Problem vs Symptom

Arena Pharmaceuticals got FDA approval for their obesity drug today.  The pill is claimed to make people feel like they are full, thus decreasing the likelihood of overeating. 

My beef with this is that we are always looking to treat the symptoms, rather than fixing the problem.  So often it seems that we turn a blind-eye to what is really going on.  The questions we should be asking are:

--> Why are 2/3 of North Americans overweight?

--> What can we do to fix this?

The problem with this situation is that there is very little money into trying to fix the problem.  Pharmaceutical companies therefore see very little need in looking into preventative medicine, and therefore dump billions into pills.

I can remember back in the day, older generations would often say how the world was going downhill with the newer generations.  I hate to say it, but they were right!  As much as technology has helped us, we have often relied on it too heavily, and sometimes I think we would be happier without our computers, cellphones, TVs, etc.  That may seem like a radical thought, but getting back to living in community, rather than in isolation, is likely one of the best steps we can take. 

I am one who hates it when people simply complain without offering solutions.  I am a part of this problem (not in an overweight manner, but in a technology taking over situation), and therefore my solution would be to start easing off a lot of technology we have fully integrated in our lives.  There is definitely a place for it, but beginning a process to gradually ease-off technology may be a great place to start.  For example, turning off your computers and TV at a certain hour is likely a good idea.  What will this produce?  Well, we likely start to look for things to do.  Maybe then we start having our neighbors over, or do something nice for someone.  So often we get overwhelmed by a problem that we do nothing, rather than taking things one step at a time.

So as I loop back to where I started my little rant, are we in our own lives ever fixing our problems, or are we just treating the symptoms?