I am not ill, I am fat.

prdavies1949
prdavies1949 Posts: 326 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just read this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/23011804
American doctors have classified obesity as a disease. Luckily I live in England so I am not Ill.
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Replies

  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    If you look at the dictionary definition of a disease obesity is definitely one
  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
    Haha, pretty sure this is the worst epidemic to hit the USA, over night one third of the population just became diseased?
  • mperrott2205
    mperrott2205 Posts: 737 Member
    Oh for goodness sake America...
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,201 Member
    I wonder if the diet industry will be able to treat people with a disease without medical care?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    In the UK the diet and fitness industry has competition from the State health industry http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/11000/30365/30365.pdf

    although there are cases where the NHS funds Weight Watchers or similar programmes for patients.
  • kendrafallon
    kendrafallon Posts: 1,030 Member
    I posted a link to the BBC News article in the Chit-Chat, Fun and Games forum:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1027849-obesity-is-a-disease-in-the-us-should-it-be

    There's another thread in the same forum on obesity being classed as a disease:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1023482-obesity-a-disease
    although there are cases where the NHS funds Weight Watchers or similar programmes for patients.
    Referrals from GP's which includes vouchers towards the cost - currently it's Weight Watchers, Slimming World and Rosemary Conley classes
  • DavidBrannigan
    DavidBrannigan Posts: 10
    In Australia they are classified as being disabled. They receive a disabled parking sticker for their car and all the benfits that someone who actually deserves them gets.
    It is an absoulte travisty.
  • prdavies1949
    prdavies1949 Posts: 326 Member
    Bump, for American comments.
  • RLDeShazo
    RLDeShazo Posts: 356 Member
    Just my thought, and I have nothing to base this on other than my own logic, but with the way health insurance is in the US, this is actually a good thing. If obesity is a disease, it can be treated directly by a doctor, instead of having to only focus on the side effects (high blood pressure, diabetes, bad joints, etc.).
  • Joocey
    Joocey Posts: 115 Member
    Seems silly.

    Like so much of what is going on in America these days.
  • Sox90716
    Sox90716 Posts: 976 Member
    Absolute horse hockey! It's self induced! What's next?
  • jetlag
    jetlag Posts: 800 Member
    Seems silly.

    Like so much of what is going on in America these days.


    Yes, because the UK is totally sorted.
  • bethfartman
    bethfartman Posts: 363 Member
    Just my thought, and I have nothing to base this on other than my own logic, but with the way health insurance is in the US, this is actually a good thing. If obesity is a disease, it can be treated directly by a doctor, instead of having to only focus on the side effects (high blood pressure, diabetes, bad joints, etc.).

    This is a really good point. There are a lot of 'diseases' or medical issues that are self induced (lung cancer, skin cancer, diabetes, runners knee, tendonitis, etc.) I don't see why obesity should be excluded.

    All the UK residents comments make me laugh, though. I've been to England recently and I saw significantly more obese people there than I do walking the streets of my hometown in Southern California (which has a lower obesity rate than the UK, so my perception may be a bit skewed, but still.)
  • Joocey
    Joocey Posts: 115 Member
    Seems silly.

    Like so much of what is going on in America these days.

    Yes, because the UK is totally sorted.

    I can only assume that -you- assumed I'm from the UK.

    Which I am not.

    But from what I understand, things are pretty much... bollocksed up there too. ("Bollocksed" is a thing, right?)
  • Hotdawgnothotdog
    Hotdawgnothotdog Posts: 179 Member
    Fine by me, I've found my cure, and I'll be cured officially in about five pounds.
  • jetlag
    jetlag Posts: 800 Member
    Just my thought, and I have nothing to base this on other than my own logic, but with the way health insurance is in the US, this is actually a good thing. If obesity is a disease, it can be treated directly by a doctor, instead of having to only focus on the side effects (high blood pressure, diabetes, bad joints, etc.).

    This is a really good point. There are a lot of 'diseases' or medical issues that are self induced (lung cancer, skin cancer, diabetes, runners knee, tendonitis, etc.) I don't see why obesity should be excluded.

    All the UK residents comments make me laugh, though. I've been to England recently and I saw significantly more obese people there than I do walking the streets of my hometown in Southern California (which has a lower obesity rate than the UK, so my perception may be a bit skewed, but still.)

