The other day at work I sat down at my desk, with a brownie I had found in the lunchroom, to read an article that I thought would help support our efforts to create a supportive environment at work. The article Free will and the obesity epidemic didn’t quite provide the information I was looking for. It did, however, provide some other interesting facts that I felt compelled to share with you. The point of the review article was to demonstrate that the obesity problem in the USA (which Canada is making a strong effort to compete with) is a result of our environment, not free will. The foundation of their argument was the fact that diets do not work and that the vast majority of people only lose weight when the choice to eat is removed. They cited examples from gastric surgery, the result of which, is that the ability to consume large quantities of food is rendered impossible. In one study a comparison was done between a placebo group and a group actually receiving gastric surgery to determine if the weight lost was a result of the surgery or of nutritional and behavioural counselling provided in conjunction with the surgery. The results were fascinating. The placebo group (who believed they had received the surgery) and the gastric surgery group lost nearly the same amount of weight (20 kg and 25 kg on average, respectively) one year after the surgery. Perhaps the counselling was effective after all? Nope, once participants had the surgery reversed both groups had regained approximately half the weight they had lost one year later. It’s highly likely that they would have regained all the weight lost if an additional follow-up was done a year later. Why is the gastric surgery so effective? Because it removes the decision of how much (and often what) to eat from the hands of the individual, even if the surgery is only in their heads. We need to be aware that we are not in complete control of what we eat. We will eat more if we are served on larger plates, we will eat more if we eat straight from a package, we will eat more if we are eating with others. We also need to be aware that just being aware will not save us from overeating. Even us dietitians fall prey to these traps of consumption. We need to revamp the environments in which we live, work, and play. This isn’t a licence to throw your hands in the air and say you give up. This is your call to action. We each need to take control of what we can in our own lives and push for bigger changes in our restaurants, workplaces, recreation centres, and schools…