I was watching a programme last night about obese people. It was based in the US and it followed a man who was hospitalized after collapsing under his own weight. They did a gastric bypass and after losing 45Kg was literally dragged home, well from the ambulance to his bed by 6 big strong men. It also followed a dog sitter who was also a glamour model who was an attractive larger lady and finally the programme showed a beauty pageant for big girls over the size (USA) 14.
I need to watch it again to get the full meassage but I think the point was that people are starting to accept being overweight and not consider the health risks anymore. Apparently, so the programme said, we all now live in an "Obesogenic Environment" which is an environment that promotes gaining weight and one that is not conducive to losing weight.
I'm not sure how I feel about this as to me, your life style is all about choice and some people make the wrong choices but to use the fact that there are burger bars everywhere as a reason to be over weight shows a real lack of love for oneself.
The programme was saying that we are stating to be anaesthetised to weight issues and we are "blaming" the fact that temptation and inactive opportunities are all around us so its not our fault. Hmmm, I'm not so sure.
What the uk government think - Obesity has grown by almost 400% in the last 25 years such that three-quarters of the adult population are now overweight or obese (around 22% are now obese). England has witnessed the fastest growth in obesity in Europe and childhood obesity has tripled in twenty years....The Report calculates the cost of overweight and obesity to the nation at up to £7.4 billion per year, a figure which will rapidly rise. (2004)