ummm, see at the bottom of the post, (editted by setishock), I'll guess there was some bad language in there somewhere...
For some obscure reason I have 1000 sets of Obesity measuring tapes in the corner of my office at the moment... (five creates that each have 200sets)...
I think Obesity is a serious issue, but a lot of obese people don't actually take it seriously.
I mean it's easy to say, My mum is fat, my dad is fat, so why shouldn't I be? Obesity can be a gene or disease related illness, but for a lot of obese people out there it isn't, it's a lifestyle choice...
it's the people who choose to spend all day in front of a computer, the people who choose to drive what would be a half hour walk, the people who choose to eat fatty foods rather than more healthy foods.
it's the people who choose to ignore advice of health professionals and do what they want, when they want, eat what they like, and then complain when they get fat...
For the most part I do actually understand why most people don't eat more healthily, I mean it's a lot harder than it sounds!!
if you consider that all energy we have is stored in food, and if we don't expend all the energy, then it is stored in an energy rich format (fat)... thus people who constantly eat more than the amount they expend become fat...
The problem with genetic obesity conditions is that sometimes no matter how little is eaten, energy is stored as fat, which is obviously not good...
The average adult male requires ~2000 - 2500 per day...
Now, I'll look at a typical Mcdonalds meal.
Burger, Fries, drinks...
Big Mac - 560
Medium Fries - 350
Regular Coke - 210
total - 1120 calories, (or about half a daily alowance)...
Now consider that a regular McDonalds meal isn't really that filling, and it's usual to go for a large size... the calorie count jumps to 1390 (which is well over half of the daily allowance!!
http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.index1.html
Even then you'll probably only be having this meal for lunch, and will probably eat a large cooked meal at home at the end of the day...
Chances are you'll have had breakfast...
and you might also have some kind of snack. perhaps a packet of crisps.
or a biscuit, (a single chocolate digestive biscuit is 884 colories, (~4% of what you need in a day).
it is little wonder people are getting fat is it???
Not that I'm targetting McDonalds or anything, (their nutritional information was just easy to find!!)
but even from their
Healthy salads menu...
Bacon Ranch Salad with Crispy Chicken - 340
Newman's Own® Ranch Dressing - 170
total - 510...
(so you may as well have the Big Mac really!!)
A large part of the obesity problem facing the (first) world is that people are only informed to a point, (illustrated with the salads idea above). people are told that the salads are healthy, but in reality they aren't so different from a burger once all the dressing and everything is on there.
So,
people are obese because of the choices they make, people choose to eat too much, or choose to eat the wrong foods. people choose their level of activity... (or inactivity)...
generally the inactive bad eaters get fat, whilst the active healthy eaters, tend to stay fitter/thinner...
As for the cost of the tax payers money to fix all of this, well, thats notsuch an issue in America, but here in Britain it does seem unfair that whilst you may try to do the right thing in terms of your health, (usually at the cost of a higher price for healthier foods), some people don't bother and you'll find them lying in hospitals later on in life having some knid of hearth bypass surgery or something...