That is a red herring, TenPenny. If somebody doesn’t take responsibility for his obesity, he will only hurt himself, nobody else.
No. I disagree with you. My son is obese. If he doesn't take responsibility soon, life could go terribly wrong and two children could be without a father and a woman without a husband.
It is my opinion that some responsibility goes toward the whole household. Particularly the grocery purchaser. If you know someone in your household has a problem, buy healthy snacks only. I certainly recognize that my son is responsible for his own health but like an alcoholic, if the food is available, he will eat it. He arrives at my house to pick up the children and the very first thing he does is check out the pantry and the fridge. If he doesn't see any "good" snacks (all a matter of each person's opinion - right?), he will even eat a peanut butter sandwich. Fine but not a half hour before dinner.
We are discussing here whether it does any good to lecture fat people, to lecture them about eating habits, nutrition, exercise etc. Whether somebody takes the responsibility for his/her obesity is up to them, you really have no control over that (neither do I). Lecturing/nagging a person is the absolute worst. I know for myself and for my son all it does is put food on your mind and then you mindlessly get up and eat. A bowl of cereal, a banana, some toast etc. It's sooo easy to say, it's just a small bowl of cereal and it is a small bowl for me. Add that to the small bowl from breakfast and it's food you don't need.
Just as not taking personal responsibility for one’s obesity is a copout, so is blaming fat people for their fatness, so is claiming that they are fat because they overeat, all they have to do is stop eating and that is that.
I can stick with a diet of the "right" foods and my biggest problem is eating a larger portion to some degree. I eat too much salad and as men, you probably wonder how that can be a problem. It's a problem because it keeps my system ready for a specific amount of feeling full. My metabolism is slow which means that to lose weight, I should not even have an evening snack even if it's only an apple. Restaurant food has more salt, butter (fat), sauces than any homemade food.
Fat people have to look at what they are eating and they are the only ones who can figure out why they are over eating so, yes, they are the responsible party in the end. Like the woman I saw with the very heavy child though, I believe parents have a responsibility to teach children proper eating habits and not to force food on them as long as they know the child has eaten enough. There is a major difference between enough and too much. I did fine in life until an older sister came home from another province. I had never in my life been told that I had to clean up my plate until she said so. I found her quite intimidating and did as I was told. I carried that on to my own kids and I did them a mis-service. Today we understand that it's not necessary to eat every crumb and probably more necessary to leave more than a few crumbs on the plate. The "You should consider yourself lucky to have food because kids in other countries or cities don't have" approach is just wrong.
Obesity is a very complex issue, with many causes. It is simplistic and absurd to claim that if only fat people will just stop eating, obesity will end. It is not that simple.
