As we like to say in BTC Land, it is Babytalk at its very bust.

Let’s review shall we? Mr. Smith buys two seats on Southwest Airlines in an obvious acknowledgement that just one standard airline seat is no match for his ample caboose. He then decides to change flights, but the new flight only has one seat available. This is where that annoying little thing called “reality” struck, making it obvious that the lucky travelers neighboring Mr. Smith’s seat would be getting up close and personal with Silent Bob’s overflow flesh. Ummm!!! And you know it will only get better in mid flight when the predictable sleep apnea-induced coma kicks in to produce a drool stream connecting his gaping pie hole with the collar of his mustard-stained shirt.

One involuntary muscle twitch and that dangling saliva rope will become a deadly mucous missile heading straight for your snack tray but hey, that’s life. Nobody’s perfect.

The part that kills me is how this whole scenario becomes Southwest’s fault, causing Mr. Smith to unleash a tirade of indignation that he should be treated in such a fashion.

Here are some highlights:

Smith said he suspected he may have been bumped by an airline employee who did not like his comic films, which include “Zach and Miri Mkae a Porno,” “Clerks” and the upcomong “Cop Out”.

Is this guy serious? How many airline employees would you have to survey before finding one who was familiar with this cultural trilogy of Hollywood but Hollyshouldn’t.

Smith says “I’ll never fly on Southwest again!” Can you just hear the sigh of relief coming from the 85 pound female yoga instructor who might have been the next seat-mate to Mr. Smith’s gravitational pull?

And my favorite, Smith is going to launch a “scorched earth” campaign against Southwest in protest of their inhumane treatment of flying fatties.

Listen up Sponge Bob, it sounds like the only thing being scorched is the pavement in the drive-thru lanes of your local eateries. Man up and take your medicine like you take your French fries. If you want to live like a load don’t cry when the reality of living like a load becomes an inconvenience.

Next time stick with the two seats and take it like a man. And I hope your next film goes well. At the rate you’re slaying those burritos, you’ll be paying for a whole row next year! Maybe I can catch Silent Bob Two on my next Southwest Airlines flight.

Billy the Coach
PO Box 852
North Andover, MA 01845
Tel: 978-689-0957
www.billythecoach.com    

Click on the picture and watch the video then tell us what YOU think.  Weigh-in on this!

Here’s a newsflash baseball fans…it won’t happen.
Digest this.

In proposing a 5% premium on sweets and soft drinks, Massachusetts Governor Deval called it a “critical first step in discouraging the consumption of these empty calories.”
Ironic that Deval’s public health commissioner John Auerbach would acknowledge in a subsequent interview that this “sugar tax” was more about revenue generation than behavior modification. Adding more, Auerbach said “I think it is possible that it will effect consumption, but when we’ve looked at past studies, it is difficult to document that.”

Not feeling good yet about a national version of this nonsense? Keep reading.

In 2003, McDonald’s was the target of a lawsuit alleging food from McDonald’s restaurants was responsible for making people obese. In a victory for common sense, Judge Robert Sweet threw the case out of court.

In his ruling Judge Sweet stated, “Where should the line be drawn between an individual’s own responsibility to take care of herself and society’s responsibility to ensure others shield her?”

Good question. And equal consideration for “Where should we draw the line?” should be given to the question of “WHO should draw the line?”

The America I live in was founded by people brave enough to fight such intrusive government agendas. And the America I hope we never see is one that taxes the food choices we make because the government told us we were too stupid to think for ourselves. And we believed them.

And what a shocker this is! All those unconscious Mississippi adults are raising the fattest kids of any state as well, with 44.4% (yes that’s frighteningly close to half) of their children ranking overweight or obese. Isn’t that nice?

Just how bad is it? In the past 5 years, not a single state has shown a decrease in the number of overweight and obese adults. That’s 0 for 50 for you baseball fans out there.

But my favorite part of this national disaster is Obama’s desire to institute a government run health insurance plan that will pay the oncoming tsunami of health care costs generated by a population that clearly lacks the will or desire to eat responsibly and exercise effectively.

Anyone hearing any talk of holding Americans accountable for their preventable health care costs? Are you hearing any talk about mandatory lifestyle modification programs for those diagnosed with Type II diabetes or high cholesterol. Anyone hearing calls to deny health insurance to those who continue to smoke cigarettes? I don’t think so.

