Missing The Point
When I click on this article, I get a diet ad in the sidebar with a before and after shot of a girl in a bikini. To avoid the cognitive dissonance, click here instead. Here's an interesting quote:
"Obesity is not a disease," insisted Allen Steadham, director of the Austin, Texas-based International Size Acceptance Association. "All this does is open the door for the diet and bariatric surgery industries to make a potentially tremendous profit."
So what do you think. Is obesity a disease? I thought it was a good thing when it was classified as such, because medical treatment of obesity (if people want to go that route) can help prevent weight-related medical problems down the road. Sure, fat is not the only risk factor, but it is a medical problem, isn't it?
I thought it was a good thing when it was classified as such, because medical treatment of obesity (if people want to go that route) can help prevent other weight-related medical problems down the road. Sure, fat is not the only risk factor, but it is a medical problem. Isn't it?
The other question is, is it a medical problem that people should be treated for, or should they be expected to solve the problem on their own? It seems like both fat-activists and fat-bashers think that people should either do it themselves or not do it at all. It's interesting that they're both on the same side of the medical obesity debate in that way.
The other quote I thought was interesting, from the CNN article, was:
"The [fat acceptance] movement has found itself marginalized by drawing its membership and leadership from the far extreme of obesity," he said. "It will be more successful if it can attract the two-thirds of Americans who are being told by the government that they weigh too much."
"Obesity is not a disease," insisted Allen Steadham, director of the Austin, Texas-based International Size Acceptance Association. "All this does is open the door for the diet and bariatric surgery industries to make a potentially tremendous profit."
So what do you think. Is obesity a disease? I thought it was a good thing when it was classified as such, because medical treatment of obesity (if people want to go that route) can help prevent weight-related medical problems down the road. Sure, fat is not the only risk factor, but it is a medical problem, isn't it?
I thought it was a good thing when it was classified as such, because medical treatment of obesity (if people want to go that route) can help prevent other weight-related medical problems down the road. Sure, fat is not the only risk factor, but it is a medical problem. Isn't it?
The other question is, is it a medical problem that people should be treated for, or should they be expected to solve the problem on their own? It seems like both fat-activists and fat-bashers think that people should either do it themselves or not do it at all. It's interesting that they're both on the same side of the medical obesity debate in that way.
The other quote I thought was interesting, from the CNN article, was:
"The [fat acceptance] movement has found itself marginalized by drawing its membership and leadership from the far extreme of obesity," he said. "It will be more successful if it can attract the two-thirds of Americans who are being told by the government that they weigh too much."
posted by mo pie at 4:15 PM
3 Comments:
In my opinion you could categorize obesity as a disease, but only if you put it in with psychological problems: it's a mental illness, not a physical illness. Certainly many obese people suffer from thyroid problems, or have other legitimate medical reasons for their weight gain, however most people become obese because of psychological issues such as depression, rather than any physiological problem. You can take a pill or have surgery and lose weight, sure, but the underlying problem that caused you to get fat in the first place will still be there; if you don't deal with that, the weight will come back. I speak from experience on this one: I took phen-fen and lost a lot of weight; I went off the meds (or rather, had the meds yanked away from me by the stupid FDA), and gained all the weight back and then some. The reason? I've been depressed for several years, and rather than actually go in and deal with why I'm depressed and resolve those issues and make peace with my past, I eat (and drink, sometimes too much) instead. I know this, and yet I do nothing about it. Therefore my obesity is my own damn fault, and I have to take responsibility for it and do what's right to fix it. I'm not saying every other obese person is like I am, but I think there are a lot more out there than are willing to admit it.
Obesity is no more a disease than is micromastia.
Never heard of micromastia? It's the "deformity" of small breasts. Oh, wait, what if you don't think small breasts are a deformity? What if you're like me, barely an A-cup, and you like your body the way it is, thank you, and the idea of your body being classified as "deformed" just sounds silly?
I dunno.
Don't know where I'm going with this, except to say that women of all sizes and shapes get crap handed to us.
I don't think the real issue is whether obesity is a disease or not. I think labelling it as such is an attempt not to make overweight people feel bad about themselves, but to try to reduce the economic burden of chronic obesity-related illness. I think the real issue is the American healthcare system, which focuses almost exclusively on curing what goes wrong, not preventing it (probably because cure is where the big bucks are, and with skyrocketing malpractice insurance costs, the big bucks are the way to go). Our healthcare costs would be so much lower as a whole (and worker productivity would probably be higher) if we focused more on prevention.
As an example, in my last job, I travelled to developing countries where diseases such as yellow fever and typhoid are endemic. When I called my HMO about coverage for vaccines and anti-malarial drugs, they told me they wouldn't cover it because they didn't consider it "medically necessary." Now, a typhoid vaccine costs less than $50 (I don't remember exactly what the bill came to), but if I go to Haiti and get typhoid fever, it could kill me, and at the very least, there will be a hospital bill of much more than $50 involved (in the end, my insurer ended up paying for the vaccinations).
Same thing with obesity-related illness. It costs less to give people the resources they need to stay healthy than it does to treat the high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc. It ends up falling to Public Health to try to get people to exercise, eat right, stop smoking, get checkups, but in general, Public Health ends up being a handy place for legislators to make budget cuts. So those of us who work in public health end up with unfunded mandates and a overwhelming need staring us in the face.
The only real answer is an overhaul of the healthcare system so that the real emphasis is on what improves health. There was a really interesting report on NPR recently about a competition to design a new healthcare system for the US, but I can't find a link to it.
More info on the economic impact of obesity here:
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/economic_consequences.htm
-Elizabeth F.
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