AMA: Obesity is a disease

gino715

@ Brittanyd83's.. I agree with you 100%

ctalimenti

Remember that the word "disease" can be broken up into Dis and ease. It's the body at dis-ease.

PomegranatePriestess

I work in Human Resources; just think of the disability cases.....

Diseased =/= Disabled

You should read the latest version of the American Disabilities Act. According to the law, an individual is considered disabled when some medical condition prevents normal daily functioning.

A cancer patient was receiving chemo treatments and once he returned to his job after going into remission, he was immediately fired. He sued for discrimination under the ADA and won. The courts determined that the inability to produce healthy cells is a disability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADA_Amendments_Act_of_2008

I'm saying it's not automatic. You don't automatically go on disability because you are diagnosed with a disease.

I work with a woman who leaves X times a week to have treatments for her breast cancer. She's not disabled. She's still doing all the things she did before she was diagnosed. She's lucky she can, as disability would be a HUGE pay cut for her.

People get diagnosed with diseases all the time. I worked with a woman who had MS too; she actually never told anyone else here but me that she had it. She's not on disability, even though at times it actually does make it impossible for her to work.

My extra weight does not hinder me in any way from doing my job. I think the number of people who actually *cannot* work because of their weight is not going to magically increase because of this decision. People have been going on disability for this for years now; there was nothing stopping people before, so I don't think this is going to suddenly mean tons of people will opt for disability.

If it did... let's just say another 100,000 people went on disability. Well, maybe we'd get another 100,000 people off unemployment, since the jobs those people were doing would suddenly be open. Who knows. But I highly doubt we're going to see a news story about a mass exodus any time soon. Most people I know who have jobs right now are looking to keep them, not get themselves declared unable to work.

admegamo

My brother and both grew up morbidly obese. He says that he is a second hand eater and has McRipples (his new name for the obesity disease). LOL
Because our parents ate bad and we were fed bad things and we weren't taught about nutrition.


I do want to add though, we weren't lazy when we were kids. I stopped joining sports because the teachers and other kids made me feel shame about it. When we joined high school we were geeks, joined the JROTC's at our schools and never sat out on the sides likes during physical training. We ran in formation and did other exercises the best we could. We were poor so we rarely had cars, so we walked everywhere until high school when we moved into a rural area. Then we just had junkers.

Our mom worked in sheet metal so she was able to eat a lot of calories from the heavy lifting, standing, and walking she did all day but since she was never taught about nutrition she didn't understand why she could eat so much and not become obese and she loved us so she didn't think that anything was wrong with our fatness. She literally thought we were naturally that way. She didn't start becoming obese until she got hurt on the job and doctors wouldn't allow her to work and because she didn't know about nutrition she didn't know that her inactivity meant she couldn't eat the same.

My mom and I had to learn on our own as adults. The more we learn and understand and have goals set about being healthy, we're making our way there. My brother learned earlier than us and he lost 150lbs.

Also, did you guys know that 1/3 of the US still does not have internet connection. I think that this disease thing can open doors that many people do not have access to. I don't think that alcoholism is a disease and I'm sure it's not surprise after reading this but a big majority of my family are alcoholics. I don't really think that obesity is a disease BUT I do think that this will open doors to education and inexpensive to possibly free (like AA) help that people need.

Jerrypeoples

I dont think alcoholism is a disease any more than gambling or anything else

there are factors that make someone more prone to being addicted but that can take many forms


noone would call being addicted to being fit a disease....would they?

wohlgangerc

Yes. If a fitness buff is literally addicted to being fit, then their "fitness" addiction is considered a psychological disease. I doubt you'll find many people who persistently, compulsively perform fitness-based behaviors and have withdrawal symptoms when they are unable to "be fit," but I could see someone with addictive-compulsive tendencies becoming addicted to "fitness".

mathlovingrunner

I had not thought about implications where higher insurance rates come in. I thought it was good because it would force insurances to cover surgery and prescriptions. (I am not advocating either but to each their own.) Plus dare I hope if I ever lose all the weight I need to this means my insurance will cover surgery to help with my extra skin?

Kori0714

I think there are many closed minded people on this thread. I also believe that some should do a little research before jumping to conclusions.

Obesity is not only caused by lazyness, lack of will power or poor upbringing. There are many health issues that can cause someone to become overweight including family history. If declaring obesity a disease helps people get the help they need to lose the weight why should anyone judge that.

Alcoholism, anorexia and gambling are all labeled addiction diseases and there is help provided to them to overcome their addiction. Which again is not due to a lack of will power, lazyness or poor upbringing it is a problem within the brain. So if someone is addicted to food and labeling it a disease helps someone, Why would we fight that!

if your not overweight your health insurance will not go up. If you are overweight the only way your health ins will go up is if you go to the doctors and dignosed with a disease. This may also help people get past the stigma of just being fat. Maybe the doctors will recognize unlying issues before they chalk it up to lazyness. If my doctor would have listened to me and had me tested for a thyroid problem earlier on i may not have gained as much weight as i did. Instead I was told that i needed to exercise and eat better...he was closedminded when i told him i do exercise and eat right...

As a side note: everyone on this website is here either to lose weight or avoid becoming over weight...so the negative undertone in some peoples posts are pretty sad and should rethink why they are on a weight lose site if they are judging others...

Kettle_Belle14

If Obesity was a disease, it would of been an issue 20-40 years ago... as technology and comfort has increased so has Obesity.. coincidence? I really doubt it.. People are getting lazier and food choices are getting worse. Also if its a disease, why does it only seem to be a problem in a few of the 1st world countries?

This this this this THIS! Best response I've seen!!