Well, I was listening to Mike Gallagher because he's fun to listen to and because he often has something valuable to contribute. Just to make it clear, I am rooting for Al Gore to have a successful left-slanted talk radio network. I welcome it, because in terms of clearly stating with unity, the right is currently kicking the living daylights out of the left. If Gore is successful, I can listen to the left and the right in their own little self-congratulatory camps and, as one network would have me do with just their view, decide.
Anyway, the subject was obesity. Now I've had problems with it -- thyroid issues that the medical community doesn't think worth treating (i.e. Hashimoto's Thyroiditis) and it makes maintaining a healthy weight difficult no matter how little or how healthy I eat. I make a serious effort to not eat large portions or generally unhealthy foods. I drink a good deal of water, but get little exercise because of certain physical issues. I've watched my wife battle her weight since she gave birth to our daughter nearly 18 years ago. I've seen her work with a personal trainer and spend 5 days a week doing a serious workout at the gym with little effect. All of this in spite of a fairly decent diet.
So, for me obesity is like depression. It is difficult to find the root cause and treat that. And saying you have to eat less is like saying you have to cheer up. It is a more complex issue than that.
To that end, I wrote Mr. Gallagher the following letter: Most of the time I support and agree with you. However, obesity is
actually a more complex issue than it initially appears to be. I want
to clarify that I find the idea of suing anybody for a personal willful
act ridiculous at best. I feel the lawsuits against the tobacco
companies were unmerited and have led to this obesity and even gun
manufacturer lawsuits that make no real sense. However, obesity is not a disease, it is rather a symptom.
Unfortunately there is no one single reason why people are obese. There
are those who sit and eat deep fried twinkie after deep fried twinkie
and don't get it. They drink soft drinks instead of water (when in fact
soft drinks only dehydrate you). There are also a great number of
people who have tried Weight Watchers and anything else you care to
name with no results. Telling an obese individual that they simply have
to stop overeating is like telling someone suffering from depression
that they need to snap out of it and start thinking happy thoughts. For
some it is a genetic trap and the diet that they pursue doesn't fit
well with their genetic background. For others, the culture in which
certain eating habits were fine, have not been properly adapted to
modern life. Others may eat because of depression, loneliness,
isolation, poor sleep patterns, or even fear of other people. There are
sometimes inherent self-worth issues in many obese people. Sometimes it
is a cocktail of all of the above. While it is true that our society
really doesn't help us in our quest to pursue a healthy diet. In fact,
good information is hard to come by. There is also the issue of finding
a diet that is suitable for your given lifestyle. (Sedentary work, low
energy levels, inability to afford good food choices, or other issues).
We are often given impossible ideals in terms of what ones body should
look like. It can be very confusing for people not used to sorting
through disparate and conflicting information to find the few scraps of
useful data among the tons of (diet fads) misinformation and nonsense
with which they are bombarded. Treating obesity is like treating a cough. We can make you stop
coughing, but unless we eliminate the actual root cause of the cough,
you will always need cough medicine. Obesity is not the disease it is
the symptom. The western medical community needs to look past the
symptom and treat the actual disease.
Mike:
So, that was what was eating me today.
