There's a charming little children's book called Pierre , written by Maurice Sendak in 1962. Pierre became the lion's dinner. A similar tale could be written about obesity.
Obesity is a ticking time bomb, in terms of both health and health care expense.
Physicians complain that once patients leave the doctor's office, all the advice is cast aside in favor of a comforting late-night bowl of ice cream. Plenty of evidence supports that, but there's equally embarrassing proof that physicians aren't expressing the message effectively or to enough patients. Health plans, too, are culpable. It's a touchy-feely side of medicine whose benefits are hard to quantify, so few plans are willing to invest in it. No question, this is bigger than any health plan.