Viewing Obesity as a Disease

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echofm1
echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
in Chit-Chat
So I was reading this article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/despite-overall-drop-heart-doctors-call-for-help-for-severely-obese-kids/article14579435/

And while it was interesting for other reasons, the thing I noticed most was the language that treats obesity as a disease. Particularly the lines "Current treatment options include lifestyle modification and behavioral therapy, with family-based behaviour weight management recommended as first-line treatment." and "Obesity, once you have it, is not a fixed condition; it’s potentially reversible." The whole article has similar language, but these ones in particular just struck me as I feel you could just as easily replace "obesity" with any disease. Try saying those lines again except with "diabetes" or "congestive heart failure."

I am considered morbidly obese on the BMI charts and probably will be for quite some time yet, though I'm working on it. For me, personally, treating obesity as a disease isn't something I want to do or have done to me. It makes it sound like something that isn't my fault, or that I just suddenly developed rather than something that happened over years that was a result of me eating too much. Maybe other people feel differently though, or there are medical results that show better results by treating obesity as a disease? I was just curious as to what other people thought of this, whether you agree or disagree with me. What do you think about treating obesity as a disease?

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I can see where you're coming from, but treating it or calling it a desease has nothing to do with whether you caused the disease or whether it was caused by something else...type II diabetes is a disease that is generally attirbutable to the individuals lifestyle...so is heart disease, alcoholism, etc..the list could go on. A great many diseases can be caused by things that are out of our control...but a great many diseases are also the result of lifestyle and the things we do to ourselves. It doesn't make it any less of a disease...
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    While I haven't fully examined my own reaction to this question...the idea of treating/referring to obesity as a disease makes me feel sheepish and embarrassed. I could have made more drastic changes way before now, eliminating my "disease". Eh, I don't know. I guess there are some other medical conditions that the same may be said for but it just makes me feel all weird. I definitely dislike the idea of treating it as a disease/disability on its own. I much prefer the idea of (for example) people being disabled because they have severe diabetes and limited mobility caused by their obesity...not just based on obesity alone. I think that's a slippery slope.
  • vienna_h
    vienna_h Posts: 428 Member
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    So I was reading this article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/despite-overall-drop-heart-doctors-call-for-help-for-severely-obese-kids/article14579435/

    And while it was interesting for other reasons, the thing I noticed most was the language that treats obesity as a disease. Particularly the lines "Current treatment options include lifestyle modification and behavioral therapy, with family-based behaviour weight management recommended as first-line treatment." and "Obesity, once you have it, is not a fixed condition; it’s potentially reversible." The whole article has similar language, but these ones in particular just struck me as I feel you could just as easily replace "obesity" with any disease. Try saying those lines again except with "diabetes" or "congestive heart failure."

    I am considered morbidly obese on the BMI charts and probably will be for quite some time yet, though I'm working on it. For me, personally, treating obesity as a disease isn't something I want to do or have done to me. It makes it sound like something that isn't my fault, or that I just suddenly developed rather than something that happened over years that was a result of me eating too much. Maybe other people feel differently though, or there are medical results that show better results by treating obesity as a disease? I was just curious as to what other people thought of this, whether you agree or disagree with me. What do you think about treating obesity as a disease?

    Well, you said it yourself, "morbidly obese". Morbid means disease.

    A disease is hard to define, it just means not in a healthy state. It says nothing about the nature of the disease itself, how you acquired it, how to treat it, if it's curable.

    There is stigma to having a disease, but at the end of the day, obesity fits the definition of a disease. It's not optimal for your health.
  • mrsjones2point0
    mrsjones2point0 Posts: 332 Member
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    I think calling it a disease allows people to use it as a crutch. yes, it maybe be technically classified as a disease, but it's completely curable, and yeah, you did it to yourself.

    It may fit the clinical diagnosis of a disease, but I don't think of it as a disease at all - it's a condition of your lifestyle, of your choices.

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