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Is Obesity a disability?

Is Obesity a Disability

  • Yes, it is a disability.

    Votes: 14 19.7%

  • No, it isn't a disability.

    Votes: 42 59.2%

  • Maybe? Too much going on to say definitively.

    Votes: 15 21.1%
  • Total voters
    71
I most definitely don't consider obesity a disability. It is something which can be fixed with exertion of self control.
 
No, its but a means for people to avoid personal responsibility and get money from the g
 
herenow1 said:
True, because people tend to return to old habits. I also know many of them don't implement exercise and they look "saggy".
They just see it as a quick fix without having to do anything. I probably know at least 12-14 people who've had it done and none of them implemented exercise. They still eat crap just smaller portions.
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well smaller portions is at least an improvement...it takes a lot of effort to overcome that type of surgery because at first the amount one can eat is almost miniscule...and vomiting is common...pretty much you have to stretch your stomach right back out and that happens with many.

I think this indicates other issues not dealt with for which food is being used as a coping mechanism.

But this is not uncommon. Even after a life threatening event in which diet would make a huge difference to quality and quantity of life there is less than 10% compliance after about four months.

That is an amazing stat to me...you know if you continue to eat like that you will die early and not have much standard of life yet food is chosen.
 
lizzie said:
I most definitely don't consider obesity a disability. It is something which can be fixed with exertion of self control.
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I am uncertain of whether it can be fixed with exertion of self control. When I want a Klondike bar from my freezer it keeps calling my name until I go get it.

For alcoholics they still struggle and they give up alcohol or drugs entirely...one can not give up food. The temptation is great to keep eating.

Not to mention how our society encourages it unlike when I was young everything now has apparently doubled in size. Sometimes when we eat out we will split an entree and an appetizer, it's a lot of food. That is not the norm. Most would have an appetizer and the entree and dessert. The likelihood of downing more calories than one needs in the whole day in one meal is probable. Do that twice a day and morbid obesity is almost a given.
 
~SAL said:
I am uncertain of whether it can be fixed with exertion of self control. When I want a Klondike bar from my freezer it keeps calling my name until I go get it.

For alcoholics they still struggle and they give up alcohol or drugs entirely...one can not give up food. The temptation is great to keep eating.

.
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Food isn't a psychotropic substance. It may be comforting, but it does not alter consciousness in the same way that drugs and alcohol do. It is VERY rare for a metabolic disorder to exist which keeps one from losing weight, if they cut their calories to under their basal metabolic rate.
 
lizzie said:
Food isn't a psychotropic substance. It may be comforting, but it does not alter consciousness in the same way that drugs and alcohol do. It is VERY rare for a metabolic disorder to exist which keeps one from losing weight, if they cut their calories to under their basal metabolic rate.
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but it does stimulate endorphins...and that can be addictive

plus big friends have told me they never feel full after eating...it's as if they have no stop mechanism, although there may be no gene involved like there is in alcoholism there could be some chemical component that is still misunderstood

plus I do believe there is some type of psychological aspect not yet understood

and only recently all those studies they used which forced changes in how our food is constructed such as low sugar, low fat, low carb etc seemed to have been based on false conclusions and may in fact have helped in the march to a morbidly obese society

plus they do not know long term the effects of the genetically altered food they are shoving down us

there are many questions around the health benefits of our diets, now more than ever
 
~SAL said:
but it does stimulate endorphins...and that can be addictive

plus big friends have told me they never feel full after eating...it's as if they have no stop mechanism, although there may be no gene involved like there is in alcoholism there could be some chemical component that is still misunderstood

plus I do believe there is some type of psychological aspect not yet understood

and only recently all those studies they used which forced changes in how our food is constructed such as low sugar, low fat, low carb etc seemed to have been based on false conclusions and may in fact have helped in the march to a morbidly obese society

plus they do not know long term the effects of the genetically altered food they are shoving down us

there are many questions around the health benefits of our diets, now more than ever
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Endorphins don't mean that you have no self-control. Runners release endorphins too. Virtually anyone who will exert the self-control to limit their caloric intake on a regular basis, will lose weight.
 
lizzie said:
Endorphins don't mean that you have no self-control. Runners release endorphins too. Virtually anyone who will exert the self-control to limit their caloric intake on a regular basis, will lose weight.
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yes, lol, running releasing endorphins big time...my guy is addicted to it (in a manner of speaking) :)...hope those old knees of his hold out

so is your conclusion then that obese people do not have the same amount of self control as healthy weight people?
 
All I know is that when I'm at the grocery store or Walmart and see people who are morbidly obese riding those shopping carts, it's obvious that their mobility is restricted. Sometimes they're so large that their flesh spills over the riding cart. Their feet and ankles are huge, and I imagine that just walking to the bathroom is a real effort because I can often hear them gasping for breath.

Doubtless, beyond the observable edema, there are other health problems, but my point is that if your mobility is severely restricted, for whatever reason, this is a disability.
 
lizzie said:
I most definitely don't consider obesity a disability. It is something which can be fixed with exertion of self control.
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Sometimes it's not just about pushing away from the table; it's about not being able to be active because of other physical problems. You're not burning calories if you aren't moving. And sometimes it's because of medications.
 
