I read your July 20 staff editorial, “Obesity a choice, not an illness” and felt compelled to put my two cents worth in.

I was once morbidly obese. I had a body mass index of 59. Although I am no longer obese, I wanted to give you a few facts.

The FDA reports that there are currently 64.5 percent of all adult Americans who are overweight. Out of those, 30.5 percent are considered obese.

That is simply six out of 10 or 54 million Americans are over-weight or obese.

That is a lot of couch potatoes.

Your article says that one in four people in upstate New York are obese. That is a lot of people that don’t care about themselves.

Did you know that over 300,000 die each year with complications related to obesity?

Did you know that diets, behavior modification and exercise have a 95 percent failure rate?

Obesity is not necessarily a problem resulting from lifestyle. Researchers have found that obesity is genetic.

If you feel that insurance companies should have higher premiums for those considered “higher risk,” you might want to look at the charts insurance companies use to determine a “normal” person.

You might be surprised to find that even you will fall into a “high risk” category, even though you may think you are a normal size.

Do you really think lower insurance premiums will inspire someone to lose weight?

Maybe changing the public’s attitude will make a difference.

I did not “choose” to be overweight, anymore than I chose to have green eyes, or anymore than I chose to be 5’4″ tall.

It is a society of people who think like you that keep us obese. Paying for weight loss surgery, for those who need it, is far cheaper than paying years and years and years for medications for diabetes, blood pressure, reflux, joint pain, depression or heart problems.

I think you need to do some more research and then make your opinion.

Traci Stewart