Whatever the salesman/saleswoman on your TV set sells you, either overtly or covertly, the majority of people will buy.

When I was young, we had the zero population growth movement. But corporate profits, for the corporations who own TV stations and advertise, require constant growth. One way to get that is population growth. More customers = more profits.

Many women were not having babies in their 20s or 30s, instead pursuing a career and helping keep the population down.

Soon there were women on dramas, comedies, talk shows, and other covert advertisements saying to their husbands, "My biological clock is ticking" meaning we better have a baby before I can't have one. And another baby boom happened.

There were only 3 billion people on the planet back then.

And it's not only women, they sell guys stuff too. Let's build a man cave.

I turned off the TV in 1990, and I see people going through waves of purchases. Everybody wants the product of the year whether it's a Bean Bag Baby Doll, or an Air Frier, or an SUV, or a Turkey Smoker, or a whatever.

People will buy whatever the salesman/saleswoman in their living room will tell them to buy. We are herding animals.

And it is on purpose. As a small business owner, I have to follow all regulations. Drug companies should, too.

In law, they would have a bigger responsiblity, as well.

My teen years were in the mid to late 1960s. Twiggy the model was huge then, and she was unnaturally skinny. Some girls wanted to copy her, but I don't remember it being a big thing, she was just an anomaly. Certainly men/boys didn't like how stick thin she looked. I can't remember anyone who was overweight. A few could lose 5-10 lbs, but that was about it. I never ever saw anyone who would have been 250+ pounds. Never.

One thing that was different was junk food. There weren't a gazillion types of cereals, cookies, chips, all that. I grew up in a family of 6, and there wasn't money for junk or sodas. My mother cooked food like she learned to cook in her youth on a farm. Meat, potatoes, vegetables, lettuce salad or fruit salad was pretty much every meal. Eggs and bacon for breakfast. They never bought packaged convenience foods, and I don't even remember very many things like that except for Swanson's TV dinners in a metal tray. I'm astonished in today's markets where you see dozens and dozens of chips, crackers, cookies, ice creams, and so on. It's crazy, no wonder people get overweight.

In 1973-74 I spent a year studying in France. Everyone there was slim and they indulged in full fat cream, cheese, wine. They didn't eat as much meat as we do in the U.S., but they ate it along with vegetables and fruits like apples and oranges. Portion sizes were definitely smaller. In a market things like chips were simple potato chips and were sold in very small packets, like individual packets we see here for eating with a sandwich or something. Cookies were simple and sold in small packets with maybe 20 cookies max in them. They didn't really drink sodas, but they did eat yogurt. I had my first Yoplait plain yogurt there and it was wonderful. Not like the Yoplait you see here. And they drank espresso coffee and cappuccinos. Water. French brand was fabulous, but they didn't go crazy with it. Also...they French walk everywhere when it's possible, even in the cities.

Anyhow, I can't imagine resorting to pills to lose weight. Those weird chemical concoctions have to be messing with your body in bad ways. They always say that losing weight is 80% what you eat each day. Some exercise helps a bit, I've noticed that, but I've lost weight multiple times at a fairly good clip without any exercise at all. It's about the food. I love low carb because I feel so good eating that way. I can go on a sugary junk binge as easy as anyone, but I always feel horrendous from it and can't do it for very long.

High fat works for me (Keto). The French seem to eat a lot of fat, and they are thinner than us (as you noticed).

Corporate agriculture has convinced both people and the medical profession that a low fat diet is the way to eat.

Big ag likes it because you are buying their products, and big medicine likes it because you get sick more and need more care and drugs.

You and I don't matter, the only thing that matters is corporate profits, and in order for the stockholders to not jump ship, the profits need to increase and increase perpetually.

Since we don't matter to them, we have to take care of ourselves.

I found keto (through Atkins induction). It's not the first diet I tried, but it's the first one that worked for me.

I'm 77, have a heart and circulatory system of a 50-year-old, and I don't get sick, except for a 3-day cold every 15 years or so.

I don't suppose one diet would work for everyone. If it did, we would only need one diet book.

So if the diet you are on isn't working for you, find another, and keep looking until you find the one that agrees with you, and stick to it.

Without your health, nothing else matters. If you are obese, you are unhealthy, and sooner or later you will pay the price — and it might be the point of no return.

Don't put your faith in any self-proclaimed expert, whether he/she says he/she is a doctor, nutritionist, or any other kind of expert. Look at yourself. Is what you are doing working? If not, why stick to it, no matter how many experts tell you it's right. Many of those experts are simply salesmen or saleswomen in disguise.

I remember the ads, 3 out of 4 doctors recommend Camel cigarettes.

And don't buy drugs to feed your bad eating habits.

My dad had type 2 diabetes. He kept taking more and more insulin. But insulin is the killer hormone, it burned out the blood vessels that fed his heart and kidneys. My mom had multiple strokes until the big one happened, and she would sit there and repeat "Somebody, somebody, somebody" or "What is happening to us" or calling everybody by my sister's first name. It was heartbreaking to watch her babble on, not able to communicate with anyone.

Pay attention to yourself, find what works, and don't stick to anything that isn't working. You have one life that we know if, don't cut it short.