Poll: Obesity as a Disease.

[Vivi22]

Now, do you consider obesity a disease?

No I don't. Even taking into account the fact that some people are either genetically predisposed to convert more carbs into body fat, or even more likely, after years of eating high carb diets and constantly spiking their blood glucose have left themselves so insulin resistant that they convert carbs to fat more readily than before, the vast majority of the population will lose body fat on a low carb, high fat diet. Yes, they'll store more fat on the standard american diet, but obesity in that case is simply one of many conditions eating like that would cause.

Honestly, obesity wouldn't be nearly the problem it is if people just ate more quality meats and vegetables and left the sugar and starchy vegetables on store shelves, and left grains for those third world countries which literally can't feed their population without them. But part of the problem is we've had the government and supposed experts shoving bad dietary advice down our throats for 50 years. Hell, grains shouldn't be on a food pyramid at all, let alone used as the base for the thing and the majority of every single meal.

The problem with that is that exercise also plays a large amount in obesity.

Actually it doesn't. It is entirely possible to gain body fat while working out religiously, and in excess of what the average person would consider a good workout simply as a result of diet. Exercise will help develop physical strength, stamina, endurance, etc. but diet plays the majority role in fat loss or gain for most people.

In the past though foods were much less fatty

They actually weren't. People used to regularly eat fatty meats, drink raw milk and cook with butter and lard. The move to lower fat diets didn't really start until about the early 60's when the government began pushing it as the answer to reducing heart disease. Out of that we got things like recommending people base their diets on bread and grains, eat lean meats, and cook with unnatural vegetable oils extracted from seeds using chemical solvents rather than more natural things like animal fats which we'd been eating for hundreds of thousands of years.

Since then rates of heart disease and obesity have been steadily increasing, which isn't surprising when you cut out fats we need like animal fat, and tell people to eat 300+ carbs a day. You might as tell them to smoke to avoid lung cancer.

 

[loa]

Um... no?
How can you even think of that?

Obesity is a symptom to many different kinds of factors, some lifestyle- and some health related.
Sure, there are diseases that actually cause obesity or make losing weight harder but there is no such thing as the "obesity disease".
If you label it a "disease" you imply there to be only one given factor with very minor variations at best that makes people become fat, namely said disease.

That's just silly and far removed from reality.
Labeling a symptom as a disease is quite literally backwards.

You would have more success asking if it is a disability, I believe that is the term you had in mind.
Or maybe if it is a choice.
The answer to both would be a definite "sometimes".
It's not always a clear cut thing to generalize like that.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Some diseases can contribute to obesity, but being overweight is largely a choice. While some of us are genetically predisposed to being overweight, most people who are large simply don't want to lose weight--if they wanted to, they could, it's just not easy.

I, for one, don't give a rat's ass about weight. I'm "morbidly underweight," which is to say my lack of fatty tissue and poor diet is negatively impacting my health. But be you 50kg or 250kg, I don't care. The only time weight is a problem, in my eyes, is when it stops you from doing what you want in your life. Don't lose weight, get in shape or work out and eat right because other people want you to. It's your life and you only get to do it once, so do it exactly how you want to.

/rant

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Mortal obesity seems to me like it's a combination of a lazy and unhealthy lifestyle and some kind of medical problem. Not saying it can't be just one or the other, but i think if you managed just to eat yourself to death by not moving without any external input then you don't deserve any better.

So yes, i know where my belly blubber comes from and i praise higher powers i don't have some kind of disease to go with it because it's bad enough as it is and i can actually live with being a lazy bastard?

Wasn't that what we envisioned with easier and more convenient technology anyways? See Wall-E for how we're gonna end up one day.

 

[Alternative]

Im fat because i eat alot of junk food and spend alot of time sitting down, i dont really consider that a disease.

Untill a time in which a doctor tells me that i have somesort of glandular problem i will chalk my weight upto poor eating and exercise habits rather then any kind of genetic malfunction.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

While genetics is a factor the chances of Obesity, it isn't the be all end all of it either. You cram enough processed food down your gullet you WILL gain weight unless you burn off that energy received.

