Would You Take A “Skinny Drug” To Lose Weight?

I’m not a thin person, but I was once much fatter, so I’m going to tee off on a writer named Sarah Boseley.

In a Guardian column recently, entitled “A Skinny Jab is No Quick Fix for Obesity–and no excuse to let Junk Food Companies off the hook”, she denounces the emergence of weight-loss drugs.

While admitting that they might be beneficial to some, she laments that they are being embraced too widely, and too prominently (Elon Musk is taking one of them, apparently).

What we really need to do is prevent obesity in the first place, not treat it. OK, I see her point on that.

Here’s where she loses me: what we really need more of, Ms. Bosely argues, is government control and regulation of food companies. They are just making far too many and too varied things that are tasty and delicious.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

They should market broccoli and bananas the way they market cookies and pies. Hmmm, maybe Dylan Mulvaney whipping up a stir-fry in black velvet and pearls? Also, governments the world over have horrendous track records on diet advice, and are already so enmeshed in things like crop subsidies and food and drug lobbying, that you can’t trust them if they tell you the sky is blue.

What comes across in this lady’s screed is that losing weight shouldn’t be too easy. Newsflash, ma’am: It’s not.

I’ll be the first to say, you shouldn’t count on a pill or a jab, or just a diet, or just exercise. Try different combinations and find what works. Listen to people you trust. I’ll bet none of them will be politicians.

It will not be easy. It will never be easy.

But, anything that safely and provably makes it easier should be cheered by us all.