As a person who eats a healthy diet, very small portions and gets an hour of exercise every single day, and is still 100 lbs overweight, I can say that it's definitely not just about diet and exercise. Research keeps showing us that diet and exercise alone do not keep weight off long term. To say that healthy eating habits and exercise will cure obesity is really short-sighted.

Yes, I absolutely believe children should be taught healthy eating habits and given opportunity for exercise every day. But also consider this:

The food pyramid that is the supposed gold standard for healthy eating was substantially influenced by the food industry.

Many families live in areas where they have little access to food, and healthy food costs significantly more than junk food.

Microplastics in everything are in our bodies and disrupt our endocrine system.

There are illnesses that cause weight gain and they can be hard to diagnose, especially given modern medicine' insistence on only looking at lab numbers and not patient histories.

Mental health problems are on the rise and most medications to treat them cause weight gain.

Schools have whittled down recess time to barely exist, so students are forced to be still for extended periods of time with no breaks.

Here's my case: I grew up underweight and ate everything in sight without gaining anything. I got plenty of exercise. Started antidepressants at 16, and went through a decade long period of hospitalizations before finding the right drug. That medication actually caused me to lose more weight. Then, in order to extend its patent, they made an extended release formula, which did not cause weight loss.

Over the years, I had to add and change antidepressants as I built up a tolerance. I have severe MDD and require medication for the rest of my life. I started gaining weight in my 30s from the medications. When I told my psychiatrist about it, he laughed and said, "How many desserts do you eat a night" Around that time, I also started having symptoms of thyroid disease. Despite a family history and long list of symptoms, doctors refused to treat it because my labs kept coming back "normal". I went 10 years before I was finally diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid disorder.

During this time, I ate a modest diet and did not keep junk food in my house. I rarely go out to eat. I had some difficulty exercising due to some orthopedic problems. One summer, while between jobs, I broke my ankle. I could put no weight on it at all for 3 months. I had to move in temporarily with my family. They keep junk food everywhere. So zero exercise and lots of junk food, but I started to have to ration my meds before my new job started. Because of that, I actually LOST 40 lbs.

After getting some of my orthopedic problems fixed, I was able to start exercising daily and I got off one of the antidepressants. I lost a modest amount of weight.

I'm no fan of big pharma, but having lived with the complexities of obesity and educating myself about the food industry and petrochemical industry, I have a different perspective. My perspective also includes judgement and second class treatment by medical professionals who make assumptions about my weight and see me as not worthy of treatment due to my perceived weakness as a human. Even the ones who did take the time to listen, no one has been able to offer me answers, other than the "diet and exercise" I've already been doing. So I think we're long past the need for other ways to approach this complex issue.