Addiction is built in.

The Guardian Weekly of 15 June carries a story of a man who had bariatric surgery to lose weight in England. Two thirds of his stomach was removed and 8 meters of small intestine was bypassed so that he is left with only 1.5 meters thus decreasing the area for absorption of nutrients in food. He is able to eat only small quantities of food because larger amounts make him vomit as the small stomach is unable to cope and he has to constantly watch what he eats otherwise he will develop deficiencies of key vitamins and minerals. Unlike gastric banding his operation is permanent so he will have to cope with these changes for life. His weight has dropped from 195kg to 100kg. For the first time in a long time he is able to tie his shoelaces, take his children for rides on his scooter and rest his laptop on his lap instead of on his abdomen. On a recent holiday in Egypt he felt brave enough to take off his top in public although that maybe because Egyptians, especially women, are fat. Before the operation he had back problems, high blood pressure, lymphoedema in his legs, cellulitis and such severe sleep apnoea that he was waking up 10 times at night and doctors had to give a machine that blew air onto his face to help him breathe. He would get short of breath walking 13 steps to his bedroom. The improvement in his condition seems remarkable and one would expect him to be ecstatic but he is depressed. Apparently depression, alcoholism and suicide are not uncommon after such surgeries. Political correctness driven by feminism has restricted genuine discussion about severe obesity. While feminists are vehement in their criticism of thin models calling them anorexic and a bad influence on young girls they try to celebrate obesity by holding beauty contests for obese women and describing the word " fat " as an abuse. They deny that fat people are greedy and say that it is not the quantity of food that makes people fat but their genes. If quantity of food does not make you fat then bariatric surgery, which reduces intake, should not work. Yet the same feminists are vehemently against smoking although, in today's world, obesity causes many more diseases than smoking. Why do people get so obese? This man says," When I get up I have toast, six or eight pieces, white toast, butter and jam. I'll have Coke or Pepsi in the morning, a two liter bottle, probably half of that for breakfast. I enjoy every bit of food I eat, but then I feel guilty and, then the only thing that will make me feel better again is eating, then I feel bad again." This man is describing symptoms of addiction. Seriously obese people are food addicts and that is why they get depressed after surgery, because of withdrawal. Human beings are addicted to food, smoking, alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, sex and even video games. Maybe it is something about being human that makes us prone to addiction. The problem is we cannot stop being human.