Aire

When I see someone:

• Smoking
• Drinking to excess
• Doing drugs
• Eating junk food
• Avoiding excercise 

I feel zero need to go and tell them it’s bad for them, because unless they have some kind of serious mental defect, they already know. Besides, talking to total strangers to scold them? Who the fuck (except a total asshole) does that?

But when the people who are doing any of the above behaviors say “It’s not your business what I do”, I have to wonder if they believe each individual lives in an independent, impearmable bubble. Do I have to deal with your smoke and the example you set to younger people? Do I have to deal the consequences of your behavior?  Do your choices impact the choices I have? 

When it comes to food and exercise, if you decide that you will be spending your money on food that I consider junk, then you are part of the demand created for those type of foods, and the selection at the market. If you’re willing to spend your extra money on cable or stuff that is going to fill out your home with more stuff, instead of spending that money on your local gym, then you’re also impacting the availability and quality of those services. 

No one has the right to come up to you, individually, and tell you what to do. But is it my business what others do, that collectively affect the selection of food I can buy, the kind of services offered and how much I have to pay? Yes.

One week after HBO premiered its documentary, Weight of the Nation, there is a dearth of commentary on this 4-part series.  Has anyone out there taken the time to watch this?

…

So where is the concern that the obesity rate is rising, metabolic syndrome (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, obesity) is affecting more Americans, more children are developing Type 2 diabetes, and rising healthcare costs for this epidemic are unsustainable for our nation?

Easy as Riding a Bike

Do most people really care? No, I don’t believe so, not yet. The way I see it it’s going to take a lot more people suffering before there is a real movement to prevent obesity. No one wants to be fat, but most people want fast and easy. You tell people that they need to change and continue on a different path the rest of their lives, they don’t want to hear it. 

Fact from The Weight of the Nation: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease—“a disease we had never even seen before”—shows up in the autopsies of 13 percent of all children and 38 percent of obese children.