Can Stomach It....Sometimes

In her article Can't Stomach It, Julie Guthman addresses today's "problem" with obesity. She tackles questions such as whether obesity is a disease and f people like Michael Pollan have done the public well with their writings. She brings up the point that shows like The Biggest Loser may have contributed to the recent thrust in dieting drugs, fitness center and other such good and services into the general public. She raises a question that got me excited at first but after thinking about it, it didn't really make so much sense to me. She asks " why are Pollan, Goodall and Nestle not fat? If junk food is so ubiquitous that it cannot be resisted. how is it that some people remain (or become) thin?
First off, Pollan admits that certain unhealthy foods do attract consumers but from what I have read he never blatantly writes that they are irresistible. And if he did say that then he would be wrong because everyone knows some one who does not eat junk food and unhealthy foods. Secondly, as much as we need food, I believe that it hasn't been scientifically proven that food is addicting. The fact that you may really enjoy a fruit by the foot does not mean that the next time you are given the opportunity to have one, you would uncontrollably need to have another one. Again, this proves that irresistibility is farce. Lastly, most people do value life. If that is the case then when on a normal checkup at the doctor you are given news of; high cholesterol, high blood pressure or any symptoms of early obesity, people should be scared to change. If people value unhealthy food over staying alive, and not breaking the hearts of their children, family and friends then they are just not the smartest people.

Is food actually addicting?
Why do people not fear for their lives when they consume so much unhealthy food?

A Republic of Fat

In chapter 6 of The Omnivores' Dilemma, Michael Pollan addresses the increase of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and its impact on the American diet and lifestyle. He compares it to when cheap Whiskey was introduced to the public and how it became the drink of choice. Pollan adds that Whiskey was served with every meal and was so frequent that it needed to be sold by the pint at one time. He says that Whiskey was their epidemic. It led to public drunkenness, violence, family abandonment and an increase in alcohol-related diseases.    He then continues to say how the surplus of corn forced the producers to find ways to eliminate corn. This led to the production of HFCS. The first time HFCS was introduced to the public was in 1980 and it immediately caught wild fire. Almost all the foods we now eat include HFCS.  It supposedly was to take the place of sugar, but it realistically did not. Therefore, the intake of daily sugars rose dramatically. Adding the increase intake of sugars and the technological advances which allow many people to do less physical activity regularly, you get a population of fat, lazy people.
Granted the producers of HFCS are geniuses. The figured out how to engineer foods that by nature we really want to eat. But the fact that we may be the first generation in a while to have the average death age be earlier than our parents is despicable. Think about how many new medicinal and scientific advances we are privy to, and we still are dying early! People need to learn to care for themselves and for their families. Children need to be brought up conscious of all these factors, and they need to be guided to make the correct choices.

Questions
Why do obese people not take the hint and lose weight?
Why are people not afraid when they see advertisements for obesity?
Why do people think they are invincible?
How do you help people around you become conscious of their obesity without making them feel bad, get angry with you and at the same time take you seriously and try and get healthy?