Thursday, September 24, 2009

Fatties

THE OTHER day I was walking down the High Street and I happened upon a mother pushing her child in a pram. The kid couldn’t have been more than a year old, but believe it or not, he was sitting there in the pram with his greasy, chubby chops wrapped round a Gregg's sausage roll. And we wonder why there is this upsurge in children too obese to toddle. The stuff that some parents feed their kids is absolutely appalling. I was told an apocryphal tale by a health professional once, involving a mother feeding her baby blended Big Macs instead of baby food. Parents should definitely know better than to encourage children to eat unhealthy fast food at a young age. We already have a huge problem with obesity without them starting the next generation down the path to an early heart attack.
We reported last week that something like 149,000 great British pounds was spent on providing giant-sized hospital beds and winches for obese patients at Fife hospitals. Does anyone else think that that is totally outrageous? Think of the amount of equipment that they could have bought with that money, from x-ray machines to incubators for premature babies. Of course, I would never suggest that we don’t have a responsibility to treat obese people on the NHS, but I have to say I find it very hard to be sympathetic for people who allow their bodies to get into that condition. And by “that condition”, I don’t mean people who are a bit tubby. Most of the foods and drinks that taste good make us a little bit plump and that is fine - all it shows is that you enjoy life. What I am talking about is the people who are let themselves get so abnormally giant that they can’t move and claim they have “mobility difficulties”.
OK, so there’s a fat gene, but you can’t all have it. I think people just need to take better care of themselves. After all, we all know what we can and can’t eat to stay healthy, and we know that we need to exercise. This is a well published scientific fact. If people choose to ignore it, they will have to pay the price.
I hate that they give these overly fat people mobility scooters to drive around on. Having to walk around would do these people some good. I disapprove of people trying to legitimise being overweight by turning it into a disability. A disability is something you’re stuck with, not something you can sweat out with a couple of trips to the gym and a few less burgers. To me it’s all part of the sad victim mentality that so many people in this country seem to have that they use to excuse themselves from working. It’s just unfair on all the people who through no fault of their own find themselves unable to move around.
People who are obese should be forced to run in a treadmill like a hamster and generate energy for the rest of us. We could dangle a steak bake in front of them and let them go. We could cure our obesity problem and our rising energy problem in one go. There we go, job done. No need to thank me.

2 comments:

-∆ said...

Sometimes I envy the fact that your country doesn't have a constitution. You guys could probably make a law like that if you wanted to. I must have gained a couple pounds eating stovies and drinking Irn Bru at that bakery by your house.

Iain Galloway said...

Harsh, but fair...