Hold on to your wallets folks. Obama wants to throw a health care party for America the obese. He wants you to pay for it, and it looks like it is going to be open bar.

I can’t weight.

For clarification, here is the dictionary definition of reform:
Reform –noun
1. the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc.: social reform; spelling reform.

2. an instance of this.

3. the amendment of conduct, belief, etc.

If anyone on the planet has a responsibility to lead by example, it should be Obama.

He is a parent.

He is the face of health care reform.

He is a black American (Blacks have very high rates of smoking).

Oh yes, and he also happens to be the PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.

“95% cured of smoking” as Obama said in his press conference is not good enough.

If you’re going to ask the Americans to trust you as their President, sneaking a smoke behind their backs is not good enough.

As the Commander in Chief, if you ask American soldiers to show courage under fire, your courage should at least hold up against a pack of cigarettes.

Time to man up Mr. President.

Time to put on the Big Boy Pants.

BTC

Now just because Dalmia expresses this opinion doesn’t mean she is right. But the fact that she might be right, and the fact that many Americans share this opinion, is cause for concern given the $1.6 trillion price tag on Obama’s plan.

Do you think the government has proven itself to be a worthy steward of Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs, and therefore worthy of our confidence that it can effectively manage a national health care program?

How it will be managed and who will pay for it are complex issues that won’t be resolved easily. But one question should be first and foremost in a system that we’re told will be built upon the premise of preventative care. “WHERE’S THE FITNESS???”

 With obesity, diabetes, hypertension and many cancers on the rise due to the continued poor lifestyle behaviors of the majority of Americans, is it realistic to think any health care system can care for a population that refuses to care for itself?

WELCOME to the Billy the Coach  Network Blog, and thanks for visiting. Please bookmark the BTC site and revisit each day for the latest news in health, fitness and the war on fat in America.

WHAT IS THE Billy the Coach Network and WHY WAS IT CREATED?

The Billy the Coach Network is a gathering place for physically fit Americans and those who wish to be physically fit Americans. It is a place for people who GET IT!

Yes it is unfortunately true that millions of Americans are overweight, under-active and unwilling to do much about it. That’s their right if they choose to live that way. That right is what America is all about.

WELL GUESS WHAT? WE CHOOSE TO LIVE THIS WAY!!!!!

The Billy the Coach Network was created to provide living proof that America’s fighting spirit is alive and well. We strive for the health of ourselves, our families and our future. We believe American health is better served by those who act as her defenders rather than those who act defenseless. We believe our children need responsible role models not cinnamon roll models. We seek to build our country’s strength rather than beg to be saved by it. We are the modern day Patriots, the modern day pioneers.

Now it’s your turn. Tell us what you think and let’s have at it. Let’s tell it like it is and get this conversation started.

I say physical fitness is the core duty and responsibility of every American, every parent and every citizen who still believes the greatest nation on Earth is worth our best effort.

More importantly, what do you say?
Billy the Coach

It’s been another one of those days: places to go, deadlines to meet, meals to cook. You find yourself daydreaming about crisp, salty potato chips. Pretty soon it’s an insistent, must-have-it-now craving, and before you know it, your hand is deep in the bag.

 It’s normal to crave certain foods, but make sure you don’t go overboard.

Rather than berate your lack of willpower, once in a while, indulge yourself. In a 2007 Tufts University study of healthy women, 91 percent reported having food cravings (which the researchers define as an intense desire to eat a specific food). In other words, cravings are common, and the key to successful weight management, experts say, is learning to address cravings rather than always deny them.

“You first have to accept that having cravings is normal, but you don’t have to give in to every one,” says Tufts study coauthor Susan Roberts, PhD. “The people in our research who manage their weight the best are not those who crave foods less often but those who give in some of the time.”

Trigger happy

Brian Wansink, PhD, director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab and author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think,” has made a career of studying people’s behavior relating to food. He says cravings fall into two basic categories: snacks (with potato chips, ice cream, cookies, and chocolate leading the list) and meal foods (pizza, pasta, burgers, casseroles, and the like). Which comfort food you choose can be affected by age and gender. “Women tend to crave sweet stuff, men salty stuff,” Roberts says. “And premenstrual women’s cravings are more likely to be insistent.”CookingLight.com: Build a healthier pie with top pizza recipes

What triggers a food longing? Hormonal fluctuations are thought to be the cause in premenstrual women, though no one knows for sure, says Roberts. Other theories include a physical need for calories and emotional cues. “If you haven’t eaten for hours and you’re really hungry, that is a physical craving, and you should eat,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Emotional yens, on the other hand, may be set off by almost anything: a song, a person, a feeling, a situation that’s associated with a particular food — any reminder can kick a hankering into gear, “even if you’re not hungry,” Taub-Dix says.

