Fudging the truth won’t beat obesity
IT’S no surprise we’re facing an obesity crisis (Mail). Doctors should be allowed to tell patients in straight language about the dangers of being overweight without fear of being accused of ‘fat shaming’. A few years ago, I went to see my GP. I explained I was feeling tired all the time and was worried I may have diabetes. The doctor was not one to mince his words. He fixed me with a direct look and said: ‘No, you’re too fat.’ ‘Perhaps I have a glandular problem,’ I replied. ‘How many PoWs were overweight due to glandular problems?’ he asked. ‘Err, none,’ I admitted. I was told I’d be going on a diet and would be weighed weekly by the practice nurse. She was as stern as the doctor so I would even remove my wedding and signet rings before getting on the scales. But the end result was that I lost three stone. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been as committed to the diet if I hadn’t been given the honest truth.
PETER NESBITT, Anlaby, E. Yorks.
SUPERMARKETS no longer have racks of sweets at the tills, but the same can’t be said for petrol stations. You have to walk past a wall of sugary treats to get to the counter. I think we need to ban sugar. Putting a couple of pence in tax on a chocolate bar or banning confectionery adverts until after 9pm is like putting a plaster on a broken limb.
DEE STEWART, Cranbrook, Kent.
IT’S disheartening that obesity related illnesses continue to rise, with a million attending hospital in the past year. At the start of the pandemic, it was widely reported that being obese put people at a greater risk of a poor outcome if they were to contract coronavirus. I had hoped this would change the way we talk about being overweight and its impact on the NHS without worrying about causing offence. Sadly, that hasn’t happened. We all have a responsibility to take care of our own health, including watching our weight. This is even more important due to the lack of face-toface GP appointments and long hospital waiting lists. Tiptoeing around the subject of obesity hasn’t solved the problem. Overweight patients need to take personal responsibility.
CAROLYN LAWSON, Carnforth, Lancs.
IN HER article on obesity, Sarah Vine talks about finger wagging. Unfortunately, it also works in the reverse direction. When the singer Adele lost a lot of weight and drastically altered her appearance, she received a lot of abuse from ‘fat activist’ trolls on social media. CHRISTOPHER JUDSON,
Wembley, Gtr London.
THE school curriculum bears some of the blame for the rise in obesity. Young families don’t know how to provide nutritious, home-cooked food. We need to bring back good, old-fashioned cookery lessons. I was amazed when my daughter was told that for a lesson in how to make a meat pie, the pupils should bring in a packet of pastry and a tin of pie filling.
MARGARET EDWARDS, High Wycombe, Bucks.