How far would you go to fit in? Adolescent obesity and the drastic measures that are being taken to "fit" in with their peers.

Obesity is an epidemic that has spread world wide. This debilitating disease has spread over from adults to teenagers, but has modern technology become the new cure for this very curable disease? The Courier mail reports that teenagers are now turning to gastric banding surgery from patients ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old within the past two years.

The lap-banding relevations have come to fruition as child and adolescent obesity have have hit epidemic proportions. State government officials of Australia distribute figures depicting twenty one percent of children aged 5 to 17 were overweight or obese. Unfortunately, this story has spread over to adults.

According to the National Health and Medical Research Council
two-thirds of adult Australian men and 50 per cent of women as overweight or
obese.

Is lap-banding the answer? According to surgeon Dr. George Hopkins

it was "scientifically proven" that weight loss programs, including diet,
exercise and psychological counselling, failed to achieve sustained and
significant weight loss in the morbidly obese. People scream at me, 'has it
really come to this? Health policymakers say to me, 'it (obesity surgery for
children) is outrageous. We just need to make bigger parks to give them exercise
and more bike tracks'. But you can make all the bike tracks you like.
Some of these kids have gone beyond that. They can't get on the bike.

This is why teenager Katie Lesage, elected to undergo the gastric banding surgery from Dr. Hopkins, expressing she chose this surgery because she was not fitting in with her peers.

I didn't feel comfortable not being able to wear the same stuff as them (her
friends) and not doing everything they do.

The question remains, is surgery the answer to childhood obesity? I am strongly opposed to this procedure as quick fix to childhood weight challenges. We must encourage and educate children as well as adults to develop healthy and active lifestyles. On the other hand, I do understand that surgery is sometimes the only way to avert problems that come from this debilitating condition such as heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, infertility, and depression.