Obesity as a Disease



I read an article posted by a PT colleague of mine the other day about the call to class obesity as a disease.

Well, as stated by the PT colleague, the article does raise some very interesting points. But it also removes individual responsibility.

I totally agree with individuals having more appropriate access to the underlying psychological problems, and also the best medical treatment available to help. I also sympathise with evidence that suggests people from a poor background and deprived areas are more likely to be obese due to the ease and cheap cost of high calorie, low nutrient foods items, as well as other social factors, like access to exercise, sedate jobs and safe living conditions. Although having historically been in a place where the purse strings are so tight it’s throttling, disagree that eating a healthy diet is too expensive. And if classifying obesity as a disease helps more people get the help they need, so be it.

Doesn’t mean it is though!

You cannot take away the fact you have to over-eat to gain weight, you have to put the food in your mouth and swallow, assuming you don’t have a rare genetic disorder!

Commentators on this topic like to mention the link between smoking and lung cancer and how, as a society we wouldn’t make it hard for individuals with smoking related disease to receive treatment.

Agreed, we wouldn’t. Just as I wouldn’t for the treatment of obesity.

But… and here comes the but…

As a fit (understatement… Super-Rhino-lion-man-shark fit), non-smoker, under 40, with all my own teeth, the likelihood of me contracting lung cancer is very low, but not impossible.

However, if I do not over eat, I will not become obese, it will not happen. There has to be an element of personal responsibility. Obesity is preventable, it does not need to be an issue.

Now we can argue over the choices people make, the reasons they make them, the benefit to seeking the right help in the right area etc. But it doesn’t change the fact that you have to stop eating more food than you need.

It is not a bad thing to say:

‘I am over fat because I eat too much, move too little and need help with portion control. My understanding about food and calories and how my body works is limited, and I like to snack on junk in the evening before I go to bed.’

What is wrong with encouraging the individual to take ownership of their situation, face the fact they ate too much, and their body did what it is supposed to do. Store it!

By classifying obesity as a disease, are we allowing another label to be added to a snowflake generation looking for a way to dissolve their own responsibility for their actions and play the victim?

Now this may give me some grief, but it is not society’s responsibility to keep you healthy, over and above the norms expected in terms of Health and Safety. It is your responsibility to stay healthy for society. It is your responsibility to identify your own failings in fitness and health, seek out the best help if you need it, invest in that if required and then have tenacity to follow through with consistency, hard work and learning.

The right help for the individual is very important and if labelling obesity a disease does that in a better way, fine, but we have to accept personal responsibility for our actions.

No-one forced you to eat 150g grab bag at 21:30 while Luther is on, or make you drive into Mc D’s for a burger and a shake, on your way home to make dinner. No-one is stopping you walking 3-5 miles a day when you can use a treadmill for a fiver, in the winter, or go for a swim in the morning before work.

You have the power to make your own choice about whether you step on the road to better health or not. If you decide to stray off it, you can get back on at any time, but let’s not kid ourselves about your own role in how healthy you are.

Telling someone they no responsibility for becoming obese, is like telling a fit person they are lucky to have the figure the do.

It just isn’t true!