Since we're talking about it...#1

This week, the theme has been how our health relates to our wealth. Some of the things that plague the lower levels of society, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and, our topic of discussion for now: obesity. We've learned that it's one of the things that we are faced with to our detriment the less we make a year, and now, ironically, we learn that it's also the biggest financial detriment as we age.

This article lays out the vicious circle. Obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers and strokes. Those illnesses lead to loss of employment and a huge shot to your income when one is relegated to living off of disability checks. Loss of job and income leads to a drop in social status, which, as we've learned over the course of the week, leads to the drop in quality of life, namely: time for healthy activity and access to healthy food. Less access to healthy food and activity leads to, you guessed it: obesity. And then we start all over.

So over the course of the week, we've gotten quite a few reasons for the rise and fall of health as we cross "classes". Stress, access to health insurance, and access to healthy activity and food. For a class-less society, we sure have what looks like a social-class disparity.