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February 13, 2006
We are living longer and getting fatter. Obesity is seen to be the fastest growing illness in Australia. People even talk about obesity in terms of 'epidemic' and toxicity.
One of the key issues in health care reform is shifting the focus to primary health care and to prevention. Obesity is a good example of the need for this approach--good diets and fitness prevent diabetes, heart disease and blood clots. if not prented then then we take up for weight loss medication and, if that is not successful, then bariatric surgery where your stomach, usually the size of a large melon, is reduced to the size of your thumb. The pouch in the uppermost part of the stomach, is literally stapled off from the rest of the stomach.
Are we not repulsed by fatness? Is it not held to be morally reprehensible to allow yourself to become fat? Do we not come to loathe ourselves if we are fat. It's an individual responsibility issue conservatives say. I choose to be fat. Yet we are surrounded by advertisements that tempt us to become fat.
Maybe we should start treating junk food the way do cigarettes and cigarette advertising and use the money to fund nutrition and exercise programs.
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"Control of weight, no matter that some have a genetically determined potential to acquire and retain more weight in comparison with others, remains a matter of self-control and personal responsibility."
- Obesity and virtue. Is staying lean a matter of ethics? http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/171_11_061299/burry/burry.html