by Troy Gardner

Created on: July 23, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

America is getting fatter. We're told this all the time, news reports on television, special features in newspapers, splashed all over the Internet, America is getting fatter and facing a crisis of obesity.

Is this hyperbole? Well, most likely some of it is. And yet, right at the top of the website for the Center for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov, there is a link to a conference on obesity prevention and control. The weight of the nation is obviously of concern to them. Heck, it should concern us that they consider obesity a disease that needs to be controlled. Obesity places a strain on our workforce and an already strained health care system. As such, it is in the best interest of the nation to have a healthier populace.

So what does that have to do with the Surgeon General? Well, not a lot. To be truthful, getting a surgeon general who is not at least a little chunky isn't likely to happen. The stresses of being a doctor, coupled with the time demands, does not make it a job conducive to maintaining six-pack abs.

That doesn't mean he shouldn't try. The Surgeon General is the highest health care official in the United States. He is the one person that we are supposed to trust and take health advice from. He is not always correct, at one point in time, smoking was recommended as a digestion aid, but it is generally accepted by the public that if the Surgeon General recommends something, it is better for our health if we follow.

So as it is his job to promote health amongst the general populace, he needs to use all available methods. One of the most powerful methods the Surgeon General has is leading by example. The Surgeon General's warning on a pack of cigarettes would pack a far less powerful punch if it were side by side with a picture of him lighting up. Similarly the nation is not likely to trust a fat man when he says, "Don't be fat."

I don't want to say he has to be a specimen of perfect physique, the public is not likely to listen to that either, we are rather tired of getting that from gym commercials, but he should be relatively in shape. To have an overweight Surgeon General is to send a message that it really isn't that important a thing, even though it could be one of the more challenging health issues to face our nation.

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