It’s not my intention to question the difficulty so many obese people face when trying to lose weight, nor how genuinely saddened some may feel at the FDA’s recent rejection of Qnexa. Qnexa was considered one of the most promising of many FDA-rejected anti-obesity drugs.
I only want to suggest an alternative to medication: long-term lifestyle change.
Cut all “fast foods” from your diet.
Eat out at a nice restaurant once a week at most.
Cook almost all your meals at home.
Maximize vegatable intake.
Don’t drink sodas.
Exercise an hour a day, 4-5 times a week.
That’s basically how I went from 300lbs at age 18 to 185lbs by age 21. No drugs, no surgery, just a lot of hard work. But when I started dropping sizes, gaining muscle and seeing results, I was addicted. Self-esteem is a potent motivator.
If you respect your body, your body will respond. You’ll find you burn fat off faster. You will get sick less, if at all. Your bodyimage will improve, raising your self-esteem, which in turn encourages you to continue making these difficult changes, in an upwards spiral of success. If you’re single, attractive people begin responding to your overtures. If you’re married, your spouse will be thrilled — and responsive. Pills can’t give you all that.
When entrepreneurs engage in international development, where’s the line between opportunity and exploitation? And who’s monitoring violations of that line?
As a series of articles in the NYTimes make clear, incredible changes are underway in international development. From Kiva to CharityNavigator, social media and increased global internet access have revolutionized the way the developed world redistributes wealth to developing nations. The article stresses that there are few easy fixes, and that truly sustainable development is incredibly difficult and slow.
Nevertheless, I’m more confident than the Times that entrepreneurs can play a leadership role in increasing third-world living standards… if for no other reason than profitability is the larger paradigm of the west. More people will be encouraged to engage in international development if they can make a living at it.
But isn’t there a limit?
MasterCard’s new CEO, Ajay Banga, is working hard to make MasterCard India’s new identification number administrator. India’s goal is to assign every single one of her 1.2 billion citizens a unique ID number — like a social security number — to minimize aid losses to corruption. The Indian government will be able to send aide money directly to its needy, and MasterCard wants to be the company that creates the network.
Capturing only a small fraction of those customers — with prepaid debit cards, mobile payment systems or credit cards — could exponentially expand MasterCard’s business and profits. “Whether it’s 200 million or 400 million, it’s a lot of millions,” says Mr. Banga, referring to estimates of the size of the emerging global middle class over the next five years or so.
he United States has the most developed credit system in the world; its citizens should be the most financially educated. Nevertheless, millions of Americans are overwhelmed with credit card debt.
Is allowing India’s very poorest and least financiall educated citizens access to credit cards a development opportunity or corproate exploitation? And will a company with a financial stake in indebting its customers take measures to protect the very poorest?
Our country has no fewer problems than it did in 1963. Who is our generation’s Bob Dylan, singing to get our attention?