I think it dangerous to tell people that it's OK to be overweight or, more specifically, obese. Besides the obvious risks to one's personal health there is also the knock-on effect of our personal health causing strain on public resources. Thanks to medical technology, we are now living longer lives and, more importantly, living through diseases and afflictions that would have caused our deaths not too many years ago. Thanks to a general rise in living conditions, food is more freely and cheaply available as well. Obesity wasn't a choice for most of our grandparents.
In the UK, the rates of medical conditions that directly pertain to obesity such as type2 diabetes, heart disease and strokes have pushed the total cost to the NHS (National Health Service) up to £4.5 Billion a year. That's a burden of nearly £100 that each man, woman and child has to pay into the service to treat the problem. For those on private health-care, it pushed the premiums up for others who use that service.
On the flip side, smokers cost the NHS £1.8 billion a year but they pay almost £9 billion in taxes on their addiction. In that sense, it is easier to justify being a smoker than somebody of an unhealthy weight. What a vexing statistic. Seems counter-intuitive doesn't it? The weight of public discussion on the subject, along with public health warnings and educational/advertising campaigns, would lead you to believe that it would be the other way round.
My simple advice would be to take at least the minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day and cook with whole foods as opposed to pre-packaged options. Cooking always seems to be the burden of one person in most homes...or at least a chore that is done on one's own. Having the family prepare and cook (and CLEAN!!) together is such a great way to share time and lighten the load. It becomes a fun thing to do.
One other point that is not often considered is the way that our expanding waist-lines raise costs for certain other services we all use. In order to accommodate our new, fuller figures the seats on buses, trains and planes have had to be enlarged. That has had to be absorbed into costing of tickets. One thing that has always bothered me is that I have had to fork out a fortune for extra luggage on flights when the total weight of myself and that luggage is far less than some people's weight alone.
Here's a controversial proposition: Is it the fair thing to do to charge people based on the weight and size of their person and luggage combined? It crosses traditional boundaries of being PC because discussing people's weight has always been seen as rude and insensitive.
Also (addressing your last comment regarding smoking) I feel sorry for smokers in a way. OK, its not too nice sitting down to a meal in a restaurant with a cloud of smoke hovering about your table BUT we do live in a free-market economy which espouses the virtue of allowing the market to direct itself. Seems hypocritical and more than slightly dictatorial.
edited for spelling
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