FAT PEOPLE ARE THE NEW TERRORISTS

BLOATED OBESITY COSTS A THREAT TO THE NATION

Don't you love that headline. According to the article the cost of the obesity crisis has soared to $58 billion a year and taxpayers are bearing the burden. It seems that I must apologise to all the supporting thin people out there who are carrying me on their backs.

There has been a staggering (their words) 137% increase in cases of type 2 diabetes caused by excess weight. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, osteoarthritis and some forms of cancer have also soared as waistlines have expanded.

Now for some figures. 3.7 million Australians are obese. 17.5% of the population which could increase to 18.3% by 2025.
The biggest price of obesity came from lost wellbeing, and estimate of $49.9 billion. Lost productivity cost $3.6 billion, direct burden on the health system was $2 billion and carers' cost topped $1.9 billion.
The Federal Government had the biggest share, 34% of the bill, 30% was covered by the individual and 19% by family and friends.

But that's only for obese people not the overweight so the true cost could be higher. The experts want a ban on junk-food advertising to children, better food labelling and funding for lap-banding surgery. I'm all for the first two but surgery as an option, not for me. The report was from the Diabetes summit in Hobart.

I knew they were keeping those detention centres for a reason. Can a fattie round-up be close?

The increase in diabetes could be due to the fact that it's routine to test for it now. 25 years ago if you complained to your doctor about a raging thirst and weight loss then you had a test. 25 years ago we didn't know the fat content of a Big Mac, didn't know about low GI foods and didn't worry about letting the belt out another notch. We didn't have the internet to research and didn't have carbs, fats etc. labelled on our food. We also didn't have experts blaming fatties for ruining the country's economy.

I've ranted about this before but it really gets on my wick. Good food costs a lot, junk food doesn't. Supermarket shelves are laden with cheap chemical quick meals, just add meat. Rows of biscuits, potato crisps, soft drinks and sweets out number the rows of vegetables. Even the vegetables are suspect. Apples come from cold stores, garlic from China, oranges from California, in fact name a country and the supermarket will source food from it.

I'm looking at having organic food delivered to the house but the cost might be prohibitive. Everything I buy is wholegrain healthy. This week I had a free loaf from Baker's Delight and I grabbed the white hi-fibre low GI loaf and felt like I'd just scored a bag of ecstacy in a sleezy back alley. I'm doing my best, croissants and an ice-cream only on Sunday, bypass the chocolate aisle, drink water but I'm only human not Wonderwoman and I stress eat.

I'm very conscious of health. In the last three weeks, I've had a cousin, neighbour and friend die, two from cancer and one from Diabetes. My cousin was 53, the neighbour was 60 and the friend was 47. Two smoked, one had never been sick with more than a cold and none was obese or even overweight. There's no easy answer. More exercise? Another friend who is an athletic trainer says losing weight is 20% exercise and 80% diet.

What I need is someone to serve me three meals a day so I don't have to think about it.