I got into an argument the other day with a man on another blog about healthcare reform and the role of personal choice in prevention. Our argument centered around the obesity epidemic, his being that people largely have little control over their weight and it is the result of their socio-economic status and the neighborhood they live in with it's accompanying lifestyle. 

My reflex response was "WHAT?!?!?!" However, I knew what he was referencing. There have been a number of social studies conducted that draw a correlation between lower incomes and the greater incidence of obesity. There are also studies showing that people in areas such as New York City that are more likely to walk than drive anywhere are more prone to leanness than those who must drive everywhere. 

I agreed with him that some policies were to blame for the ease of acquiring junk food (i.e. the ridiculous subsidies to Big Corn...) and that exercise as a choice was more difficult than exercise as a necessity. But in the end, 

"There is no iron fist forcing a twinky wielding hand into a complacent mouth. There is no infinite weight chaining someone to a recliner next to a six pack of Bud heavies and a TV dinner. There is no mandate forcing someone to order pizza rather than bake some chicken and steam some broccoli. Our society has made it increasingly easy to eat garbage on a regular basis (which is where I fault our broken policies); but in the end, only you have the final say about what goes into your mouth."

I hate studies like the ones I mentioned above because they give people the green light to surrender their health to the state, to chance, to genetics, to their neighborhood, or whatever. There are a million reasons to neglect your health; none of those take away your choice to be healthy. Our society loves to play the blame game, but I'm here to remind you that the responsibility is yours.