Lurking around the blogosphere now for over a year has given me a sliver of a view of mankind. I would imagine that this particular area in cyberspace truly reflects society, warts and all. This is where ordinary people like myself have an opportunity to voice an opinion however flawed it may be!

In this space one can find sublime penmanship but also the trashiest content. Some blogs are written using the most amazing language skills but there are also writers who cannot spell basic words. There are inspired site designs and at the same time one can find the most primitive of lay-outs that make the trashy print flyers you get through your post box look like works of art.

Every viewpoint is represented, whether political, religious, new age, health, wealth or self-improvement amongst many. Name the topic and you will be able to find a whole little sub-cyber community debating hotly about it.

Amongst these I have come across many blogs that deal with health and in particular weight issues. At first glance these blogs could be addressing a trend in lifestyles and one that could become widespread and endemic to the developed world.

One reads about statistics about overweight people and sees photographs of heavy folk who weigh in the hundreds of kilos. Eat out in a restaurant, especially in the developed world, and the food quantities that are dished up are fairly generous. The Americans are particularly prone to serving up a meal to one patron that could feed a family in poorer countries.

However, I don’t think that diets, or even the lack of control over the amount of food individuals consume, are the answer here. Overeating is a symptom of something else. Eating disorders show up bigger issues. In fact I would put other compulsive disorders such as excessive shopping into the same category.

They all have one thing in common. We are doing something, whether eating another packet of sweets, or buying another pair of shoes, in the hope of making ourselves feel better. And we feel awful because we are not coping with life. As has happened in other civilisations, large scale changes are happening in the developed world.

Our parents grew up in environments where the people went to similar schools as their parents, had the same family doctor who attended to them since childhood, got married in the same church where the minister knew everybody in the congregation. With other words there was a stability of life that was reassuring.

This kind of stability is no longer a given. All patterns have changed. Jobs are no longer for life, or even in the same place where one grew up. Even careers may need to change as many jobs cease to exist over time. Adults are faced with a need for acquiring new skills all the time. Their competence is questioned. To add to this instability, current work trends are towards freelancing or consulting.

This kind of forced mobility impacts on family life and kids no longer go to the same school with their friends from kindergarden. They don’t have a doctor for life never mind getting married with a minister who knows the the name of any member of the congregation. In fact one is lucky if the minister can remember the names of the couple he is marrying.

What are some of the results of this change in the way society is working in the developed world. There are the obvious ones such as antisocial behaviour and more criminal behaviour resulting in overflowing prisons. In the USA 2 out every 100 of its citizens is either in prison or on parole.

Not so obvious results of an unstable society are ones such as obsessive-compulsive disorders. Eating disorders such as overeating could be one of the most obvious ones. However, obvious only from a physical appearance point of view. And not necessarily that obvious as to what causes the compulsive eating.

Diet programs, diet books, liquid food replacements, appetite suppressants flood the market constantly each promising successful processes to slim down. If that doesn’t work then surgery such as wiring up jaws, interfering with intestines, electric pulses to the brain, are administered to try to stop people from eating. Then of course there is the whole gym and exercise industry making money off the overeating trend.

What are the chances they are going to work? Minimal. After all people are not overeating because they are that totally clueless about food, nutrition or what’s good for them. They are overeating in order to comfort and reassure themselves that they are ok. It feels good to eat. A slab of chocolate for a job well done, a box of chocolates to say we love somebody, a bottle of wine to celebrate. Ok wine is not food, but it’s fattening!

We take somebody out for a meal at a restaurant for celebratory occasions. We use food to treat ourselves. Eating ice cream out of a tub in front of the TV is an image of a people who do not think ice cream scooped into a bowl is enough as comfort food goes. It has to be a big tub!

So what would be a great diet strategy? The answer would be a plan that makes people feel good about themselves. This would be something that allows them to believe that they can cope with their lives. It will reassure them that they are doing a great job at their chosen career. It will confirm that they are stars at building their personal relationships, at bringing up their kids and caring for anybody else they feel responsible for.

Of course it would kill the diet industry stone dead. There would probably be a ‘terminate with extreme prejudice’ contract out for you by the pharmaceutical companies, book publishers, fitness industry, ‘health’ food manufacturers and anybody else who is making money by selling a band-aid for heart ache rather than a solution to mend broken and stressed hearts.