Talk about health

If you happen to have read any of my stuff before, you've probably got the impression that a good diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats, the occasional supplement and regular exercise is at the roots of a health life. And you would be correct in that.

Just by managing to avoid some or all of these things has the effect over a lifetime of making you less healthy and more likely to contract some disease or other that could shorten your life.

Having said that, I really wanted to talk today about obesity. I'm sure you are only to well aware that it is a growing problem in every sense of the phrase. My point is what to do or not do about it. I've seen a couple of TV programmes over the past week concerning young people who are unfortunate enough to be very overweigh with the consequence that their health may be at risk.

In the first case, a teenage girl was having surgery to remove more than half of her stomach in an attempt to reduce her weight. The story revolved around her history of always being overweight for her age, being bullied at school and turning to the wrong kind of food as a comfort and to cheer her up.

The second story involved a young boy who was also vastly overweight for his age and was being assessed by Social Services to determine whether he should be taken from his family and put into care.

The first thing that strikes me is how anyone thinks care could be better than his own family who seemed to be equally concerned with the boy's weight.

However, in each case my reaction ws that these children were always heavy for their age, even before they were subject to junk food and bullying. The reason for their condition was not simply eating too much of the wrong foods. And I think we should be looking at the reasons for this so as to get to the root of the problem.

It is too easy for people to jump to the conclusion that they obviously ate too much of all the wrong things and therefore they are obese. What about hormone imbalances causing weight gain, disorders of metabolism, or deficiencies in absorption of nutrients and fats from the intestine?

Then, is there a psychological factor or two that might send them down the path of over eating? It isn't as black and white as these programmes made out. A single cause (eating too much) with a single cure (surgery or removal fom your family)??

Has anyone bothered to ask or has the medical profession tried to find out? It certainly wasn't mentioned.

Perhaps the producers thought we would be confused if they told us about it. All they seemed to do was to show, in the case of surgery, that removing a great chunk of your stomach would lead to weight loss. No mention here of the long-term effects of having only a part stomach on proper digestion. No mention of psychologiacl help, dietary advice or exercise.

In the case of the young boy, it turns out he wasn't taken from his family. But, how much mental suffering would he have gone through if he had been? And, just how would he have been encouraged to lose weight without the support of his parents and siblings?

I think we are just getting a bit carried away with the weight thing! My view is that everybody should be made aware of the facts as we currently know them. Tell all the problems and the solutions. Give them help and support if they encounter problems.

The bottom line, however, is that we still have a choice in this country. The consequence of government interference at any level is to remove choice. If you want to eat the wrong food even after you have been told the whole story, that's your choice. It's not up to some local official or government lackey to tell you otherwise.

I try to eat as healthy a diet as I can, and I encourage you to do the same. But, that's as far as I go. And it should be as far as anyone else goes, too. Eat badly if you want. And if you change your mind and want to go a healthier way, let the government set up help lines and help centres where you can get practical advice to change your ways. "Hands off " is my messeage to the food police.

Eat what you want. And if it harms your health, just remember, it was your choice. If you are more that five years old, no one made you eat anything. You didn't become overweight by accidentally swallowing your food.You choose and you take the consequences. But you re not alone.

There is help on healthy eating everywhere. And there should be help to discover if there are any other reasons for being overweight.

I have some info for you if you want. Just go to http://www.healthexplored.co.uk and have a look around. I've got a Food Guide with loads of information on basic nutritional content and how certain foods help your health. And there's a FREE newsletter and TIPS booklet for joining my list.

Eat well.

Wishing you the very best of health.