I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the issue of weight is being talked about more and more in the news. Of course, we are constantly being bombarded with images of models and celebrities who are, sometimes, overly skinny. And as a society (women especially), we aspire to look like those models and/or actresses that are thin. I mean, if we’re really honest here, clothes seem to hang better on a smaller/thinner frame, right?

Based on the constant images of skinny women flooding the fashion magazines and celebrity TV shows (e.g. Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, etc.), one would think that obesity/overweight individuals are few and far between right? WRONG!!!! A few weeks ago, a list of the most obese states was released to the public. And once again, Mississippi was #1 on the list, for the 3rd year in a row. Now, I live in the Mississippi area and I can attest to the fact that, well, we definitely like to eat our Southern food! Unfortunately, this desire for macaroni and cheese, collard greens, bar-b-que, fried chicken, etc. does not help our weight situation. But I digress.

Alabama is the third state on the list of obese states. Due to this, the state of Alabama has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit — or they’ll pay $25 a month for insurance that otherwise is free. In fact, Alabama will be the first state to charge overweight state workers who don’t work on slimming down, while a handful of other states reward employees who adopt healthy behaviors.

Now, to me, this just sounds like a way for the state government in Alabama to make a little bit of money off of their overweight employees. How fair is this? Isn’t this just Alabama taking advantage of a dire situation? How long will it take before other states follow suit?  I’d like to hear your thoughts on this subject…….