While you're struggling through the second week of that New Year's resolution on diet and exercise, remember that it was just about a month ago that Surgeon General David Satcher issued a stern warning.

The death toll for obesity may soon overtake tobacco as the primary cause of preventable deaths, Satcher said, right in the middle of merry rounds between groaning tables, cookie exchanges and goblets of holiday spirits.

Satcher's call for action triggered alarms in some libertarian and conservative quarters that government was about to slide down a slippery slope of logic that would result in coercive measures such as those employed in the war against tobacco.

Some of the more easily appalled pundits saw Satcher's remarks as the first step toward banning eggnog, whipped cream or gravy from public spaces, or creating tax surcharges for high-calorie dishes.

Brian Doherty of Reason Magazine put it this way: So far the Surgeon General is just talking about education on the perils of poundage

That's how the tobacco wars started. They ended in massive legislation, smoking bans, new taxes and huge lawsuits. Satcher appears set to launch us down that same slope when it come to our eating habits.

Satcher's warning was hardly a revelation. Similar warnings are issued regularly. About six months ago Nebraska's chief medical officer, Dr. Richard Raymond, said that the state's residents are living in the blubber belt.

There's little doubt that obesity is a serious health concern. Excess weight and lack of fitness contribute to heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and other health problems.

But while it's hard to take seriously the concerns that government is about to ban eggnog, there should be no doubt that blame for the problem should be put squarely on the individual, as Raymond did last summer when he encouraged people to take personal responsibility for their health, and to stop looking in pill bottles for the solution to losing weight.

When it comes to government intervention, there is a major difference between overeating and tobacco use. Smoking cigarettes produces secondhand smoke. But overeating does no harm to the person in the next chair. Government has scant cause to curtail personal choice.

While government measures against obesity should be limited in scope, it does no harm for public health officials to beat the drums regularly about its dangers, or about the potential benefits of losing weight and exercise.

Losing even 10 pounds or simply walking 30 minutes a day can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease or diabetes. So stick to that New Year's resolution. You'll be helping yourself and adding weight to the argument that the freedom to choose cheesecake is too valuable to surrender.