U.S. military says too many enlistees are overweight; Americans find doing taxes easier than eating right

The military is seeking fitter members, saying overweight recruits could be a threat to national security. Meanwhile, a new survey says Americans find it easier to do their taxes than figure out healthy food options.

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Is The U.S. Military Too Soft On Fat?
Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Shefali S. Kulkarni reports on a meeting focused on the issue of obesity in the military: "It's not just military retirees and veterans who are packing on the pounds. At a policy summit Wednesday, health and military experts said the obesity epidemic has become a significant threat to national security as the waistlines of military enlistees are expanding. Overweight and obese enlistees and soldiers are making it harder for recruiters to find physically fit candidates for military service" (Kulkarni, 5/24).

National Journal: Sorting Taxes Easier Than Figuring Out Food, Survey Finds
Most Americans find it easier to figure out their taxes than to sort out what they should be eating, the International Food Information Council finds. The IFIC survey finds that while 55 percent are trying to lose weight, 85 percent calculated wrongly how many calories they need to maintain their weight. When the 1,057 people surveyed were asked which was harder, doing taxes or figuring out what to eat, 48 percent voted for the taxes and 52 percent said it's harder to understand healthy eating (5/23).