The Great Texas Weight-gaining Contest

Survival of the fattest?

With all the talk about obesity, it reminds me of some of the things I've written about before with regard to our communal fatness - and ways to fight it. Of course, there's no easy answer to this problem in this zero-willpower, zero-blame age.

However, as I've written about a lot in the last 3 years, our government (mostly state and local varieties) seems to be doing a lot of things in a well-meaning way to try and curb our waxing waistlines. Things like banning soda and sweets in schools, regulating against trans-fats in restaurant foods, and other measures may in fact help matters. It's too early to tell, of course, but I'll keep you posted as time goes on…  

But all this is beside the point. The bottom line to fighting fat is personal responsibility.

My greatest fear is misguided and conflicted slivers of our government will try to curb obesity in all the wrong ways - ways that controvert the individual's accountability for his or her own welfare. If we're not careful, fatness may soon become the responsibility of government. That's the way we're headed in this blameless society…

One doesn't have to look far to see evidence of governmental mishandling of the obesity epidemic. Just look at the fat-breeding Food Pyramid and the reduction in emphasis on Phys-Ed and sports in schools. I wonder how long it will be before our elected officials' "official" solutions to obesity are some new fat-fighting wonder drug or surgical techniques.

Think we aren't headed that way? Think again…

In yet another sobering, mixed-up example of what may be soon to come in the fight on flab, one Texas county is now considering offering WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY as a tax-payer-funded employee benefit!

According to an Associated Press article from earlier this fall, commissioners in the Lone Star State's Travis County - home of the beautiful, musical city of Austin - is heavily "weighing" springing for up to 15 bariatric surgeries per year for the most obese of county employees.

The program, which would test for 5 years before possibly becoming permanent, is thought to be feasible because it would ultimately save the county money in healthcare costs for obese employees.

To qualify, applicants for the stomach-stapling procedure would have to be diagnosed with life-threatening obesity and go through a calendar year of unsuccessful doctor-monitored dieting and exercise programs before they could receive the $20,000 operation. And I can guarantee much of the dieting advice will be incorrect and self-defeating. As for exercise, it's highly over rated for weight reduction. 

Am I the only one who sees the lunacy in all this?

For one thing, how difficult do you think it would be for people who've been grossly fat their entire lives to STAY FAT for one year - if the incentive not to lose weight is an all-expense-paid surgical procedure that's all but guaranteed to make them radically thinner? It doesn't matter who's riding them to eat right and run laps on the treadmill. They'll be cramming in the Krispy Kremes on the sly to make SURE they get the surgery.

Seriously, who in their right mind would undergo the agony and deprivation of diet and exercise to maybe lose 20 or 30 pounds of the 200 extra they're carrying when they can just live high on the hog for one last glorious year - and then drop 5 times this much after the operation with no work whatsoever?

Also, wouldn't borderline qualifiers try to bulk up fast to beat out their competitors for the surgery? It'd be a hell of a lot easier than trying to LOSE weight…

Besides this, it's a dangerous slope to walk when the government starts making decisions about people's health based solely on the bottom line. Think about it: What if the Lone Star State's bean-counters had determined that it made more financial sense in the long run to let the fatties die young?…

Would they then offer free in-office breakfast from Dunkin Donuts every day to help accelerate the inevitable so they can save a few bucks on doctor visits?  

Bottom line for YOU: Governments of all levels are only concerned about your health if it also serves THEIR bottom line. And as scary as it is to think that all you are to your leaders is a number on a balance sheet, it is nevertheless true…

The sooner you realize it, the better able you'll be to see their true motives, which don't often coincide with your wellbeing.