Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Obesity, drugs, and self-control

Companies such as Entero-Medics and Leptos Biomedical are striving to develop devices that will curb people's appetites so they'll eat less. Eat less, fewer calories, and your weight goes down. It's really rather simple. What ever happened to basic self-control? With products like these all we're doing is reinforcing a belief that we don't need self-control. This is a dangerous thing to teach. We do need self-control and controlling our gastronomical system is a great way to develop self-control that will then benefit us in other areas. And we wonder why we're so quickly falling behind other countries.

Next question: How long will it be before, thanks to a government program, we're paying for these devices for those poor obese souls who lack the self control to eat normally?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It isn't just about self control. I was obese for a while before I started eating right. I still eat the foods I like, pizza, burgers, but exercise was KEY. Drinking water, orange juice, vitamins and all of that for about 4 years so far and I feel great.

Some people just naturally have weight issues. Some may even have genetic problems. Sometimes self control isn't as easy as people say it is. You see a food, and depending on the circumstances you can't resist it. Your self control crumbles into the pie your eating. Sometimes it's comfort, other times it's something else. I welcome any new ideas that help people realize the benefits of losing weight and eating right. If some people need a pill to get them to eat right, who are we to stand in their way to better health?

Sometimes our own devices fall short.

Anonymous said...

I think the point is that we've replaced self control in too many areas of our lives and the result is that we don't have self control in any area.

Crusty said...

Anon, over 99% of obesity cases are purely an issue of too many calories in relation to the amount of exercise someone gets, nothing more. Cases of it being medical or medically genetic are extremely rare.

I agree with you that self-control is difficult. I faced a lot of weight gain several years ago and it takes a lot of self control for me to keep my caloric intake to a reasonable level and to exercise appropriately. Learning self control in one area caries over in to others though, just as lack of self control tends to often run across other areas of our lives. Thus my strong belief that it is much better for someone to learn and use self control than depend on pills.

BTW, congrats on your weight control. I've been there, I know it's not easy.