Obesity now Recognized as a Disease in the US

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by drPepper1

Should this also be considered a disease?

Spoiler!

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Joborule

Disease? It's something that can be easily prevented, and 'treated' for the great majority of people that are considered overweight. It wasn't tough luck that you got too big. It's hard to fix, but it's not something that you need medication or special treatment to address. You've naturally made yourself overweight. You can naturally remove that weight.

People need to put more blame and pressure on themselves rather than outside influences. Otherwise they won't be able to address their issues.

And that right there is the bull#### that makes me want to throw my monitor against a wall. It's the opinion of someone that has never been obese. You walk a mile in my shoes someday and you might feel differently.

First off, "it wasn't tough luck that you got too big". Well, I don't know what I was supposed to do as a six year old. Was I supposed to tell my parents that eating KFC 3 times a week wasn't proper nutrition?

My second point will be that you make it sound so incredibly easy to lose the weight. However, it's INCREDIBLY HARD to lose the weight over the long term. The body regulates itself to PRESERVE the fat stores. We evolved from cavemen that NEEDED those fat stores so the body hormones fluctuate to keep fat people fat. Right now I am seeing a special eating disorder doctor who is helping me regulate these body changes documented here:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/le...in-weight-loss

Trying to maintain my weight has been absolute hell over the last year. I have tried 100 different things. At one point I was exercising 3 to 4 hours a day. I have joined Overeaters Anonymous. I had trouble concentrating on my work because I was constantly hungry as my body kept telling me I needed food. And if I gave my body what it wanted I'd feel like an absolute asshat and end up beating myself up for it by jogging for 3 hours and ending up in a heap of exhaustion.

You make it sound so damn easy. And it's that lack of compassion by those that haven't been there; that haven't had to go through this, that makes me want to hit something.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

A disease is simply an abnormal condition that affects the body with specific symptoms and signs.

AMA recognizing it is merely stating that it's a condition worth treating. There's nothing about obesity that would exclude it from the definition. Addiction has been a disease recognized by the AMA for some time and it fails your definition too

And it had to go to vote with a bunch of doctors disagreeing with calling it a disease so it's not as clear cut as you're making it out to be.


"The Canadian Medical Association said Wednesday that while it doesn't officially label obesity a disease, it is recognized in the medical community as such."

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Wow, it doesn't look like you can claim disability for it yet but holy poop - can you imagine the cost of that? More than a third of the population?

Not only that. A disease becoming a medical condition; thus, cannot be discriminated upon in employment or consumer situations. For example, providing wide seats on airplanes to accommodate obese people was the choice of airlines. It could become a requirement etc. Another situation: an obese employee could have a case against his/her employer for dismissal on the grounds of discrimination for a medical condition and force the employer to compensate.

[saskflames69]

Originally Posted by drPepper1

Should this also be considered a disease?

Spoiler!

Check out the abs on Posh Spice. Ow ow.

[Free Ben Hur!]

[QUOTE=drPepper1;4290193]Should this also be considered a disease?

Maybe not a disease but probably a disorder. Only obsessive behaviour creates that kind of a body. That said, this clearly isn't the most destructive or unhealthy kind of obsession.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

And it had to go to vote with a bunch of doctors disagreeing with calling it a disease so it's not as clear cut as you're making it out to be.


"The Canadian Medical Association said Wednesday that while it doesn't officially label obesity a disease, it is recognized in the medical community as such."

Whether the AMA recognizes it as a disease or not is completely superfluous to whether or not it is in fact a disease. It is a function of categorization for policy making, nothing more.

Here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013...sity-a-disease

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

And that right there is the bull#### that makes me want to throw my monitor against a wall. It's the opinion of someone that has never been obese. You walk a mile in my shoes someday and you might feel differently.

First off, "it wasn't tough luck that you got too big". Well, I don't know what I was supposed to do as a six year old. Was I supposed to tell my parents that eating KFC 3 times a week wasn't proper nutrition?

