The article in the Sunday paper dealt with obesity, especially the growing evidence of obesity among American children. It outlined efforts toward healthier eating habits: more healthy foods in schools, more fresh produce in lower income neighborhoods, and more emphasis on exercise.

Though such efforts appear to have limited success at present, backers hope that over time success may accumulate. They point to the time it took before the anti-smoking campaigns led to a significant drop in the number of Americans who smoke. This may well be true.

The sure-fire way to lose extra pounds, as we all know, is to eat less unhealthy foods (most of us know what they are) and eat more healthy foods (we know what these are, too) and to exercise more. Lack of knowledge and the ability to obtain healthy foods are not the major problems. Certainly, medical personnel should be aware of the facts. Walk into most hospitals, however, and notice the vending machine offerings: heavily geared toward fats and sweets.

An alcoholic feels miserable when first deprived of the substance that wrecks his life. The same with the smoker who first abstains from nicotine. We eat unhealthy foods because they give us more pleasure than the healthy foods which would benefit us. Exercise, which also benefits us, means giving up other activities that we judge more fun.

The idea of giving up present pleasure for future benefits appears to have escaped us lately. Witness the burden we now carry because we bought on credit rather than saving for houses, cars, and baubles. Witness the broken relationships because we were unable to remain faithful in our marriages. Witness the number of unmarried young who unintentionally become parents because they, in the best tradition of their parents, choose an immediate pleasure, an intimacy better reserved for mature, committed relationships.