is not good, but I have worked hard to be healthy. I'm 70, and I take no OTC or prescription drugs, and I am healthier than many 40 year olds. If you want to live in a way that destroys your health, fine, but don't expect me to help pay for your bad choices,

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

JEMH — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:12:31 GMT

I can't help but think that the negatives comments in regards to this subject matter are driven by fear of one's own unhealthy lifestyle. As a holistic Dietitian/Nutritionist, I have reversed many negative health conditions in my patients, (100 point drop in triglycerides, 70 points in cholesterol, 88 pound weight loss), all by dietary and lifestyle changes. Don't be afraid of change. It can work!

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

JEMH — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:46:33 GMT

It is about time that we take the initiative and better responsability for our OWN HEALTH and stop depending on the insurance companys t o keep bailing us out before insurance rates will be so high, that NO ONE will be able to afford. AN employer has the right to hire and fire for the better of the company. BUT this has to be in fair terms without the employer taking advantage of the situation. For this to work, and it can work....it would need a strong and fair governing board. HEALTH PREVENTION is the best and most effective solution.

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

123erica — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:44:02 GMT

So if I am overweight and I am struggling tooth and nail to lose it, until it is lost, if I am discriminated against, what then? Do I pick up cans off the street until I 'arrive' at the Barbie-doll shape?

Will I be worthy of employment then? Or do me and my kids live out of my car as my weight gradually decreases?

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

NZkiwi — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:24:14 GMT

A very disturbing article, I think. I don't know what the answer is but I know that isn't it. I know that its up to the individual person, not a politician, not someone else, just you. I talk as much as I can to friends and family about eating healthy, I know its not easy, they don't listen, they think that you are a nut, they just smile and nod. So, all the people who read Mercola and submit their comments are doing something constructive and it will come to past that people will listen, eventually, I hope.

Kiwi

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

BethProverbs31 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:47:27 GMT

I definitely agree - this IS medical fascism! I am a nurse who takes pride in helping people get control of their health, but this is going way too far and infringes upon the rights of people to make their own decisions. People don't purposely get heart disease, cancer, etc. to suck up insurance benefits! This is an unfair practice and should be against the law! There ARE those who live recklessly and have disregard for their bodies, but there are also those who are obese, have high cholesterol, and suffer from hypertension because of genetic factors. Big Brother strikes again!

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

mkendall11 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 02:28:03 GMT

While bad habits can be the cause of many illnesses, I will never believe that high cholestrol is necessarily a bad habit cause. It happens to run high in our family and no one ever died from it. Aunt, uncles, grandparents lived into their 90's and 100's! I won't take the drugs recommended but watch what I take into my body. I had extensive testing done at the hand of my family doctor and he was amazed at my results - they were better than his own -- so he stopped recommending the drugs. The drug companies seem to have found a way to make money at the expense of many individuals and it saddens me. With that being said, if I was ever turned down for a job because of a high reading, I'd sue.

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

mary.nilssen — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:44:01 GMT

And who will hold the government accountalbe for the way food has been farmed for the past 75 or so years? This has resulted in our soil being depleted of the elements needed to grow the most healthy food. It is all about taking shortcuts so that more food can be farmed more easily by the food industry. As a result we need to eat 15 banasas to gain the potassioum requirements our body needs. There are many examples of this.

As a result, we need supplements, not just the junk made and sold in pharmacies, but the healthy products made by a handful of privately owned companies such as Nikken, Youngevity, and Melaleuca to name a few.

We need to wake up and understand that our goverment is not out to make us healthier, but just out to satisfy the financial demands of the elite and the companies that control America, and want to control the world. They are destroying America to achieve their goal of one world order, with one government. Bush is quietly moving towards merging America with Canada and Mexico into the North American Union. Not only has he not told us about this, but he has not gotten our approval for such a merge. We need to act on this before it is too late.

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

KelleyEidem — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:08:51 GMT

Hmm, confiscate $5 if your blood pressure is too high...now that should help to reduce your numbers!

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

Mikecmt — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:33:12 GMT

I'm into health and believe one should do the things required. But to have I.E. State or Government step in and allow corporations to dictated who is hired or fired because the eat Potatoe Chips instead of Oranges etc is going way over board!!!!!!!!!!

The administrators of most companies are way over wt at any rate, fire them! Hey ??? We must watch our freedoms, and not allow ever for this to happen. Thanks

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

stran — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:01:19 GMT

This is quite disturbing - makes good business sense - to pass the expense along to the one causing the cost, but the long-term ramifications are incredible!!

Until we do away with Insurance companies this will continue. The cost of medical insurance drives small businesses out of business - the cost and the rules placed on medical practitioners is enough to make your toes curl. You think Pharma is controlling the traditional medical practices???? - they don't have half the influence the insurance companies do!!!!! I see a lot on this site worrying about how the Pharmaceutical companies influence medical doctors, but the real day-to-day string pulling comes from the Insurance companies - THEY are WHY alternative medicines are not used and prescribed more!!! WAKE UP PEOPLE - opt out of medical insurance - buy yourself a cheap catastrophic policy and stop having your medical treatment dictated by someone withno medical experience whatsoever - alternative or traditional!!!!!

re: You Might Lose Your Job If You Smoke or Eat Junk Food

JillJ — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:25:13 GMT

This is exactly why we NEED TO VOTE FOR RON PAUL for President.