I've been in the same position as you in having an unhealthy diet due to parents. I ate a ton of crap as a kid also. I have a gut that I've been trying to fight off for years due to this. The reason I haven't got past it yet is primarily because I haven't put in the effort required consistently enough to do so. I know the solution. And I'm sure anyone else that is overweight does also. It's the execution that's the hardest part. Granted I've never been to the point of being considered obese.

My second point will be that you make it sound so incredibly easy to lose the weight. However, it's INCREDIBLY HARD to lose the weight over the long term. The body regulates itself to PRESERVE the fat stores. We evolved from cavemen that NEEDED those fat stores so the body hormones fluctuate to keep fat people fat. Right now I am seeing a special eating disorder doctor who is helping me regulate these body changes documented here:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/le...in-weight-loss

Trying to maintain my weight has been absolute hell over the last year. I have tried 100 different things. At one point I was exercising 3 to 4 hours a day. I have joined Overeaters Anonymous. I had trouble concentrating on my work because I was constantly hungry as my body kept telling me I needed food. And if I gave my body what it wanted I'd feel like an absolute asshat and end up beating myself up for it by jogging for 3 hours and ending up in a heap of exhaustion.

You make it sound so damn easy. And it's that lack of compassion by those that haven't been there; that haven't had to go through this, that makes me want to hit something.

It isn't easy as I've noticed over the past several years how difficult it is to achieve a goal I've set out for several years ago, but the reason people view it as 'easy' is because the solution itself is pretty straightforward. Eat proper and be active. The psychological/physical burden that you've described does make it a very challenging feat, but overall to lose the weight appears pretty straightforward, which is why it's difficult for general people to understand why it seems impossible for some.

Heck, you yourself have accomplished the feat of becoming a fit person from what you were in the past. So you've shown you have the willpower and the ability to cure yourself of this 'disease'. Since it's something that can be fixed by a change of lifestyle, I find it odd to classify it as a disease now. Then again, smoking and alcohol addiction is classified as a disease as well. So I guess it can be considered one.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Whether the AMA recognizes it as a disease or not is completely superfluous to whether or not it is in fact a disease. It is a function of categorization for policy making, nothing more.

Here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013...sity-a-disease

So the doctors who don't consider it a disease don't understand the definition?

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

And that right there is the bull#### that makes me want to throw my monitor against a wall. It's the opinion of someone that has never been obese. You walk a mile in my shoes someday and you might feel differently.

Might I suggest you take a step back and reassess what it is you're trying to accomplish in this thread/debate?

While I believe I understand your viewpoint (paraphrasing here: obesity is misunderstood by those who have never struggled with it), your opening statement of "I'm reading the comments below the article and I just want to throw my monitor against the wall." isn't coming across as very level headed.

Is the debate about obesity worth having? Absolutely, but when your opening argument is just a hair short of ALL CAPS raging it's hard to really analyze or interpret your viewpoint in a meaningful way.

For the record I'm not taking sides either way, and I'm not telling you that you're wrong. But I do think you're getting overly excited from the get go and doing a poor job of stating your view.

[Caged Great]

It is extremely difficult to re-educate your body to be satisfied to consume less. That's why you see a lot of athletes get fat once they are done playing, like Tkachuk, Deadmarsh, Byfuglien, and Kirby Puckett (I could keep going but 4 names should suffice)

I know personally it has taken me 4 years to adjust the amount I eat to start consuming less (I was up to 250 at one point and am now at 195, with 185 being as skinny as I could possibly be). It is not easy, it takes a long time to lower it slowly and I've not had the same issues that someone that got over 300 lbs would have.

[Devils'Advocate]

FYI - I don't consider myself "cured" any more than an alcoholic who hasn't touched a bottle in 10 years.