    I've lived extensively in both countries (Los Angeles and London, and I have both citizenships) and I can honestly say that there's nothing more that the Brits love to do than to slam foreigners and Americans are one of the favourite targets. Actually, that's not true; the weather is pretty hot topic, too.
  • jsiricos
    jsiricos Posts: 340 Member
    lol um, no its not a "thing"
  • jetlag
    jetlag Posts: 800 Member
    Seems silly.

    Like so much of what is going on in America these days.

    Yes, because the UK is totally sorted.

    I can only assume that -you- assumed I'm from the UK.

    Which I am not.

    But from what I understand, things are pretty much... bollocksed up there too. ("Bollocksed" is a thing, right?)

    lol Yes, "bollocksed up" is a thing lol
  • dirty_dirty_eater
    dirty_dirty_eater Posts: 574 Member
    Mixed feelings on this one....

    I'm big in the "self-induced" camp on this one. IOW, I did it to myself. I wasn't hit by a truck or invaded by a virus.
    On the other hand, it makes great sense to treat obesity any way we can before it becomes a symptomatic medical problem.

    On the other-other hand, I can see this being the first step towards a disabled classification, which I think it does not merit in and of itself.

    On the fourth hand, if you can't walk unassisted, what difference does it make how you got that way, you are handicapped.


    I don't know....
  • Joocey
    Joocey Posts: 115 Member
    All the UK residents comments make me laugh, though. I've been to England recently and I saw significantly more obese people there than I do walking the streets of my hometown in Southern California (which has a lower obesity rate than the UK, so my perception may be a bit skewed, but still.)

    Southern California is still nice. Can't underestimate the added incentive of year-round t-shirts, shorts, sundresses, etc. weather for staying in reasonable shape.

    Try anywhere in the South or the Northeast though.

    Obesity is anywhere from 30% and up. And since obesity is usually defined as having a BMI of 30.0 and up, that would mean roughly 1/3rd of all men and women being obese. That is to say, an average woman of 5'5" weighing 180 and an average man of 5'10" weighing 210.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    American doctors have classified obesity as a disease.

    :huh:

    Another reason for people to shift blame I guess. I can hear it now,
    "It isn't my fault I'm fat, I have a disease."
    "Oh, and what is it? PCOS, Thyroid Issue,..."
    "Obesity." :indifferent:
    edit: I understand that there are actual health conditions that cause weight gain. I just don't classify obseity as such.


    Oh and I'm from America. :blushing:
  • 6spdeg
    6spdeg Posts: 394 Member
    In Australia they are classified as being disabled. They receive a disabled parking sticker for their car and all the benfits that someone who actually deserves them gets.
    It is an absoulte travisty.

    Awesome i hope i can get one!! tired of seeing people with handicap stickers in regular parking spaces at our apartments when handicap spots are available and they dont get tickets..
  • jetlag
    jetlag Posts: 800 Member
    All the UK residents comments make me laugh, though. I've been to England recently and I saw significantly more obese people there than I do walking the streets of my hometown in Southern California (which has a lower obesity rate than the UK, so my perception may be a bit skewed, but still.)

    Southern California is still nice. Can't underestimate the added incentive of year-round t-shirts, shorts, sundresses, etc. weather for staying in reasonable shape.

    Try anywhere in the South or the Northeast though.

    Obesity is anywhere from 30% and up. And since obesity is usually defined as having a BMI of 30.0 and up, that would mean roughly 1/3rd of all men and women being obese. That is to say, an average woman of 5'5" weighing 180 and an average man of 5'10" weighing 210.

    You say that about year round shorts, but when I visit family in SoCal, we go in February, so it's not too hot for us and they're all wearing coats! My husband and I were sunbathing on Christmas Day and my mother nearly had a coronary thinking we would freeze to death. I got heat stroke, and my mum was waving socks at me. It was 16 degrees! It was 16 degrees today in my back garden in Wiltshire. In JUNE!
  • helehcim
    helehcim Posts: 20
    I'm an American! I'm on the fence on this one. I've been ill because I'm fat, but is being overweight really an illness? I don't know yet. I'm still forming an opinion.

    However, if it makes it easier for an overweight person to go to the doctor and ask for help, good! There's such a social stigma with being "fat", it's almost considered a character flaw and sometimes it's a lack of education. I was talking to my kids about my weight problem and they asked why I got fat. Breaking it down the truth is I didn't understand the relation between calories in, the value of different calories (junk food vs good food) and how exercise burns calories until I was in my 30's. How sad! People would say "go on a diet" and I really thought ok I'll go on the diet, lose the weight, then go back to what I was doing. Seem so stupid now looking back.

