I have been fighting fatness most of my life and, apart from a brief period during my 20s, was always overweight. Although still on the large side, I know what it is like to have to avoid certain types of food. Society doesn’t help. It is absolutely criminal that we allow children to be fat. You can’t possibly imagine the idea of ‘failure’ that is associated with fatness in a child. This doesn’t even include the countless number of mocking nicknames which are heaped on one – ‘fatty’ or ‘fatso’ and the worst being ‘meatball’ or ‘swabble’.
Obviously we should do more to stop the intake of sugar by children. I remember that I used to take in so much sugar with my cornflakes that the spoon could stand up in the bowl by itself. Obviously one gets used to the adrenaline rush and this addiction goes on for the rest of one’s life.
Supermarkets and shops should not be allowed to stock sweets at eye level or ever place them at the end of checkouts. Of course there should be a sugar tax! Although it will take a hideous amount of tax to stop my craving, it would certainly work with the majority of people. Above all, we should be trained to deal with it and avoid certain foods.
I don’t stock certain items in the house any more for fear of going on those binges. I try to ensure that I fill myself up with green vegetables once a day. However, nothing will stop a binger like myself when that person is tired and temptation is there. There is one way that I have found that works, but it is not easy, and that is the ‘fast two-day diet’. It works – if you can do it, that is.
So if you are like me – have staring matches with food-dispensing machines and hate to miss out on a doughnut – then watch this space. I am going to now rent out a room to help lock up fatties for two days without food and help them learn to regulate their feeding habits.
