The Obesity Explosion

I went to the hospital today. I needed a pre-op meeting for my upcoming prostate operation. As I sat in the waiting room I was surrounded by people who were either overweight (BMI >25) or obese (BMI >30). I felt like such a skinny twerp sitting there.

Then on came the hospital staff. Fully half of them were also either overweight or obese. Fortunately, the other half of the staff seemed to be able to control their weight. They were mostly the young ones. May they persevere in their good habits.

Pondering this, I felt so sorry for the surgeons who would have to operate on these people. This surely must make their work more difficult – and more disagreeable.

As noted in another blog article, all of this foretells an oncoming health services disaster – maybe even a total societal collapse, unless the growing obesity epidemic is brought under control.

Discipline: What happened to it?

In earlier days, discipline was imposed upon us. We needed discipline to survive. Life was tough, resources were scarce. Only the disciplined survived.

Now many of us live in an affluent bubble. We are surrounded by freedom, huge privilege and endless temptations. There is far less external pressure to exercise discipline. It must now come from within, if it is to come at all.

Obesity: A harbinger of societal collapse?

A small fishing boat in the night sees the Titanic heading towards an iceberg. The fisherman has a radio connection and thinks that he should warn the ship’s captain. But the ship’s passengers are having such a good time on board so that he doesn’t really want to disturb them. What should he do?

At present the US statistics on weight gain show that 70% of all Americans are overweight (BMI> 25) and of these 35% are obese (BMI>30). If present trends continue, in 2030, 60% of all Americans will be obese. Canada as usual is not far behind in these trends. What should we do?