By Richard Tardif
The medical journal, the Lancet, announced to the world in December of 2018 that a major threat to humankind, and thus the planet, is being overweight and obese. It went on to say that the wrongdoer is not in fact humans obsessed with fast food meals, sweet drinks, Big Gulps and developing the perfect beach body, but it’s the “methods of agricultural production, transport, urban design and land use”.
Inaction on behalf of policy makers, greedy profit-seeking food companies and very little in the way of drive for change from the general public, are congruent with the journal’s announcement.
In other words, it’s not your fault. In some cases, it isn’t your fault.
It’s not your fault when you don’t lose weight on the present Calories in, Calories Outtheory for fat loss, because it’s a theory and such a model sets you up for failure. It’s not your fault that you didn’t lose fat by going to the gym, because that is another no-win scenario. We never lose fat by exercising. I’m not budging from my position that energy in and energy out will ever contribute to fat loss.
The Lancet announcement does prompt the question, “What part does individual responsibility play?” Obesity cannot be solely the responsibility of corporate evil-doing producing low-fat, high carbohydrate non-foods out in the agro-poor farmer’s field, that, evidently, we all choose to buy and eat? Supply and demand.
Gemma Tognini of The West Australian, in her February 6 article, Fat chance it’s your fault because taking personal responsibility for our actions has become as popular as gastro during a marathon, writes, “Instead of the message being something like, listen, humans, stop eating yourselves to death and go for a jog, we say, let’s tax sugar! Personal responsibility simply doesn’t enter the dialogue. And it should.”
How can it? A recent headline from Science Daily, Exposure to air pollution increases risk of obesity, a three to eight-week study correlated laboratory rats breathing Beijing’s highly polluted air to their weight gain, as well as cardio-respiratory and metabolic dysfunctions. It’s not your fault because of the quality of air you’re breathing?
It’s not your fault because of hormones, stress, medications, inflammation, nasty gut bacteria, and so on – problems that can be prevented by choosing disease fighting foods over the long-term, which, of course requires lifestyle changes.
I wouldn’t go as far as The Lancet announcement. None of us are robots, and we by nature like to make our own decisions, and rightly so, whether they are good for us, or not. I wouldn’t go as far as letting corporate off the hook. There is something to be said about their decisions, as well, and how it influences us.
Richard Tardif is an award-winning journalist, speaker, author based in Montreal. Richard’s first book Stop the Denial: A Case for Embracing the Truth About Fitness, challenges, surprises, and inspires you to embrace a fitness lifestyle that will work in achieving your individual goals.
