That’s a vastly sobering thought on a decidedly non-sober day (for many people). In less than a decade, half of Americans are expected to either be diabetic or pre-diabetic, leading to a national cost of $3.35 trillion (though I’m not sure how they figure that kind of stuff up).

Knowing this now arms us with the knowledge and power to help prevent these statistics from coming true. Sure, we can all lead healthier lifestyles if possible—that’s always a good thing as long as it is safe to do—but there are a lot of other things we need help with, too, in order to really make it happen. In 2011, let’s make it a priority to…

• Subsidize healthy food. I’m sick of only the farmers who grow corn or harvest meat getting all of the federal aid. How about you? Let’s make the prices of a burger skyrocket and the prices of a salad dwindle next year so we can all afford to eat healthy food.
• Encourage active lifestyles. We can easily do this by copying European countries and allowing people more paid time off work, less hours to work during the week, and an overall less stressed environment. Some extra help with childcare—in order to provide more workout time as well as simply down time—would be helpful, too.
• Slap the lawstick down. Schools shouldn’t be a place where candy bars and soda are sold—not even for fundraising, like we always had to do as kids. All buildings should have strict codes for a healthy snack machine ratio—not just schools, but businesses as well. We’re putting pressure on car companies for better mileage and technology to combat climate change; let’s put pressure on snack companies for healthier alternatives (and to make what’s already available healthier, too) to combat diabetes and other illnesses. Nutrition and cooking should also be courses that all students are required to take.
• Give healthcare rather than sick care. If everyone in the United States had the access to preventative medicine like everyone in the rest of the ever-loving developed world does, we’d be able to live healthier lives with the full help and advice of a doctor. We shouldn’t be forced to choose between groceries and seeing the doctor, and we shouldn’t have to limit our doctor visits to emergencies only. We need to PREVENT emergencies and the way to do that is to regularly see one for free.