It seems that the ideal dish to eat while watching the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing is Chinese food. As an homage to the host country, you may be tempted to order out for some fast and cheap General Tzo's Chicken, Beef Lo Mien, and Chicken Fingers. But mark my words, if you continue to eat this food well after the Olympics has ended, you'll find your body better resembles that of Michael Moore than Michael Phelps.

A report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) reveals that Chinese food is ... well, suffice it to say not exactly gold medal food. That's because most Chinese food entrees contain between 1,000 and 1,500 calories -- and that's without taking rice, crispy noodles, and other extras into account. Not to mention that fact that some dishes were found to contain two days' worth of sodium.

But, if you're still bent on ordering Chinese food, ask for your sauces to be kept on the side, avoid deep-fried foods altogether, and keep the serving sizes small. To find out which Chinese dishes truly are healthy choices, visit www.dietdetective.com and do a little food sleuthing. In the meantime, Go Team U.S.A.!!!

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Michael Moore's recent documentary, Sicko, is a damning indictment of the United States health care system (or lack there of). But, while there's a number of things people can do over the long-term to tackle the issues he addresses, what about the people who are being denied treatment today?

In a recent interview on MSNBC's Hardball, Moore proposed an interesting solution:

"...what I tell people is, if you're having trouble right now with your insurance company, and they won't pay for something, go ahead and use my name ... Say that I'm coming, that you have talked to me personally. You have my permission to do that."

Plus, just to make you seem more authentic, Moore created a Sicko insurance card that you can print out from his website, laminate, and use to threaten any doctor who refuses treatment.

How did he come up with such an ingenious idea? Apparently people have already been doing it without his permission, so -- rather than try and stop them -- Moore decided to make it easier.

Not that I'd normally advocate blackmail, but if you've run out of options, this seems like it might actually work.

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If you have not seen Sicko, you'll be in for some torn messages. Like any film that purports to be a "documentary," the usage of certain facts while the dismissal of others tends one to believe that any agenda on anything can be forwarded these days.

Such is the case with Sicko, according to critics who say that filmmaker Michael Moore used selective data in his film to prove a point and did not put forth all relevant facts when making points about the state of the American health care system. One things critics and supporters of the film agree on is that there are indeed large problems with the health care system in the U.S. But, how big?

If you end up seeing Sicko, you need to search for your own answers like with anything. I'm quite sure much of what is presented in the film is somewhat to highly accurate. But, not reporting all the facts or opposing viewpoints is just as bad as slanting viewpoints in any particular way, right?

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Michael Moore's Sicko film opened this past week to both fans and non-fans of the universal health care promotion he highlights in the film. When CNN investigated, it found that much of the information in the film was indeed accurate, although some was dramatized in perfect Michael Moore fashion.

Is universal health care needed in the U.S.? The numbers themselves do not lie -- over 40 million uninsured in the U.S. along with health care rates that are higher than anywhere in the world. Is something broken in our health care system?

That seems like an obvious statement -- health care in the U.S. is the laughing stock of the world. But what is the answer? Universal, government-funded health care? Sicko will certainly bring this question and others back into the limelight when it's needed most -- in time for next year's presidential elections. Timing is everything.

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Michael Moore -- whose movie Sicko is set for release this month -- isn't known for backing away from an issue, and either is animal rights group PETA. So when Ingrid Newkirk, president of the organization, wrote Michael Moore a letter, he had to know that he may not like what she had to say. Newkirk took Moore to task on his "weighty health issue" and challenged him to take up a vegetarian lifestyle so that he could "become less reliant on the government's shoddy healthcare system," himself. Newkirk urged the filmmaker to take up the 30-day Veg Pledge and take some personal responsibility in creating his own healthy lifestyle by eliminating animal products from his diet.

Will Moore take her up on it? He hasn't said, but he is working on losing a few pounds. What do you think? Was Newkirk's letter over the top or an appropriately worded wake up call?

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Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore has a reputation for making outspoken documentaries highly critical of big corporations, gun violence, and the current administration's handling of 9/11. As Brian mentioned in a previous post, Moore's current cause is health care.

His latest documentary, Sicko, is a scathing attack on a US health care system that leaves 50 million Americans uninsured. In the film, Moore takes patients from the US to Cuba, in an attempt to prove that they could receive better treatment outside the country.

Sicko hasn't been released yet, but it just received a huge endorsement. Moore appeared on Oprah yesterday to promote the movie, and the talk show host called it "the one film you must see this summer." Apparently Oprah was so moved by the the message, that she intends to make health care for all one of her main missions this year.

I haven't seen Sicko, but for the sake of those 50 million Americans, let's hope its message continues to inspire people to take action.

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Is the health care system in the U.S. substandard to a communist nation's health care system? controversial filmmaker Michael Moore will examine that question when hid "Sicko" film is released this year.

Moore took patients from the U.S. to Cuba (he's under investigation for that) to prove that they could receive better (and less expensive) health care outside the U.S. than inside it.

While I don't think any country's medical system is advanced as the one Americans enjoy, access to that system and the money needed to take advantage of it (when needed) is out of reach for millions of people. Due to that, I'll probably watch Moore's film with a scrutinizing eye but with an open mind as well. Will you?

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