    There are a lot of things they call a disease that people don't agree with, but it makes it so that those folks can get to the Dr. and get help to beat whatever it is. If this helps with that, then it's a good thing. I'm sure there are people that will use it as an excuse to always be fat, but it's not because someone called it a disease. They would have found another reason, probably the one they were using before it was classified as a disease.
  • Joocey
    Joocey Posts: 115 Member
    You say that about year round shorts, but when I visit family in SoCal, we go in February, so it's not too hot for us and they're all wearing coats! My husband and I were sunbathing on Christmas Day and my mother nearly had a coronary thinking we would freeze to death. I got heat stroke, and my mum was waving socks at me. It was 16 degrees! It was 16 degrees today in my back garden in Wiltshire. In JUNE!

    I'm sure they were just wearing coats to be fashionable. You rarely need to wear a coat in SoCal.

    And the temperatures in February are something like 40-70 on average (night-day). So maybe you would need a coat... if you were outside... at the coldest time of night. But otherwise it's shorts all year round! And flip flops. The Californians love their flip-flops. And their dogs that they can keep in their Louis Vutton purses.*

    *Disclaimer: Everything I know about SoCal may or may not come from television.
  • Cp731
    Cp731 Posts: 3,195 Member
    I just wonder if the Gov't will allow ppl to collect Social Security Benefits from this eventually
  • marciebrian
    marciebrian Posts: 853 Member
    Not a disease but in my opinion an addiction to food. It should not be treated as a disease. We've all had or known people who had those, right? cancer, heart disease, etc.... obesity is overeating FOOD. I'm fine with treating it as an addiction just not as a disease. pisses me off
  • jetlag
    jetlag Posts: 800 Member
    Just did a quick google of the definition of disease and apart from a very funny rant about how alcoholism isn't a disease because it's not treated with drugs like cancer is, I'm actually confused as to the actual definition.

    It seems that it can be as simple as "a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment. "

    I would argue that I am, in fact, ill because of my excess weight, which I believe was caused by "genetic AND developmental errors" and that many parts of my body are "disordered or incorrectly functioning". Whether or not I did (or am doing) it to myself, is immaterial. How it is treated, would also appear to be immaterial (so comedy "alcoholism isn't a disease" guy needs to recheck his dictionary, because there are diseases that can be treated with diet, just like obesity.

    Meh, it's late and I'm off to bed, surprisingly, with no hankering for a midnight snack, which has to be some kind of record lol

    Good night, friends. Thanks once again for your support today, I don't say it often enough :-)


    One small edit: maybe if I start thinking of myself as ill, rather than the jolly chubby lady at parties, I might have more conviction?
  • crisbabe81
    crisbabe81 Posts: 170
    Being an American, I find it funny that it is being called a disease. For the most part the choices we make are what make us who/how we are. NY was trying to make it where restaurants, fast food joints, pizza parlors, movie theaters and bars would currently be unable to sell more than 16 ounce containers of sugary drinks that have more than 25 calories per ounce. That means: sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, juice drinks, slushies and smoothies, among other beverages. Exceptions include alcohol and milk-based drinks. Like its McDonalds fault I'm fat.. I CHOSE to go there, I CHOSE to supersize it. McDonalds didn't hold a gun to my head and say drink or eat. Fast food is not a drug, don't punish the supplier. I find it appalling to say the least. We need to take ownership and responsibility for our bodies.

    @ChasinPavemnt, I hope that the Gov't doesn't allow people to collect Social Security. Or if they do, SSI should be treated like a 401K, you can take out what you put in... when it's gone it's gone.

    These are my opinions and I know others may disagree, but please do so in a professional manner.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    Mixed feelings on this one....

    I'm big in the "self-induced" camp on this one. IOW, I did it to myself. I wasn't hit by a truck or invaded by a virus.
    On the other hand, it makes great sense to treat obesity any way we can before it becomes a symptomatic medical problem.

    On the other-other hand, I can see this being the first step towards a disabled classification, which I think it does not merit in and of itself.

    On the fourth hand, if you can't walk unassisted, what difference does it make how you got that way, you are handicapped.


    I don't know....
    ran out of hands? (lmao....on the fourth hand, what are you a chimp? dem's feets not hands!):laugh:

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