"Should obesity be a 'disease"

My windshield's just as fogged-up as anyone's.

 

Listen up, oh obtuse one ... When you say that some such observed difference isn't that big -- and you preface that observation with a "fun with numbers" intro -- you should expect to have it pointed out to you that projecting that observed difference over a larger/longer scale might actually lead to real, substantive consequences. The degree to which that projection is valid is entirely another matter.

 

We also should note that the 7 percent is an average. That means that there are probably plenty of people who don't choose more calories. But that there is likely also a significant number who choose 15, 20, even 30 percent more calories if they are fatalistic about their weight.

It reminds me of my dad with cigarettes. At some point, he convinced himself that, "It doesn't matter what you do," and he would cite every anecdote he had collected through the years of a non-smoker dying young. (Which he did, as well.)

 

Yeah, I always love that one.

Now they're "chasing" normal.

What the hell was wrong with the "normal" they had before they ever tried the stuff?

 

"Normal" meaning that the withdrawal symptoms are unbearable. Not "normal" meaning "high."

 

I think most people have something they struggle with.

For some it's food/weight.
For some it's alcohol.
For some it's drugs.
For some it's sex/fidelity.

Calling any or all of them "diseases" just seems to justify the behavior and gives people an excuse to continue it.

 

Agreed. Maybe somewhere the study actually reports the choices of each participant and we see if it was skewed by a handful of participants.

 

Are we talking obesity in folks who eat too much and don't exercise or obesity in folks who have a medical condition that causes them to gain too much weight?

 

It's got genetic reasons.

 

There are people who can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound. There are people who work at it all the time and it will always be a struggle.

You see it a lot with siblings. Two kids from the same parents and one will never have issues and one will...

That's life... Calling it a disease would make me pretty uncomfortable though...

 

Will definitely help with more people getting on disability.

 

Yeah, I'd compare that more to someone who struggles in school. With rare exceptions, I'd hesitate to call it a "disease." You may not ever be Albert Einstein, but if you work at it, you don't have to be a Sweathog, either. You may not be Brad Pitt, but if you work at it, you don't have to be Rerun, either.