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.

[spathiphyllum]

best get me some couscous

[retrocop]

Do you know how to cook it?

[kvalidir]

Despite being slap bang in the middle of my BMI for my height, and eating a really balanced diet I know I have an unhealthy relationship with food because every time I am hurt or upset I eat. Now I tend to be quite level and not a lot upsets me generally so that has had no major impact on me as yet, but I am aware it's a thing with me, and could easily have caused issues when I was required to lose weight to an unhealthy amount for this job coming up. I had to diet and I was so stressed about not losing enough weight the only thing I wanted to do was eat. Thankfully my partner sorted it out but it doesn't take away the issue that that is my default when stressed, I comfort eat, and that has a potential for problems in the future. I'm not ignorant, understand nutrition meticulously, I'm not lazy or complacent but I could see myself getting very large if I hit a bad patch and didn't keep a very tight handle on it, so I think it's rude and unnecessary to call people names and imply laziness, comfort eating is a very different thing to just stuffing your face.

[ChillDoubt]

You might struggle with a recipe spath so just get the packet stuff where you add hot water.

[retrocop]

:-)

[spathiphyllum]

Retro, surely in a Maghrebi fashion?

[spathiphyllum]

was going to say chill, i'd get it like i get my cold slaw (Coleslaw)

[ChillDoubt]

comfort eating is a very different thing to just stuffing your face.
—————
Why does nobody ever ‘comfort eat’ with a tasty chicken salad though?
Like I said, plenty of excuses(used them all myself at one point) but little rationale.

[spathiphyllum]

i could comfort eat a broccoli with bisto gravy

[ummmm]

If you read Food&Drink some people just don't eat salad. Personally I love it, and veg, and fish. I'm not a fan of chicken though!

[kvalidir]

Actually if I eat it's very often chicken or fish for example, just lots and lots of it, but if that's not available then the first handy thing, so it's more of a quantity thing with me.

[youngmafbog]

It should not be classed as a disease. If you are fat you are fat and generally because you like your pies and beer. (Just like me).

The bottom line is you will only get fat if you eat too much, even if you "have a medical condition". Fat is energy and energy can only be converted not made so unless someone has disobeyed the current laws of physics they are talking rot if they sat over eating is not the problem.

[kvalidir]

I think what I'm trying to say is not that overeating is not the problem but that there is a huge compulsion to overeat in some people when they are experiencing stress, hurt, grief, bereavement or whatever trigger it is for them. clearly the overeating is the problem, but it's the why some people overeat, like others drink or gamble or smoke that is behind the overeating.

[dunnitall]

I just have to answer youngma.... ''You will only get fat if you eat too much, Even with a medical condition''. That is NOT true with the hereditary condition of Lipoedema! It comes on within a very short time for no reason and with no change in diet or eating habits! Sorry but by saying what you did you are blaming it on the person with this condition but it is not their doing.

[margarettom]

There are a number of drugs which can lead to weight increase which, once gained, is quite difficult to lose. The one I am most familiar with is Prednisolone, and I'm sure even Sqad will agree high doses give you weight gain. There are many others. However, they may make you fatter but I doubt they would make you obese. I feel that being somewhat overweight can be caused by many factors and is not a disease, but being obese probably is. To me the difference in the conditions is similar to being a bit miserable and depressed and being clinically depressed, which is a disease.

[Sqad]

Margarttom....indeed large doses of steroids do cause weight increase due to deposition of fat and fluid retention, but this is temporary and likely to return to one's original weight on cessation of administration.

i also like your simile.

[margarettom]

Just feel it's important for people to realise that when they see a 'fat' person, it's not always self-inflicted. It's very easy to be judgemental.

[Purist]

The reason people don't crave celery sticks as a comfort food is because the food that gives people pleasure (high fat/sugar) allows the brain to release endorphins, a stick of celery would just not "get it done" so to speak. The real issue is why people have turned to the vicious cycle of comfort eating to begin with.

[ToraToraTora]

"That is NOT true with the hereditary condition of Lipoedema!" - better tell professor Cox you found a source of free energy then. The laws of physics still apply even Lipoedema would not make people fat if they ate nowt. The body can't store what it doesn't have. Certain medical conditions can exacerbate the condition but in the end as YMB says, it's calories in v calories out.

[pastafreak]

TTT....this is what lipoedema looks like. It is NOT a matter of calories in and calories out.
According to the NHS // Lipoedema is a long-term (chronic) condition where there's an abnormal build-up of fat cells in the legs, thighs and buttocks, and sometimes in the arms. The condition usually only affects women, although in rare cases it can also affect men.//

www.google.com/search?q=Lipoedema&client=tablet-android-samsung&source=android-browser&prmd=inv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjftK3fg9zfAhUtSBUIHS4KDB4Q_AUoAXoECA0QAQ