Obesity as a disease?

Sunflower2

Sunflower2

New member
A post that I saw by Monster today got me thinking about whether obesity can be called a disease or not. I personally think not.
I found a very interesting study online and was hoping to get a bit of debate going and for people to share opinions :)

The study says:

It would be a mistake to attempt to label it a disease in the traditional sense in order to emphasize its importance if it does not meet reasonable criteria for such diseases.
 
I wasn't calling it a disease..... (just clarifying what I wrote earlier) What I was trying to do is to share my perspective of THINKING of it as a disease. You have symptoms, and you know the cure. If it were any other disease would you even hesitate to take the steps need to cure yourself? Nope, you wouldn't. It might be helpful for some people to think of it this way. Not as an excuse, but as something that you can identify and say "you know.. I'm going to cure myself of this disease". I think that packaging it up into a certain condition will make it easier for some people to tackle. Just sort of a different way of looking at it.
 
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I didn't specify what you said at all dude--Just the posts in your thread made me start thinking about it, that's all.
I agree with to you a certain degree but I think that if people start telling themselves (again, not you, but people who genuinely believe it's a disease) that they have a disease then it takes the responsibility off them. "I'm fat because I have a problem. I have a disease."
It's the same was I feel about the support groups and programs for "food addicts". I don't believe you can be addicted to food. You can be addicted to the feeling that eating gives you but I think people like to have something to blame. To make themselves feel like it's something out of their control.
 
No, I don't really think that it is a disease, but I would classify it as a condition, if I had to call it anything at all. Yes, it could be a way for people to take the responsibility off of themselves. BUT... just like alcoholism, it's sort of a way to package it up and say. "Yes, I had a disease, but I can stop it from controlling my life." Yes, it's a tool that could be useful for some people, but not everyone.
I know a woman who SWEARS she has thyroid problems, really she has an appetite problem. She's had a few doctors do tests and they always test negative, but she's so convinced that it's a thyroid problem, that she never stops to breath between bites of food! It's all what you do with the information that is given to you.
 
I agree with you both. I agree with monster when he says,
my perspective of THINKING of it as a disease.
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and the that it could help. But this is the sort of thing that i think is very personal and its good when you come up with it for yourself. If you know what i mean. I think its important for people to play a part in their treatment by coming up with their own insights and interpretations (so long as they are not blindingly inaccurate like the thyroid story above). I think it makes people in charge and that's a good thing.

I agree with Sun that's not a disease and that believing it is, enables people not to take responsiblity for their condition.

We've seen how controversial the disease term has been for alcoholism.

But is interesting what you say about food addictions too Sun and i have some thoughts to share on that. I also used to reject the popular notion of being addicted to sugar. I still don't believe its a true addiction. However, they way i now see my relationship to sugar is tantamount to an addiction. I know its all my responsibilty. But why i like to call it an addiction is because i have no control over it. I mean i am unable to exercise control over it because it is too hard. I used to be a heavy smoker and i can say that experience is very similar. And its interesting that i replaced smoking with sweet foods isn't it. So just as i quit smoking, after many years, i have now realised the easiest way for me to manage sugar is to quit it. I do not miss smoking one bit. And i am pretty sure i can live without sugar foods just as easily. I am also inclined to think that if i allow myself the occasional sugar foods, i will end up back where i started. All just as it happened with one cigarette and how it led to another and another and within a month i was back where i had been to start with.
 
I agree with thinking it's a disease, but in terms of believe it's an actual disease, it's hard for me to grasp. I come from a very old-school way of thinking (because of my family and my upbringings). I don't believe that drug addiction, obesity, etc. are diseases. I believe it's a condition that in most cases is the result of choices made under ones own volition. I don't believe that there are not some people that are exceptions to this rule. For example, I do believe that some people are more prone to drug/ alcohol addiction, and that some people are more prone to obisity. That being said, my biggest problem with elevating obesity and addiction to the "disease" level is the injustice it does to other serious afflictions. Again, this is just an opinion, and I do not judge people that feel otherwise.
 
dis·ease
–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 (or animal) 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.

~*~*~*~*~*~
I do think that there are people who use it as an excuse like Sunflower brought to light. Trust me, I know. Almost everyone in my family does.

Can obesity fit in with a definition above? I guess it depends on the way you look at it.

From the way Monster put everything, it definitely doesn't seem that he's one of the people that's trying to cover anything up with excuses so that's good.

But I think this is an interesting topic. I can't wait to know the views that others have about this too.
 
It's not disease.

Obesity, just like alcoholism and drug abuse are self inflicted conditions, and certainly not diseases.

I agree with what the others said, people have a tendency to call it a 'disease' because that will take the responsibility away from them.

It's the same as the so-called food additictions. I heard it so often 'I can't help it, I am addicted to food. It's a disease'.

No, it's not. There is no such thing as a food addiction. That's called an excuse.

I think labelling it as a disease would give people exactly what they want - and excuse to leave it to others to do something about it. They'd go to the doctor, fully expecting him or her to 'cure' them from their disease.