So while genetics can INCREASE your chances of becoming obese, it's not the primary factor.

On the subject of Obesity be a disease, I tend to think of it as a major preventable contributor to diseases and complications in life, allot like smoking.

REcaptcha: chicken feed

 

[Something Amyss]

IT can be a disease. It can be avoided. It can also not be a disease.

Let's not forget that America's obesity problem also relates to just about everything containing high fructose corn syrup. Some studies are showing that HFCS is like crack.

Is that the sole reason? Also no.

 

[Snowbell]

I would say that obesity is a disease (it causes identifiable symptoms so it must be one) but it's easily treated or even more easily avoided so 'it's a disease' should never be used as an excuse.

There are very few conditions that lead to obesity (note, obesity rather than simply being overweight which can be caused by several hormonal conditions), obesity really is caused by eating too much of the wrong thing with too little exercise. Look at countries like India where the poorer classes earn little and have to buy cheap food, which contains a lot more fat and the like, whereas the richer classes (those on the same level as the British middle class) can buy healthier food and are not as overweight.

Obesity is easily avoided but not easily removed once it's developed as a problem. The more you eat the larger your stomach becomes, the more ghrelin (the hunger hormone) is produced, the more you eat. It's a vicious circle.

However, there is evidence that obese people have a constant, middling level of ghrelin produced which causes them to never feel full and snack throughout the day. Weirdly, getting your stomach stapled seems to return the levels to normal, possibly because most stomach-shrinking procedures involve removing some of the stomach meaning that less of the hormone can be made.

Apparently one of the major causes of obesity is that if the mother doesn't eat well during pregnancy then a certain hormone is engaged which leads to the child eating more because they perceive that their mother was starved due to low amounts of food available. So when they see the huge quantities of food that are around they eat a lot because their bodies still think there's a chance of them starving.

Nurture also plays a part; families are often fat because the children learn negative behaviour patterns from their parents, this can also help to develop the problem of 'comfort eating'.

Most of this is a simplified version of the information presented in a recent Panorama episode on the BBC about fat (which I can't find a link to, sorry), and the rest comes from the A-level course I took on psychology.

 

[Yan007]

Bodybuilding here.Used to be fat.

Being overweight is a choice: The choice to not take responsibility for your body. No, it's not as simple as calories in and out, but take me for an example. I used to blame genetics because we are fat in my family instead of blaming the real culprits: ourselves and how lazy we are/were. Don't get me wrong, we work hard in my family - we are lazy in the sense that we can't be assed to educate ourselves about our bodies and even if we were we would still find ways to find it too difficult to change old habits.

Went from 5f6 250 pounds to 145 pounds before starting to get muscles and a great physique. Took me a bit under a year (losing weight part- THAT is the EASY part). If you are currently overweight and have an actual drive to change your life around you need to do the following: get yourself a rendez-vous with a trainer in a good gym that offers to analyse your body-type, your fat ratio and that will give you a new diet with your training schedule. Follow the damn diet to the letter, stop cheating except for your cheat meal (your trainer will tell you about this) and follow your new routine religiously. With some luck you'll fall in love with training and want to become a bodybuilder yourself. I can vouch for the pleasure you will get from exposing yourself to others after your hard work and know that people are pleased with what they see.

Take the challenge: Go to your gym and have a rendez-vous with the trainer and ask for help! For most people it only takes a few months to change your life forever. It took me a few days to feel increased energy and benefits (was living on pizza pockets and chips before I switched...) and I believe the same can happen to you. I won't lie to you though. During my first time at the gym I almost fainted (with extremely light weights...) and for a few weeks I felt like I had to puke after my hour at the gym. It went away after a month or two.

I understand that many may have difficulties they can't control (as in your family only eats junk food and you can't eat what you want and have no power over this situation). Still, in the end your body is a machine and unless something is very special with you and your body it will produce results equivalent to what you put into it,regardless of your feelings and what you want to look like.

