Reply #23: Thank you very much for this

[Warpy]

I've been trying to point out to the temporarily thin with such terribly superior morals for many years that something else is at work besides mere sloth and gluttony.

Epidemiologists have long noted that obesity here and elsewhere is following the classic pattern of an infectious epidemic, starting around the Gulf coast in the US and progressing from there. Obesity patterns around Central America are even higher than those here.

Another thing the temporarily thin with superior morals don't realize is that when obese people diet enough to lose weight, they often have to reduce their calories to a point that they get sick. They also have a hard time realizing that 90% of people who do lose weight, whether through a deficiency diet or even gastric surgery, will gain it back plus more within five years of achieving their ideal weight. We're not talking about the slothful and gluttonous here, we're talking about some of the most abstemious people on the planet.

Even Oprah Winfrey, the poster gal for the personal trainer and personal chef method of weight loss, has gained it all back.

If we are to survive as a species, we need to discard the lax morals argument and work to find the real cause of obesity.