Ok...before we start,I'm not bashing fat people. Let's get that out of the way. We can say its systemic, it's a result of the high calorific diets that most modern western societies now indulge in. We can blame it on High Fructose corn syrup and all of the other additives that infest our modern food production cycle, but at the end of the day don't we just have to take responsibility for the food that we put in our mouths and that goes to our hips and other areas?
The question I keep asking myself is where does personal responsibility start and end? If you want to eat modern processed food there is no escaping the litany of additives that go into making something 'tasty' . I read somewhere that the modern adult consumes something like 150 lbs pounds of sugar per year - whereas a century ago that was something like 5 pounds. There is no question in my mind that sugars are the culprit, not fats as they were positioned in the 70's and 80's. So how do you get around the modern infestation that is sugar? Sugar in itself isn't bad...it's a naturally occurring substance that helps provide glucose and glycogen for our muscles - it helps us move. Movement is a pretty darn good thing.
But at some stage we have to take personal responsibility. We have to stop blaming the food manufacturers who are using sugar as their drug of choice. After all, these corporates are in it for the money and in general (not always) it's about the balance sheet. There is no (or very little) requirement for them to reduce the sweetness factor in their products. Take a 64oz soda with 186g of sugar in it. Thats 46 ..yes 46 teaspoons of sugar - in one drink.
I think we got so fat because we took our eye off responsibility. Is it uncomfortable to wean ourselves off these foods and drinks that are killing us? ( because they are) Sure. Does it hurt...yes it does. But we have to live above the line and take responsibility for the things that go into our mouths. Blame and justification means that nothing changes. I once heard a smart man say that we should treat our bodies like a car that we've been lent by a friend. When it comes time to give it back do you take all the trash out of the back seat, clean up the interior and give the outside a bit of a wipe? Or do we just hand it back with the rubbish in it, tyres bald and with dents?
I guess on the what to do about it front then the ball rests with us each individually. Personally, I just don't think we can keep blaming corporates who provide products that are less than healthy. Surely if we move away from their products because we find them to be killing us, then they will have to adapt or die. I'd rather they did, than you and I.