Last week, The American Academy on Pediatrics released its treatment guidelines for overweight and obese children. Rather than attacking the dietary guidelines, which prescribe a perfect diet for getting fat, addressing the absence of physical activity in schools, or the lack of sleep kids get nowadays, they came to the insane conclusion that doctors should consider prescribing weight loss drugs or bariatric surgery as part of a treatment plan.



I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, since conventional medicine has gone along with the idea that kids of the same age should be considered for puberty blockers or sex change surgery if they want it. 



The idea of starting kids on drug therapy or putting them through surgery for a condition that can be resolved through diet and exercise, to me, seems barbaric. Especially since the US Dietary Guidelines, school lunch programs, food subsidies, the absence of physical education in schools, and a lack of adequate sleep are what contribute to obesity in almost all cases. 



Overcomplicating Childhood Obesity



According to the most recent CDC data, 14.4 million children and adolescents are currently overweight or obese in America today. Based on epidemiological models, by 2050, 57% of today's children will be obese adults.



We're well on our way to living the life depicted in Wall-E:




https://youtu.be/s-kdRdzxdZQ




As advanced and educated of a nation as we are, we way overcomplicate most of the problems we face as a nation. Maybe it's so more money can be made from such problems. Or, perhaps it's because we have to accept all possible, even ridiculous, and unsubstantiated ideas in the name of inclusivity.



That's certainly the case when it comes to obesity and the AAP's new practice guidelines.



This is evidenced by the first paragraph in the introduction to their practice guidelines:




The current and long-term health of 14.4 million children and adolescents is affected by obesity, making it one of the most common pediatric chronic diseases. Long stigmatized as a reversible consequence of personal choices, obesity has complex genetic, physiologic, socioeconomic, and environmental contributors. As the environment has become increasingly obesogenic, access to evidence-based treatment has become even more crucial.
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Obesity



It would be easy to miss the significance of these three sentences. We should not do that. They shape the worldview of the association instructing doctors on how to treat children. 



They’re saying:




We shouldn't see obesity as reversible through one's personal choices - people need others to intervene for them



Obesity is complex ... well beyond the effects of diet and lifestyle choices (in a very small percentage of cases this is true)



Because the environment contributes so much to obesity, it's crucial to provide obesity treatment. According to the guidelines, that treatment doesn't begin in a gym with a physical education teacher or personal trainer, but instead with a medical doctor.




Confucius famously said,




Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Confucius



The more complicated you make a problem, the less likely it is that you’ll solve it. Then again, the more you can convince people of the complexity, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to sell them new and expensive solutions. If you can get them to believe that only one professional has access to those new and expensive solutions, you’ll be able to charge a premium and eliminate competition from others. 



If people believe that obesity requires the same level of medical care as cancer or a broken neck, they’ll become dependent upon the medical system to take care of them. 



While the American medical system is a great place to go for trauma, it’s one of the last places you want to go for achieving or maintaining health.