by Jessica Lofgren

Created on: March 09, 2009

It has often been said that you are what you eat, and how true! I have only to glance around to determine what food people are using to fuel their bodies. While there are those hated exceptions, (aka the toothpick thin models who can inhale a pizza, wash it down with a milkshake and then ask for dessert), by and large if you are consuming foods packed with calories and fat, it won't be long until the tell tale pouch will form around your middle.

Yet despite the obvious cause and effect relationship between eating large portion sizes of high fat, high calorie foods with obesity, Americans are trying desperately to unload their glutenous guilt and place blame on anybody except the true culprits of their flab... themselves. Therefore the new trend in American obesity is to blame the government, for the expanding waistlines of its citizens. There are outcries that the government should control which foods are allowed to be marketed by fast food chains and control portion sizes in restaurants. After all it was the government that has made society fat, right?

Wrong! If a person wants to know the true reason for their own weight gain, they have only to look down at the hand that is feeding them. It is widely advertised that the best way to lose weight is to cut down portion sizes, eat more fruits and vegetables, read food labels and eat foods that are lower in caloric content. Grocery stores are packed with low calorie and healthy food options, fast food joints offer salads, and restaurants always offer to go boxes. There are plenty of alternatives available to unhealthy eating without the government stepping in. The problem lies in the fact that people chose to ignore these healthy options.

The obesity of an individual is secondary to that person's lack of willpower and motivation to take charge of their own health and do something about it. Since when is it the governments responsibilty to control the willpower of an individual? If anything isn't that exactly what our constitution is supposed to protect against? If we give the government the power to tell us what we should or should not eat, how is that any different from letting them dictate what we can wear, or what movies we should see? When looked at from this perspective it shows how extreme and ludicrous it is that we expect the government to control the obesity epidemic and what we are putting in our mouths.

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