Lastly: Training and bodybuilding ain't that difficult. You would think that I am ALWAYS training but that is not the case. I train 4-5 times a week, an hour MAX each time. Most of time is spent resting. In the gym you break your muscles. You need to rest to grow.

 

[A3sir]

As someone who weighs 150kgs, obesity is not a disease. I know the reason I am overweight is because I eat too much junk and don't do enough exercise, not because I am sick.

 

[Yan007]

I'm not sure it's a disease, but genetics are involved. The possibility of being obese is greater in some than others. I eat well - cook for myself, only buy pop/chips/candy maybe once a month as a treat, have veggies with every meal, etc, but am overweight. I've been overweight since childhood. I didn't eat well as a child, but walked 20 minutes each way to school (and home for lunch), played baseball, basketball, and roamed the streets on my bike. I was your typical active child. Then puberty, etc. Still walked to school and played baseball, but started filling out. Filled out all though middle and high school (still walked and played baseball). Have always been filled out.

I've accepted it now, and know I need more exercise - my diet could still be better but it's pretty good. However, my grandmother has like 7 sisters - and every single one of them has the exact same body shape as me. Tall and well-proportioned (ie top half and lower half are the same size) for being overweight, except for a spare tire around the middle. Every single one, including my aunt and second cousins twice removed, etc. And these women are all farmers (or were), so they were active their whole lives.

Again, I'm not sure if it's a disease, but it is genetics. Except now we're not as active as we were as a society, and we're eating a lot more processed things. I'm sure genetically modified foods don't help, either. (As I sit at my desk and eat my Chex...)

Question: Could you tell us about your diet? What do you usually eat daily, what quantities? Give me portions sizes if possible (1 portion = 1 closed fist)

 

[Nimzabaat]

So how do you catch obesity? Is it a air borne virus? Blood borne? If a fat person bites me do I get obesity? Should I use a condom... Yeah sorry, it's a sore point with me that things are being labelled as "diseases" when they are really just a lack of self control.

You can't catch depression, you can't catch alcoholism and you can't catch obesity. Therefore they are not diseases. Calling these things ?diseases? is just peoples way of not taking personal responsibility for bad life style choices.

Personally I know someone who is obese and it's her own damn fault. Eating a family pack of potato chips by yourself in one sitting is not a "disease". She was losing weight, she was exercising and eating better (and I was as supportive as possible) but she gave up. That's not a disease, it's giving up and blaming something else doesn't change that. In fact it's counter-productive to call these things "diseases" because acceptance of the truth is the first stage in getting better.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I don't find it a disease myself.

I am overwheight myself due to being that in the past I had some financial problems and my parents sent me to college in another town and the prices were too big so I had to bail.

Since then(4 years now)I've been sitting on my ass playing games and nothing else not knowing what to df course my weight skyrocketed. I can't say that I eat junkfood since we those are more expensive that the normal meals my mom makes but barely moving does take it's toll. My metabolism is also very wacky at times since I've tried to burn calories and I put them back ten fold. I can still walk(have an toe problem with nail shoved into my flesh along with fungus which I can't fix right now because of the money issues)but not as much as I would want too.

Can't say I'm proud of my "obesity",but even if I wanted to lose it I can't really afford the gym trainers/workout diets that needs to be made and kept.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Being fat can be caused by genetics. Being obese cannot.

 

[bjj hero]

Being fat is a lifestyle choice, not a disease. No one has got fat from eatting salad and running every week. I eat well and exercise a lot, I'm off running later this evening while we're at it. I'm not fat and I don't think its a coincidence.

If lunch box had smaller meals, was eatting the right things and taking regular exercise then he/she would not be fat in the first place. It,s simple maths. Consume more energy than you use and you will put on weight, body builders use this all of the time, as do fat people.

 

[Yan007]

Well actually hero you are half right about the calories. The other half is that the type of calories matter. Proteins and natural fats are good for you to lose weight while grains, corn syrup and sugar (all carbs) are bad for you (relatively speaking).

 

[JochemHippie]

There's probably a small amount to blame on genetics, but the largest part is in being lazy.

So no, everyone can lose weight if he wants too.