It is certainly a disability. In most, but not all, cases it is both self-inflicted and treatable... but once obesity has onset, it presents a significant physical impairment in the kind of work a human being can perform. If it is determined that an individual's obesity is not practically treatable, it should be treated as a permanent disability. Same as if you acquire permanent brain damage by huffing glue.
 
Korimyr the Rat said:
It is certainly a disability. In most, but not all, cases it is both self-inflicted and treatable... but once obesity has onset, it presents a significant physical impairment in the kind of work a human being can perform. If it is determined that an individual's obesity is not practically treatable, it should be treated as a permanent disability. Same as if you acquire permanent brain damage by huffing glue.
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When would obesity become 'untreatable'?

Paul
 
nota bene said:
All I know is that when I'm at the grocery store or Walmart and see people who are morbidly obese riding those shopping carts, it's obvious that their mobility is restricted. Sometimes they're so large that their flesh spills over the riding cart. Their feet and ankles are huge, and I imagine that just walking to the bathroom is a real effort because I can often hear them gasping for breath.

Doubtless, beyond the observable edema, there are other health problems, but my point is that if your mobility is severely restricted, for whatever reason, this is a disability.
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Maybe if they parked the furtherest away and had to walk the isles, they would be more mobile. Their mobility is not restricted, it died from atrophy.
 
~SAL said:
so is your conclusion then that obese people do not have the same amount of self control as healthy weight people?
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For the most part, yeah. Or at least they lack self-control in that one aspect of life. Others may eat a good diet and be a healthy weight, but they smoke or drink. Pick your poison. I used to smoke. It was hell giving it up, and I'm like a crackhead when it comes to nicotine. I have to purposely avoid picking up a cigarette, or I know I will start smoking again. It's the same with food. If you have the choice between that chicken friend steak with gravy and fries, or that chef salad with low calorie dressing, it is within your power to make the choice for what is better for you. If you don't, you only have yourself to blame for it.
 
nota bene said:
Sometimes it's not just about pushing away from the table; it's about not being able to be active because of other physical problems. You're not burning calories if you aren't moving. And sometimes it's because of medications.
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Yes, you are burning calories- just not as many. The basal metabolic rate is the rate at which we burn calories just by passive means.
 
gunner said:
When would obesity become 'untreatable'?
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When it is comorbid with other conditions that prevent the necessary lifestyle changes to correct it. If a person's fat enough and they can't exercise much, you can't-- responsibly and ethically-- make them lose weight by just outright starving them.
 
Obesity for a large percentage is mostly choice or lack of attention. Several times in my life I've put on some extra weight and taken it off. But for others it's situational and genetic. Ive seen young people who ate half of what I did and gain weight. Growing up around a family that provides poor nutrition and habits is a factor. Lack of activity due to age and physical disabilities (arthritis, back pain, etc) are contributing causes. Compulsive eating is a disease possibly metabolic and psychological in origin.

It's not a simple "one answer" fits all circumstances question.
 
Once aspect of morbid obesity that has always puzzled me is when someone is bed ridden, needs constant care for person hygiene and eating.

WTF is the person who is cooking and delivering the food to the bed thinking?

To me, that is more puzzling than the bedridden morbidly obese person.
 
lizzie said:
For the most part, yeah. Or at least they lack self-control in that one aspect of life. Others may eat a good diet and be a healthy weight, but they smoke or drink. Pick your poison. I used to smoke. It was hell giving it up, and I'm like a crackhead when it comes to nicotine. I have to purposely avoid picking up a cigarette, or I know I will start smoking again. It's the same with food. If you have the choice between that chicken friend steak with gravy and fries, or that chef salad with low calorie dressing, it is within your power to make the choice for what is better for you. If you don't, you only have yourself to blame for it.
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yeah I was a smoker so thus was rail thin for most of my life...with that said, I started smoking when they really didn't understand just how deadly it was. BUT I kept smoking long after it was more than apparent.

I was a heavy smoker with a bad attitude. No way I was EVER going to quit. The worst part was, when I did quit I was one of those teeny tiny percentages that was not actually physically addicted. Until one goes to quit that is an unknown.
 
Obesity is a cultural thing just as smoking is and just as people shooting each other in Chicago is. It's lack of education at its inner most core. Talk to an obese person sometime. 50% of the time they don't even believe they're obese or they believe the norm is something radically different from what it actually is.
 
Surtr said:
It's not as impossible a feat to eat right as you're making it. It's actually less expensive to get enough rice, pasta, fresh meats, and vegetables to last a week than it is to get buckets of slop that will only last a day or two. The problem is laziness, and the fact that everyone in this country wants everything served to them immediately on a silver platter.
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Seriously? Ramen noodles is 25-30 cents a package for brand name, Kraft Dinner is $1 (cheaper for generic)....what healthy meals can you make that cheap?
 
nota bene said:
Sometimes it's not just about pushing away from the table; it's about not being able to be active because of other physical problems. You're not burning calories if you aren't moving. And sometimes it's because of medications.
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Bull****. I have quite a few physical problems and have had them for a decade or more. I'm only a little overweight and even that is because I'm lazy and don't eat right (cooking for one is a major pain in the ass unless you just like trowing food away). I also have several medications that say I might gain weight. Guess what, if the body doesn't have the sugars, calories or carbohydrates to build the fat, it can't.
 
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