The obese generation: Why my 33-year-old friend lays dying in some forlorn ICU

My best friend in the world is lying in the Summit Medical Center ICU, hooked up to a massive wall of ventilators, defibrillators, blood transfusions, vital-sign monitors and IV drips. "She is in critical condition," said her doctor. "She may not live through the night."

My best friend in the world is unconscious and only THAT close to death.

I hold her hand and pray for her with all my might as if I was the chief Imam in Mecca, the Dalai Lama, the Ba'al Shem Tov and the Pope all rolled into one.

My best friend in the world has three young children who, if prayer doesn't work, will be orphans within the next few days.

My best friend in the world is dying.

My best friend in the world's birthday was a week ago. She is 33 years old. Yet she is dying of old people's diseases -- diabetes, hardened arteries, heart trouble and failure to heal. And, because of the diabetes, she is also fighting gangrene.

My best friend in the world is just the tip of the iceberg for a whole generation -- the obese, overweight twenty-somethings, teenagers and kids you see everywhere in the malls, streets, buses and schoolyards of America. How many years do THEY have left to live before you see them in the ICU dying of old people's diseases too? Ten years? Maybe 20? If they're lucky?

Partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil, corn syrup and commercials glorifying sugar-coated breakfast cereals are the cause of this deadly epidemic. Our bodies simply are not built to handle all this synthetic crap. This stuff is slow poison and it needs to be either controlled or outlawed -- or else a lot more of us will be praying at the bedsides of our best friends too.

If that's not a good enough reason to ban these lethal killers, then try this: My best friend in the world WILL recover -- I believe in the power of prayer -- but her two-month stay in the hospital will probably cost at least million dollars. Can we afford this? And can we afford to have a whole generation clogging up America's ICUs?

And can we afford to lose a WHOLE GENERATION that young?

PS: There is a reason this person is my best friend in the world. She is smart, funny, good-hearted and kind. She loves little children. And is generous to a fault. She is hard-working and reliable -- and she knows all the hot gossip! It would be a tragedy to lose her. Please pray for her with all of your might.

And while you are down on your knees, please pray for Roger Ebert too. I can't afford to lose him either. I NEED his movie reviews!