Should Obesity Be Classed As A Disease?

[Deskdiary]

It has been suggested that obesity should be considered a disease.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/03/obesity-should-classed-disease-doctors-say/

How would describing 'normal' fat people (i.e, ignoring those who are fat because of an underlying medical condition) as a victim of a disease help them? I suspect it will simply provide the fatties with an excuse for their size? "My obesity is a disease and therefore it's not my fault"

Should smokers be described have having a disease? If not, why not? I see no difference between a compulsion to smoke and a compulsion to shove food down the neck.

[Rockrose]

Blast just to throw all your theories out of the water I trained as a chef and part of that includes nutrition and I still ended up morbidly obese

[Rockrose]

5 stone is not 20 stone you keep going in about others making excuses perhaps they are telling the truth

[pastafreak]

The definition of ignorant that I have in mind is 1.1

ADJECTIVE

1-Lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated.

‘he was told constantly that he was ignorant and stupid’

1.1predicative...Lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about a particular thing.

‘I was largely ignorant of the effects of radiotherapy’

‘school-leavers were ignorant about the range of job opportunities’

2-informal...Discourteous or rude.

‘this ignorant, pin-brained receptionist’

[dunnitall]

@ sqad - 11:14 I was talking about Lipoedema not other fat or obesity diseases. I have read up on it and Lipoedema knowledge was not part of training in medical schools, hence the lack of knowledge on part of medics in diagnosing this debilitating disease. I don't know what other diseases they have studied regarding obesity as I only know about Lipo.

[ChillDoubt]

5 stone is not 20 stone you keep going in about others making excuses perhaps they are telling the truth
—————-
No idea what your point is........but there’s still lots of excuses flying about!!
Or am I the only one being honest perhaps?

[Purist]

Out of interest RR what is your relationship like now with food since the operation?

[spathiphyllum]

an excuse is a reason in which you blame.

When something only involves yourself you can still have an "excuse" even if at the bottom of it you've only got yourself to blame.

[pastafreak]

I hate the term "using excuses". It always sounds derogatory. People who struggle need to find explanations, particularly if they also need solutions.

[Theland]

People suffer.
We should not condemn.

[spathiphyllum]

Me too pasta. This thread isn't about naming and shaming obese people them making them feel bad and like it's all their fault.
So without being rude, why does anyone give a damn if they feel other people are using excuses? Why is it your right to highlight that then degrade the person?

[ummmm]

Chill...I think most overweight people are honest. You get a few that think they are size 12 still...but not many.

[cassa333]

Went away for just a few hours and came back to pages of posts. So....

TTT @ 9.44

It’s a choice to over eat in the first place. Actually perhaps it’s not as simple as overeating but more about not using up the energy values one ingests but it has the same result. It’s a choice to over eat. It’s a choice to not do anything or not seek help in doing smething about that.

To take away the choice elements means that people can sit back and simply say the NHS should make me better.

Where it is true, for me at least, compulsion comes into it when you have become obese. Fat makes you lazy and lazy makes you fatter. I don’t think anyone starts out with the thought,,, today I am going to start on the road to becoming fat/very fat/obese. It is a gradual thing. But somewhere along the line we all look in the mirror and see (in this case) roles of fat, a squat face with eyes sunk into cheeks so puffed up and round we look like pigs, with a stomach so big we have to lift it up so we can go for a wee.

This is the point at which it is a mental disorder that needs addressing. Obesity itself isn’t a disease but the result it a mental disorder. Either body dismorphia, a depression of some sort or a combination.

A lot of fat and obese people know they are and as my friend says, I know I’m fat and I know I Should eat less and/or exercise more, I just don’t.

Everything nowadays seems to be going further away from personal responsibility, cause and effect.

[Sqad]

Dunitall....you are correct lipodema is not taught in the medical curriculum, because it is so rare.
it only affects women.

[ChillDoubt]

What term shall we use then pasta?

(ir)rational explanations?

[Rockrose]

Purist not as bad but I still have off days that gas me reaching for comfort food but the big difference is quantity, 2 biscuits instead of a packet 1/4 tin of pringles instead of 2 tins.
Generally I eat 5 small meals a day all high protein so if I’m following the plan I actually don’t have room for biscuits etc, I rarely eat chocolate and haven had bread in 2 years and my junk food is now 4 chicken nuggets as a treat once in a blue moon

[dunnitall]

sqad, thank you though there are some cases where it affects males but as you say, it's usually females. I know of a whole family affected by this and passed down from parents to children and their children. Awful disease but not quite as rare as you think though often confused with Lymphoedema.

[Khandro]

The Germans have a word for it; Kummerspeck – Excess Weight Gained from Emotional Eating

You might find yourself in a vicious cycle of emotional eating to distract yourself from bad feelings. Kummerspeck refers to the excess flab that appears on your body as a side effect of this situation.

[SparklyKid]

I always laugh at notices in hospitals which say that you will be asked about smoking and drinking. No mention of cakes, chips and pies. Also have you seen how many fat nurses there are.

[ToraToraTora]

Cassa: 11:46, You explain quite well how obesity can be a desease and I agree with that but the point I was making was that your assertion that smoking is the equivalent is flawed because smoking is optional, we can live without it, not so food. At least when you want to give up any other addiction you can just stop, cold turkey, however difficult that may be. Not so with food, you must have some.

[ChillDoubt]

At least when you want to give up any other addiction you can just stop, cold turkey, however difficult that may be. Not so with food, you must have some.
—————-
That’s right. The excuses come in when you err on the side of pie, chips and bread and butter on a regular basis instead of a chicken and salad with couscous.
Or will you attempt a little exercise later to burn off some of the chips?
Like I said, it’s all about choices and excuses(of which I had plenty), so choose wisely.