Of course there are two side to the equation, calorie consumption v exercise. Unfortunately our kids seem to be losing out at both ends.

Perceived fear about not letting kids walk to school is valid though probably not rational, organised sport is expensive due to insurance costs, housing blocks are getting smaller and houses are bigger resulting in no back yards. Parks have signs saying almost everything is banned bar looking at flowers.

Can anyone explain why a kilo of oven fried chips is a similar price to a kilo of spuds?

“It's a pity also that we're stuck with John Howard's undiscriminating GST. A differential tax system could have been used to encourage better purchasing choices…”

Absolutely Bronwyn.

“God protect us from the food police, and the exercise police…”

Indeed sharkfin.

So what we need is a stronger social democracy, where our government is willing to implement the necessary incentives to make companies produce healthy stuff, and to make the populace shy away from any unhealthy stuff that is produced.

That’s a pretty basic concept.

So why then hasn’t it happened? Especially given the obesity epidemic and its high-profile nature.

One guess.

That’s right, big business rules OK? Not governments. Oh, and apathy reigns supreme in the general community as well….which allows big business to rule over governments.

Big profits for the producers and big contented guts for the consumers. Sounds like a win-win situation!

So how the hell do we fight that?

It is all very well to say that governments should do more, but if the support or push from the community isn’t there, then forget it.

Sorry, but it suddenly seems a whole lot harder to deal with the obesity epidemic than it did when I started writing this post.

“People… must take responsibility for their own lives”.

Yes Leigh, I guess that’s the bottom line.

Obesity and it's causes.

Who really knows why people are getting fatter. I doubt very much if it is one singular cause and aiming to correct the problem by focussing on one singular cause is doomed to failure.

Lets consider that since the promotion of the use of margarine as a healthier alternative to butter and the increased use of non-saturated fats, people in the western world have gotten fatter.

Correspondingly there is an alternative to sugar which is promoted as a healthy alternative and will help people loose weight, people are still getting fatter.

Perhaps as well is all the labour saving devices aimed to make our lives easier thus reducing the amount of exercise that people get.

Over perhaps the last 5 decades, food manufacturers in a constant struggle for market share and profits, produce more and more highly refined food to appeal to peoples palates.

Sure there is no denying that if the energy consumed isn't matched by energy expended, it gets stored in the body.

and just maybe the CSIRO is right in that the food pyramid wasn't correct.

Once upon a time we expended a lot of energy in collecting, preserving and preparing food.

I've noticed an increasing sort of arrogance towards fat people. Arrogance is nothing short of bigotry.

For instance: In a freebie magazine directed at young folk I noticed this piece of "journalism" in a report on the Violent Femmes concert. This is the intro (which really has nothing to do with the concert but everything to do with the author’s and sub-editors bigotry).

He said: “Crammed into the Tivoli crowd tonight, this reviewer finds his lions are being manipulated -albeit, through a thin manifold – by the lumpy buttocks of a morbidly obese woman, an experience unpleasantly like being dry humped by a bean bag . And I’m sure there are more than a few sympathetic readers…” What an arrogant bigot. Given the sensitivity of girls that age you all can imagine how these girls would feel if they recognised themselves? The psychological harm from this sort of thing contributes greatly to ill health of young folk.

Moreover, a local freebie afternoon paper has had letters section raging with people who hate fat people. Making suggestions as extreme as putting them in a separate carriage.

Reading this laxas tunicas scrombi reminded me of a feminist’s book Shelley Bovey's “The Forbidden Body” in which she argued that attitudes towards fat people was little different to racism.

She also pointed out that instead of picking on people perceived as fat for trains being cramped, etc. people should ask why the trains are so overloaded and cramped. RE: Tivoli they’d be better to ask why the place is so cramped and overcrowded.

So let's crack down on bigots who berate fat people.

Cont.
Bovey points out that the constant haranguing and carry on about weight creates that much stress that it actually (she cites pretty convincing evidence) causes more harm (increased blood pressure from stress of living up to others expectations; unrealistic diets that reduce the metabolic rate so much that when the dieter resumes normal eating he or she will put on excessive weight); the psychological damage from bullying at school and the snide remarks; hurt can be internalised and lead to low self esteem and compensating behaviours (such as relying on inauthentic personality or overly on sexuality); they become outcasts and clinical anxiety sufferers, etc. She points that if an Indigenous person were treated as such there would be outrage from the wider community.

According the Bovey, research suggests that heart disease, high blood pressure are more likely to be caused by stress of being frightened, stigmatised rather than obesity.
She says that everyone is entitled to live without worry, pretence or apology.

Avoirdupois in a woman is seen as counter to the culture where women, as a type, are laid down according to unrealistic expectations. Men, lets say a big Scotsman, are not seen as weak or out of control for their size. Indeed, a big ol’ McHaggis is seen as one to admire (don’t worry girls the McHaggis clan only like girls who are over 400pounds -too many fractured hips with the skinny ones).

So lets follow the McHaggis clan and honor our big girls. There's and old saying: "no one can be honorable unless he or she honors all humanity."

So let's be fair to the big girls - it aint as easy as you think to living up to the expectations of 2007's skinny-loving, arrogant culture. So let's crack down on arrogance.