Too big for our britches

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

The big news this week is that New Zealand's obesity rate has topped 30 per cent for the first time. That's one in every three adults officially overweight.

Yes, we are not so much living off the fat of the land ... we are the fat of the land, as our story on page 5 shows.

When it was said Wanganui needed to grow its population, that was more people living here - not just the ones already in situ getting beefier.

As a schoolboy, I remember there was always the "fat kid" who was the odd one out; the one who got picked on. Every school had one ... but usually only one. Now it's "that skinny kid" who is being bullied.

The latest disproportionately large figures from the health ministry will no doubt spark much belly-aching about the need to get the lower social orders off their perceived diet of burgers, fries and fizzy drinks. It will be noted that the lower socio-economic areas have the poorer diets and calls for healthier nutrition for kids will rise.

But we have had numerous healthy eating campaigns and people are still gorging their way to cholesterol-induced heart attacks. Perhaps the health dollars would be better spent elsewhere.

Health minister Tony Ryall has already rejected firm government intervention that could limit the availability and promotion of blubber-boosting product. That will keep the big businesses that market their unhealthy-for-you-but-healthy-for-our-profits food happy.

Mr Ryall hides behind his "we don't want a nanny state" mantra. What's wrong with nannies? I always thought they were kind to children.

But there is something else at play here ... the Western world has become obsessed with food.

Everywhere you look, someone is stuffing their face. The TV schedules are choking on celebrity chefs and reality cooking shows - there's even a telly channel devoted solely to making a pig of yourself - and the magazines are full of it.

Forget the poor people and their lard-laced takeaways, the middle-class seem to be drowning in drizzled jus.

Some people eat because they are unhappy. They get fatter; they get more unhappy.

Food used to be something you ate to give you the energy to do more important things. Now it is an end in itself.

We have been consumed by a culture of gluttony ... and it's sickening.

So go easy this Christmas, eh?