STOUSH WITH JOURNO

Allan (OBESITY POLICE COMMISSIONER): I refer to your comment today that "there is no quick fix to the so-called obesity epidemic". What rot! The solution is VERY simple. Stop shoveling copious amounts of food into your mouth. Is that so hard to get?

Cate: Dear Allan, thanks so much your response to my column. I think you'll find that it is a little more complicated than that. Yes, I speak from experience. Nevertheless, I always welcome feedback, even when I disagree.

Allan: I too speak from experience. I have 5 seriously obese people in my family, and they are all eating themselves to death.

Cate: So you haven't been able to convince them to stop shoveling food in their mouths ... I wonder why? ... Can I suggest that unless you yourself have been seriously overweight, then it's a little difficult to understand what goes on psychologically and emotionally

Allan: Because they couldn't give a shit about the outcome! That's why. And, for the record, I have been seriously overweight. So don't tell me I don't know what is involved. I was brought up on junk food.

Cate: I'm glad that you were able to find a solution to your weight problem

Allan: Believe me, everyone has the solution. It’s lurking in their head.

Cate: Mhmmm lapband surgery last august ... failed due to an infection ... having it put back in November

Allan: Lap-band be buggered. I thought you were a learned person.

Cate: As I believe I've said, Allan ... it's not that simple ... and you should be wary of telling me what's going on inside my head, just as I shouldn't tell you what's going on inside yours

Allan: Come down to see me. I have a gym in Mermaid Beach. I will help you loose your unwanted weight, at no cost. PLEASE. DO NOT abuse yourself by doing that stupid gut wrenching lap-band surgery thing.

Cate: Thank you for the offer ... but as you said ... been there done that I am a member of a gym and work out 4-5 times a week ... as I said ...not that simple

Allan: I didn't say anything about working out in a gym. Did I? What I said was, it's what goes in your mouth that counts. It is as simple as that. If you can't control your eating habits, then I am willing to help you control them. We all need motivation. Some of us need more than others. You can loose unwanted fat - anytime you want - without exercise.

Cate: Allan ... enough, all right? You know nothing about me: my history, my personality, my psychology or what my eating habits are. You know nothing about my motivations, you know nothing about any other medical conditions I might have. You need to open your mind to the possibility that fat people are individuals, with individual needs, problems and solutions. You cannot just provide a blanket solution and expect it to work for everyone. I suggest that the kind of intransigency you're displaying is exactly the kind of response that drives people like me away from simplistic solutions like 'just stop shoveling food into your mouth'.

Allan: I don't need to know anything about people like you as you so protectively put it. As a man thinks, so he is.

Cate: You can't hear what's running through my head right now, I'll bet. Thanks, but no thanks ... you're not the kind of motivation that I need.

Allan: I don't need to know what's running through your head right now. But, do call me when the second abusive attempt at the medico's income producing lap-band surgery fails you: again. Or get your loved ones to call me before you have heart failure.

Cate: Thanks for the encouragement.

Allan: My pleasure.