3 ms·

1. It's hard to disentangle lifestyle choices from genetic ones. If someone is born with an insatiable appetite that means it's 10x harder for them to stay at

1. It's hard to disentangle lifestyle choices from genetic ones. If someone is born with an insatiable appetite that means it's 10x harder for them to stay at a healthy weight compared to someone else is that a lifestyle choice of genetics? 2. Being healthy already has quality of life consequences. And the extra cost to insure those lifestyle choices are probably pretty low, and most of that cost is just shifting it from primary insurance to medicare. Because everyone dies of something, and a lot of times it's really expensive. Insurers care a lot about whether that happens at 64 or 66. But as a society it doesn't really matter, and the insured bears most of the impact.

MRD85 8y ago
In support of your comment, when talking about weight it's common to talk about "fast metabolisms" keeping people skinny. Studies have shown that metabolisms don't vary much at all. What does vary is how hunger signals work with different people. The people who complain about being too skinny and can't gain weight simply find it difficult to eat enough to gain weight. Their body tells them they're not hungry. If you force feed them they'll still gain weight. I'm one of those people who gain weight easily due to always wanting to eat. I was morbidly obese at 19 despite coming from a household of healthy eating. I'm now 33 and have maintained a healthy weight for years but it isn't fun. For me to maintain a constant, healthy weight I need to be hungry. Despite 5+ years of maintenance, I am still hungry constantly.