We've never spent so much time and energy thinking about, writing about, documenting and analysing what we eat. There's never been more advice, more experts, more information about how to lose weight. Yet, we've never been fatter.
Basically, all the pundits agree on one simple formula; eat less energy than you expend. This leaves those of us who perpetually struggle with the kilos feeling not just fat, but guilty. If only we had the willpower to eat less and exercise more. Yet all of us on the roly-poly end of things have been on diets, we've all lost weight. Then, slowly, we've watched the kilos sneak back on and ended up fatter than we started.
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I have given up dieting for that reason. At least my weight stays stable now. I eat sensibly, exercise daily and am (trying to be) resigned to the fact that the size I am is the size my body wants to be.
But maybe willpower is not the problem. Indeed, perhaps this obsession with what we eat is not actually helping. As people continue to get fatter, we just keep yelling the same things at them louder and louder – a bit like the brutal trainers on The Biggest Loser.
![Illustration: Dionne Gain](/web/20170102163020im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/k/v/y/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtjxfx.png/1483338786644.jpg)
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, maybe our response to obesity is a bit nuts? Perhaps it is our concentration on diets (5&2, no-sugar, paleo, CSIRO, Gut-busters, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, use a smaller plate, cut serving sizes in half, low fat, no fat, high carb, low carb, low GI, whatever) and food itself that isn't helping. In Australia, we often approach problem-solving very literally but, sometimes, a lateral approach may hold the key.
I once heard of a low socio-economic status school that had been trying for years to raise literacy and numeracy. They had implemented every program, tried every strategy and turned themselves and their students inside out to no avail. In the end, despairingly, they decided to change focus. They decided to forget driving the kids on literacy and numeracy and instead make classes more fun to try, at least, to improve attendance. It worked. Attendance rates went up. But, better than that and entirely unexpectedly, literacy and numeracy results went up too.
What if instead of worrying about people's weight, calorie intake and exercise rates, we focused on other things altogether? We know, for example, that stress, exhaustion and insomnia exacerbate weight gain. So what might the effect be if we tried to reduce the pressure by cutting working hours and increasing job and income security?
As for childhood obesity, what if people went back to sending their kids to the nearest local school so that they could walk or ride their bikes there and back? Cutting the long commute to schools further afield would mean they'd have more time to play outside after school, especially as they'd also know the local kids better, with flow on effects for activity on weekends and holidays. Sending your kids to the local public school has another knock on effect. Not having to pay school fees lowers the financial pressure on parents so they are also less stressed and may also have more time.
What if we mandated that all working parents knocked off at 4pm, giving them the time and energy to shop for, prepare and serve home cooked meals rather than exhaustedly dialling a pizza on the way home three hours later?
Yes, I know all this is pie in the sky (just a sliver for me, thanks) and would require us to completely reconsider the way work, school and capitalism itself is currently organised, but is our increasing weight really a cry for help? A silent warning that the way we are doing things now is simply not working. Maybe in this winner/loser, no-quarter-given, thin-lipped (but fat-hipped) society we are self-medicating with food. Maybe obesity is a physical expression of emotional distress?
What if we stopped worrying about obesity and started tackling exhaustion, stress and the constant competitive pressure to be the perfect parent, employee, physical specimen, citizen, friend and all-round high achiever. If we stopped spending 12 hours a day slumped over a desk (yes, even a standing one) I bet we'd all be thinner.
Jane Caro is a novelist, author and Fairfax Media columnist.
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