Very recently we have seen airlines toying with controversial plans to impose excess charges on individuals over a certain body weight along with debates on whether the obese should be entitled to medical treatment for illnesses deemed to have developed as a consequence of their condition.

So what's new? You follow the news, you know all this. Listen up. What has really grabbed my attention recently is reports of public opinion on the subject. Overall, do we sympathise with the obese in our society? Are we planning to fight their corner on these sensitive and potentially divisive issues? No, we are not. We are hopping mad when they call in sick at work, we can't resist casting a critical eye over their shopping baskets and, if truth be known, we are even loathe to accept a table in a restaurant next to an overweight individual. Shocking stuff.

And the most vehemently vocal in the anti-obesity arena are...the previously overweight. If they can grit their teeth, knuckle down and shed the weight then, they figure, everybody can. Those who choose not to are simply lazy, greedy and deserve the critiscism. And – a piece of advice here – if you are currently struggling with your excess weight, don't say it's because you don't have time to address it. To a successful slimmer (who did make time) this is tantamount to saying that you are busier or that your time is more important than theirs.

One school of thought suggests a biological basis for our negative reaction to excess weight. The theory goes that in its role as super protector in ensuring our survival, our subconscious mind may perceive obesity as a threat; as a sign of disease, as something contagious. Our primitive human survival mechanism is alerted by anything out of the norm and when in doubt about the level of threat will always err towards over reaction rather than complacency. So, when presented with obesity the signal could be: reject and run. Preposterous, grossly unfair and cruel? Maybe but, if true, this reaction is inbuilt, genetic and thereby largely unavoidable. Obesity is not.

So how about you? When you see someone grossly obese sitting at a burger place shoving fries in their mouth are you sympathetic? Or disgusted?