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The government, which holds your simplistic and inaccurate view, is poised to intrude upon our rights and impose a one-size-fits-all diet on us. It, like most government programs, will fail. Obesity rates will climb further, and progressives will bemoan that only another government intervention can solve the problem.

My simplification of the obesity issue does not advocate a "government program" as solution. In fact, any government program to combat obesity is doomed to failure - just like almost any other government program.

I have some empirical evidence to backup what I am saying. I have been obese most of my life and was only able to overcome it by taking on a rigid program of diet and exercise. In fact, I found that I had to walk briskly 7-10 miles per day, every day, in conjunction with reduction of caloric intake to lose weight and indeed I lost over 100 pounds during the 2003-2004 period. Since then, I have observed that as soon as I reduce my exercise or increase my food intake, the weight very quickly comes back on again.

Additional empirical evidence. I visit my father's farm in Alabama on a regular basis. There is a very large obesity problem there. Now my father grew up there during the 1930s and 1940s and all those old family pictures show everybody as thin as rails. Now these people would be pretty much outdoors from sunup to sundown doing various farm chores and there was not always plenty to eat. Hunger was a way of life. In fact, I think few people in the U.S. today have ever experienced true hunger.

These days, on the same farm, I have observed family members driving to the end of their driveway to collect their mail. Some of them have not walked a full mile since they were children. They spend most of their time in their air-conditioned homes, sitting on the couch with their satellite TVs. Food is cheap and plentiful at the Wal-Mart superstore in town and they eat enormous amounts of it. Almost all of them are over 100 pounds overweight and three of my relatives have had gastric bypass surgery.

This is not an issue of "genetics" or "metabolism". It is simply a function of too much food and too little physical activity. I do not condemn these people as I am one of them myself. If not for my now well-established routine of walking briskly several miles each day and forcing myself to eat less, I too would still be well over 100 pounds overweight.

Exactly right. There is a genetic component but there's nothing that can be done about it except by modifying energy intake and output. There is a slight metabolic component (which is just another way of saying genetic component), but there's nothing that can be done about it except by modifying energy intake and output to the point that calories absorbed is exceeded by calories expended. Only then will fat mass start to be reduced. The only ways of doing this are decreasing intake below output and increasing output above intake. Pushing away the plate is one means. Increasing physical activity in both extent and rate is another. Increasing muscle mass is a third.

“I have some empirical evidence to backup what I am saying. I have been obese most of my life and was only able to overcome it by taking on a rigid program of diet and exercise. In fact, I found that I had to walk briskly 7-10 miles per day, every day, in conjunction with reduction of caloric intake to lose weight”

But that empirical evidence, which matches my own, **contradicts** your conclusion.

A normal person getting a **normal** amount of exercise and consuming a **normal** diet should maintain a normal weight.

When you have to take heroic measures to lose weight and keep it off—as in my case—something is wrong (I really wanted to capitalize those last three words).

Several microorganisms that cause obesity in laboratory animals have been identified. One can mention carnitine deficiency. But very few people are even researching other causes because the “you eat like a pig and are lazy” answer is so satisfying. It reminds me of the “South Park” episode on hybrid cars.