Cleveland Clinic CEO Delos “Toby” Cosgrove recently made headlines for his remarks about obesity when he told a New York Times reporter that if it were up to him, and if there weren’t legal issues, he would not only stop hiring smokers (the Clinic has), he would also stop hiring obese people.  

On the surface, it appears that the heart surgeon/chief exec has no, well, heart.  But Cosgrove, who has since apologized for the hurt his comments may have caused others, says he simply wants our nation’s obesity problem to take center stage. And why not? Healthcare professionals are great at treating the results of obesity: high blood pressure, diabetes, etc, but what’s really being done to prevent obesity from taking shape in the first place? The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology reports that 16 to 33% of our children and adolescents weigh 10% or more than what they should for their height and body type, making them obese. And according to the New York Times article, people in their 50s are about 20 lbs heavier on average than 50-somethings were in the late 1970s.

Perhaps a health-related follow-up to the iPhone and iPod in the form of an iFit (as in getting and staying fit) could be developed. Of course such personal fitness devices (let’s call them PFDs) device could be developed by a “non-I” electronics firm that could name the device something equally “fitting.”

Such devices would require the user to enter his or her personal data: age, weight, height, body type, etc, and in return the user would receive a recommended DCC (daily calorie count) for maintaining current weight based on normal low-impact activity. If the iFit determines the user is overweight or obese, a recommended number of pounds to be lost would be provided. Then, the user would enter the desired amount of weight to be lost over a set period of time to arrive at a recommended DCC to achieve the goal. Other changes to the DCC would occur when the user records activities that burn calories at a faster rate: running, lifting weights, dancing, etc. The user would also be able to enter food types and amounts eaten during the day.

If approached correctly, iFits or PFDs could do for our health what GPS systems do for our driving: direct us to the right road, keep us on the right road, and allow us to reach our final destination without getting lost along the way.

What do you think? Send your thoughts to jjancsurak@windstream.net.