Not the Bicycling Type

Paul Mason, formerly the World's! Fattest! Man! at 980 pounds, is suing the British National Health Service. Why? Mason claims that in the mid-1990s, when he was a relatively svelte 895 pounds, he asked the NHS for a referral to an eating disorder specialist, but he was instead referred to a dietitian, who offered useless advice: "Ride your bike more."

On the plus side, those glasses are pretty spiffy.

Granted, I tend to agree with the Taubesian viewpoint that the true underlying cause of Mason's extreme obesity is some kind of metabolic derangement, which in turn led to his overfeeding (rather than the other way around). Thus, a dietition who simply prescribes more exercise is, in my opinion, missing the point entirely.

On the other hand, it wouldn't hurt Mason to take some personal responsibility over his own well-being. After all, it's not like the British government was force-feeding him meals of:

• Four large cod
• Two pies
• Four battered sausages
• Six large portions of chips
• Mushy peas and curry sauce
• All washed down with bottles of Coke

Good thing the British National Health Service didn't also serve him an artichoke.

(Source: Gawker)