It's the same as smoking. You can give out all the 'nicotine kits' you want (biggest waste of money I can possibly think of, and they give them out for free here), it's not going to change anything unless the person in question WANTS to stop smoking. Same with losing weight.
 
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Yeah, I can see everyones point of view. People who say "It's not my fault I'm like this.." That's like me saying "Its not my fault I smoke--I'm addicted." I don't think it's in their best interests to patronise people like that. And sites like the "food addicts" and stuff just give them more reason to believe that they are suffering from addiction and a disease rather than just being lazy and eating too many calories.

I also agree that people can be prone to being overweight. For example, people who come from families of overweight people and who pick up eating habits like that at an early age. For those people, it is harder. But it's harder for stressed out people to quit smoking. You can still do it, but the mental shift needs to happen before anything else can.
 
Emerald said:
dis·ease
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 (or animal) 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.
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Well....... according the definition above, it would be classified a disease.
But then again, so could choking on a hard boiled egg.
 
San said:
It's not disease.

Obesity, just like alcoholism and drug abuse are self inflicted conditions, and certainly not diseases.

I agree with what the others said, people have a tendency to call it a 'disease' because that will take the responsibility away from them.

It's the same as the so-called food additictions. I heard it so often 'I can't help it, I am addicted to food. It's a disease'.

No, it's not. There is no such thing as a food addiction. That's called an excuse.

I think labelling it as a disease would give people exactly what they want - and excuse to leave it to others to do something about it. They'd go to the doctor, fully expecting him or her to 'cure' them from their disease.

It's the same as smoking. You can give out all the 'nicotine kits' you want (biggest waste of money I can possibly think of, and they give them out for free here), it's not going to change anything unless the person in question WANTS to stop smoking. Same with losing weight.
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My name is ChefChiTown and I endorse this post.
 
San said:
No, it's not. There is no such thing as a food addiction. That's called an excuse.

I think labelling it as a disease would give people exactly what they want - and excuse to leave it to others to do something about it..
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Do people expect their doctor to cure them from smoking? um.. no....
HOWEVER, I am much more define overeating as an addiction (not obesity) Why? Because if you're fucking miserable food makes you feel better. And what else, eating a lot of food makes you sleep A HELL OF A LOT MORE, and thus avoid reality. I had a couple rough years where I really packed on the pounds because I'd get filled up at a buffet, and go home and go to sleep to avoid reality because I didn't want to deal with anyone or anything, and it works. Yes, excess food CAN be abused in a manner that is similar to drugs. But really.. that's getting off topic.
Obesity and overeating are not the same thing.
Cancer kills you, and causes growths internally. Obesity causes expansion of your fat tissue and kills you.
I guess if push comes to shove, I could be convinced that it is a disease, but you have to recognize that it is a self inflicted disease, like lung cancer from smoking, or skin cancer from getting too much sun.
 
Do people expect their doctor to cure them from smoking?
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For sure, they do. I have many friends who have gone to the doctors to get put into support groups for quitting smoking and to be given the inhalers and pills and patches to help them quit. I agree, they can't cure your smoking addiction, but they provide treatment the same way they do with nutrition and exercise programs for the over-weight. But people do go to their GP expecting them to "fix" them.

eating a lot of food makes you sleep A HELL OF A LOT MORE, and thus avoid reality.
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Just to point out, that is your experience but is not always the case. Eating too much food makes me uncomfortable and gives me indigestion at bed-time. I sleep much better when eating healthily.

but you have to recognize that it is a self inflicted disease, like lung cancer from smoking, or skin cancer from getting too much sun
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.

Agree with this 100%. Being fat isn't something you randomly get after years of living healthily. My uncle randomly and suddenly died of a heart sarcoma after never smoking/drinking before in his life. That was a disease. Self-inflicted stuff just does not count in my opinion.
 
If you can defeat something (smoking, overeating etc) through the application of mental self-discipline then it's not a disease.
Positive thinking cannot cure a broken ankle (though it will do no harm) but it CAN overcome smoking.

Agree that overeating is an addiction. Obesity isn't the problem, it's the result of the problem.
 
Got to agree with Sunflower. Yes, people do go and expect the doctors to cure them from their obesity. Look at people who go for weight loss surgery and still don't manage to lose weight. They expect the surgery to do the job for them and then realise that they still have to work on it themselves, and that's where it goes pear shaped.

I am the same in regards to eating and sleeping, being full makes me feel uncomfortable and I can't sleep with a full stomach at all.

Besides, overeating might (with a lot of imagination and goodwill) be classed as an addiction, but that still doesn't make it a disease. And I agree, it's self inflicted, which makes me very unsympathetic towards people who don't want to work on it themselves and expect others to solve their problem for them.
 
Sunflower said:
Agree with this 100%. Being fat isn't something you randomly get after years of living healthily. My uncle randomly and suddenly died of a heart sarcoma after never smoking/drinking before in his life. That was a disease. Self-inflicted stuff just does not count in my opinion.
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You agree? Getting skin cancer or lung cancer isn't necessarily self-inflicted. Sometimes, it just happens.
 
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