Also, keep in mind that correlation does not equal causation. So when you hear about a disease that’s “clearly linked” to obesity, it’s possible that people are gaining weight because they’re sick, rather than getting sick because they’ve gained weight. (Just like with other diseases, people lose weight because they’re sick rather than getting sick because they’re thin.) Or, it’s possible that both the disease and the weight gain are caused by some other factor. That’s just one more reason why choosing “obesity” as the thing to campaign against is misguided.

“Fat is unhealthy” is one of those things that “everyone knows” is true because it’s been repeated so often. But when you actually look into what evidence there is to back it up, it turns out that it’s really pretty shaky.

I’m not one to criticize anyone else for wanting to take care of their own health for their own benefit. But I hope you’re not one of those people who’s quick to sneer at those with “lifestyle illnesses” – or anyone else who’s insufficiently healthy for your taste – for not “doing their part.” A costly illness or injury can strike anyone at any time.

Re Becca – there’s foolish risk (driving unnecessarily in a snow storm, or participating in a risky sport without proper training or equipment) and calculated/informed risk (my DH skis in the high backcountry, but has gone to all kinds of training & researches to get the best gear – plus he has 50 years of skiing under his belt – & as Nicole says, when he dies he’d rather ddo so up on a mountain in the snow than sitting around the house & aging out).

To a great extent energy prices are a supply-and-demand thing. There was a pre-recession gas spike in 2008, then prices dropped during the recession, and in part are rebounding as consumers have more money and are using more gas. I get it is about speculation and other things too. But in supply-and-demand things, a small decline or increase in usage greatly alters the overall price. So if you use less gas, in the immediate picture, your personal costs drops. In the whole of the economy you are also doing your part to reduce prices at the pump by contributing less to the demand.

Health insurance costs are also rapidly escalating. There is a national debate about Medicare and deficits. Again we can get into political debates, but that is not my purpose here. If you are unhappy, in the short term you do all you can to be as healthy as you can, as in a few decades how you live today will greatly impact your own health costs… as well as costs to the society as a whole. Lifestyle illnesses cost our country about a trillion dollars a year. So I regularly ask myself if I am doing all I can to minimize my health-care costs as it effects others in my insurance pool driving up my own costs, and long term it will affect how much my kids pay for my Medicare. Along with this, it drives me nuts how people take risks for fun (drive in a snowstorm to go to a party, risky outdoor sports and so on). Don’t do risk for fun.

So my point is that if you are unhappy with the new normal, take care of your own situation in the short term, as this likely will immediately reduce your costs, and to be sure you contribute as little as you can to the bigger picture of rising costs. If you are not doing your part, you don’t get to complain.

The writer then gives ways to avoid these financial decision pitfalls.

When my husband and I were first married we bought a bookcase for $100. We were just walking through Ikea and we saw this lovely bookcase that, compared to the other bookcases, was really nice and very cheap. It was an impulse buy and the moment we drove off the Ikea lot I knew we had made a bad financial choice. If we had $100 to spend willy nilly on a bookcase that we didn’t need, then we could certainly have afforded the clothes that I needed at that time or the textbooks that my husband needed for his classes.
Before purchasing the bookcase we should have thought about that $100 in terms of the things we needed instead of the impulsive “deal” that was before us.