Things I have learned from my eating disorder doctor:
- The more weight you lose, the more the body fights back against the change. So the bigger you are, the more difficult it will be to stay at a healthy weight.
- The body is more forgiving to those that lose weight over a long period of time (1 pound per week)
- Overweight people are not necessarily unhealthy. Obese yes. Morbidly obese absolutely. But overweight people that exercise regularly have a lower mortality rate than lean people that don't exercise.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

For the record I'm not taking sides either way, and I'm not telling you that you're wrong. But I do think you're getting overly excited from the get go and doing a poor job of stating your view.

It's hard to be level-headed when this issue is so emotional wrought for me. But I get your point. Yelling at homophobes does nothing to advance tolerance/acceptance of gays. Yelling won't help here either.

[FlamesFanStrandedInEDM]

Some people struggle with weight....yes.....but thete is a difference between battling weight and straight up negligence. I have an obese friend who has been big his whole life.

I would be curious how many "obese" peoplr are legitimately suffering from thr diseasr. And im wondering how many chow down 4500 calories a day living a sedentary lifestyle

[Mr.Coffee]

doesn't metabolism have a huge amount to do with all of this?

If you workout more, do you eventually start to change your metabolism too?

I am an idiot and should probably know this already..

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

It's hard to be level-headed when this issue is so emotional wrought for me. But I get your point. Yelling at homophobes does nothing to advance tolerance/acceptance of gays. Yelling won't help here either.

That's a terrible comparison. No one is discriminating against you on CP or hates you because you were overweight or does anyone hate fat people in general.

You honestly seem so emotional on this subject that you can't even think straight. Comparing gay people problems to obesity problems is absurd.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

So the doctors who don't consider it a disease don't understand the definition?

Come on. I'm done arguing semantics here and I can tell you didn't read the article and want to argue anyways.

From Dictionary.com

" noun
1. 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.
2. any abnormal condition in a plant that interferes with its vital physiological processes, caused by pathogenic microorganisms, parasites, unfavorable environmental, genetic, or nutritional factors, etc.
3. any harmful, depraved, or morbid condition, as of the mind or society: His fascination with executions is a disease."

[puckluck2]

What's your point? You're the one who asked the condescending question "do you even know what a disease is"?

So do they not understand the definition either?
http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/health/...ease-1.1332160


#"A report on the proposed resolution from the group's Council on Science and Public Health didn't support it. The analysis noted the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes a disease and whether obesity would fit, in any case."

[Azure]

I also know how hard it can be to lose weight, but I also know how easy it can be.

Requires a lot of emotional willpower, but it tends to get easier over time for most people as they progress. The problem is when you don't progress it becomes ever so easy to fall back to the old ways.

I have always said obesity is going to become 100x the problem that smoking ever was, and it will be 100x harder to fix. Our whole culture is literally geared towards being unhealthy.

I don't know if this is the right call. But I do know that ignoring the issue won't make it go away.

[pylon]

This is kinda the issue I have. Look at films and newsreels from the 30-40's heck even the 80's and it was pretty rare to see overweight people. Everyone was pretty much at a healthy weight, and thin. I grew up in the 80 and 90's, and even then most of the girls were fit and thin. I walk through a mall or anywhere in public now, women and men are easily 20-30% larger than they were 20 years ago. Young women are tanks now. What changed? Our genetics, or how we eat?

I am not immune either. Until I was in my mid 20's I was trim, and healthy. Eating crap, has made me go from a once healthy 190 or so pounds, to now hovering around 235. And I have nobody to blame but me. I used to snack on fruit, and granola bars. A slurpee used to be 500 ml, now they are a litre. I used to eat one burger, now I eat 2. I don't consider myself diseased, I consider myself undisciplined. Because when I work out, I can shed the weight, look healthy, and feel healthy, just by reverting to past good habits.

I get what devils advocate is saying though. He is in a bit of a different scenario, and was never given a proper chance. My mom always fed us healthy and limited the junk food. The vast majority of overweight people now, are like me, and they screwed up later in life. For those people, gluttony and laziness is the disease, not obesity.