"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

I never said it was the only straw, but I believe it is the largest
factor by far.

Faith without "a shred of evidence" is wonderful.

If anyone can show me a shred of evidence that humans
have made some dramatic change in genetic composition in the last 3-4
decads, I'll admit that I'm wrong.

I never asserted that.

The change is simple. You first have to simply admit that you are fat
because of what YOU are doing or not doing. Then decide you are going
to eat less and exercise more. Then go out and do it! Walk, ride bike,
whatever. If you spend all of your energy looking for a scapegoat, then
you'll stay fat and out of shape. Looking for an excuse simply doesn't
burn many calories! :-)

Life is rarely simple.

My dad quite smoking overnight before patches were available. I think
looking for bandaid solutions for every problem simply encourages more
people to wait around for the bandaid rather than making the hard
choices and investing some work.

No sense using the saw. Just beat it off with the hammer. If it was good
enough fer dad, it's good enough fer me.

I think I know what you mean. You mean to say that eating less and
exercising is hard work and takes a lot of will power. I agree.

Nope. I think you said that.

You are also saying that we should coddle folks and make it easy for them
rather than telling them to get off their butts and work a little. I
disagree.

That may be one way to phrase it. I would liken it to the choice a surgeon
makes when he chooses to use anaesthetic to perform an operation, rather
than just saw the leg off. Yeah, mebbe there are those who can grit their
teeth and take it. Does that make them better than those who would rather
forego the pain? I don't think so. But who cares anyway? The objective is to
get the operation performed successfully, not to sit back in self-righteous
indignation and say, "I did it, so you have to do it the same way". That's
B.S. All this crap of pointing fingers, blaming people, telling them they're
wimps unless they can do it by themselves, has no place outside of Marine
boot camp. It may make you feel good to do it, but it doesn't solve the
problem.

I have a very hard time turning down a cookie or donut. I don't always
feel like stopping at the gym after work or hopping on the bike for a
two hour ride. However, I will tell you that it works.

Nobody is arguing the physical facts of weight loss. What I am saying is
that we need to develop effective solutions so that everyone who wants to
lose weight can do it. You can tell me a hundred times that it works - that
doesn't change the fact that your way is not working for many people. Go
ahead, puff out your chest, feel good that you can hit the gym or the
bicycle, but that doesn't solve the epidemic, my friend.

I'd like to add that I value your opinions on several other subjects. I just
think you're not really seeing the problem on this one.

Ciao,
Rich S