Cancer Research UK says obesity now outweighs smoking as the major cause of bowel, kidney, liver and ovarian cancer.
And it hasn’t taken long for the same old, same old to be schlepped out again: “If only people would just eat less and move more!”
How many smokers know that smoking is bad for their health – and yet still smoke? How many obese people know that chips and chocolate cake are “bad” and salad and vegetables are “good”? And who doesn’t know we are supposed to aim for 10,000 steps a day?
So why are the obese ignoring the advice? Maybe it’s the advice that misplaced.
Why do people smoke? Why do people drink too much alcohol? To deal with stress, because it is a habit, because it is addictive.
Why do people overeat? Could it be for the same reasons?
No one thinks that an alcoholic drinks too much because they are extra-thirsty, yet the assumption is that obese people eat too much because they are extra-hungry, greedy, stupid.
Could it be that the obese are using food to deal with the stresses and strains of life, and that the advice they need is to find different ways to deal with the cause of the stress, as well as the symptoms – the weight.
We have to find out “why” we are behaving in a particular way if we are ever going to sort out the problem.
LighterLife knows that the problem is not in the mouth or the stomach – it’s in the head, and any amount of advice about eating less and doing more is not going to help.
