Understanding Obesity: Beyond Teaching, Tinkering & Blaming

Building from our previous work, Understanding Obesity provides a provocative, yet simple, explanation as to the root problem of this country's greatest public health issue and offers equally thought-provoking solutions.

As analysts and consultants in the health, wellness and food arenas, we are continually puzzled-and more than a bit frustrated-by our collective response to the obesity issue. While we stand united in our belief that obesity is a serious problem in American society, especially among our youth, our common responses often leave much to be desired.

Reviewing the discourse surrounding the obesity debates, we find most proposed "solutions" can typically be placed into one of three common buckets: blame, teach or tinker. We blame the overweight person for a lack of discipline or self-control, we set out to teach folks how to "eat better," or we suggest tinkering with or otherwise modifying our food supply.

The least common and, we believe, least productive position is to simply blame the victim for his or her lack of self-control. While this perspective is a natural fit for a culture championing the ideals of self-discipline and self-control, we think most realize that the sudden spike in obesity rates-especially among our children-can hardly be explained by something as vague as declining moral and character values.