Although stress is a commonly cited culprit, research shows that positive events trigger cravings even more than negative feelings, says Wansink. “In one of our studies, we rigged games so that people would either succeed or lose, and we found that they ended up having a stronger craving when they won.”

 Although it makes some good points, the pandering to (here comes one of my favorite BABY TALK topics)….

CRAVINGS…..is absolutely nauseating. 

Check it out….from the article…..“Emotional yens (food cravings), on the other hand, may be set off by almost anything: a song, a person, a feeling, a situation that’s associated with a particular food — any reminder can kick a hankering into gear, “even if you’re not hungry,” Taub-Dix says.

A SONG!!!!! Now that’s a first for me. Do you not absolutely love it!!!!

Next time I get pulled over for speeding, I’ll tell the cop that I was blasting HOT ROD LINCOLN on the radio and I got a CRAVING to go fast!!!!

I love it!

BTC

Running has many reasons for pleasin’

The Bolder Boulder just keeps getting more popular. More than 54,000 registered for the 2008 race, shown here. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post )

Running USA publishes a “State of the Sport” report every summer, full of interesting facts and figures about the running lifestyle, but one item in particular in this year’s report jumped out at me.

As part of a national runner survey, Running USA found “weight concerns” were the No. 1 reason cited by males and females when asked why they started to run. But when asked why they continued to run, weight control fell to No. 5 for women and No. 8 for men.

Women cited staying healthy, staying in shape, relieving stress and meeting a personal challenge ahead of weight control. Men cited those reasons along with having fun, achieving a goal and socializing.

“Everyone needs a spark,” said Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray, who also manages the Denver Marathon (Oct. 19). “The spark is, you look in the mirror and you see yourself overweight, you get concerned about it, you hear all these medical warnings about obesity and how it can lead to the onset of diabetes and all these illnesses. That’s the shock factor.

“You start running, you start losing the weight, and lo and behold it becomes a lifestyle. Maybe you’ve lost all the weight you need to lose, but now you don’t want to give this up because of the other intrinsic benefits.”

Like those new converts to running, the State of the Sport is getting healthier all the time. Race events are growing, as are the numbers of race finishers and the advertising revenue of running magazines, even as advertising revenue shrinks for the magazine industry as a whole.

American Sports Data put the number of “frequent” runners in the U.S. at 11,731,000. Running USA says 52 percent of the “core runner” demographic is female. The median age for women is 39, with a median age for men of 45.

The study said 23 percent of men called themselves “serious competitors,” compared with 11 percent of the women. I suspect the fraction of competitive runners is considerably higher in the Denver-Boulder area, a hotbed for road racing by any measure.

In 2007 the Bolder Boulder was the fifth-largest race in the world and the largest in America that times every racer. The Peachtree road race in Atlanta was larger, but not everyone was timed.

With the obesity epidemic harming our youth as well as adults, it’s good to know running is gaining more converts there, too. From 2001-07, participation in high school cross country grew 14.5 percent among girls and 13 percent among boys. Track and field participation grew 7 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The number of marathoners continues to climb, having long ago surpassed the 400,000 mark annually. But the fastest-growing event — and now the favorite race distance among “core runners” — is the half-marathon.

From 1998-2007, the number of annual half-marathon finishers rose from 373,000 to 650,000. The number of half-marathons increased from 450 to 630.

“The half-marathon is becoming the distance du jour today,” McGillivray said. “Very rarely do you see a marathon being born without a half-marathon being attached to it. The marquee event is the marathon, but it’s the half-marathon that’s supporting the entire weekend. It allows the marathon to exist, because if the marathon was a stand-alone event, a lot of these new marathons couldn’t survive.”

So the second running boom continues, less competitive but more diverse than the first. New converts learn that running not only makes them feel good, it makes them feel good about themselves.

“It’s all about self-esteem and self-confidence,” McGillivray said. “Ultimately that’s it, whether it is weight loss, fitness, giving back (by) raising money. How you feel about yourself is going to dictate everything else that goes on in your life.”