Recently my aunt who is the family historian posted some old family pictures on Facebook. One picture of my grandfathers’ mother and aunts taken in the 1930’s or early 1940’s was particularly striking. It was interesting because all of the women in that picture were big. None were fat but they all were stout in stature. The same is true of those in that family line down through the years.
What is really interesting about seeing that picture is that is stands in stark contrast to what we are routinely told about people of that era. They were healthy, they were active and they ate better than we do. In contrast we are instructed that our generation is fat and getting fatter leading to all sorts of diseases and health issues.
The consensus seems to be against us yet for all of the cries and moans of the current health establishment it appears that common sense has been left out of their thinking. Why because not everyone prior to 1980 was thin and without health issues. In fact history shows that those on the heavier side have been around for a long time even without television, fast food or video games the usual suspects in the obesity debate.
Is there an epidemic of obesity? I think the jury is out on that one. Obesity has been around throughout history and was once considered the way to be by the in crowd. In truth people who are thin and people who are fat get sick and face poor health it is just a part of life. What is also a part of life is that not everyone is the same as some are thin and others are not.
It may be the consensus of science that obesity leads to poor health but as has been said before consensus is the absence of leadership and certainly of common sense.
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