Is obesity a disease like a cold or a flu?

Question

I believe that disease is somthing that you will get from outside enviroment, like it rains and you get a cold, or somebody sneezes and you catch the flu or other infections. But Obesity is something you do to yourself, unless you have a disease that causes obesity (you know what I mean (like diabetics, ...). So is Obesity really a disease, or is it just a result of what you eat?

Thanks guys I am glad you took an interest in my question, I am still to convince my friend that believes it is definately a disease, so thanks and keep the answers coming

Answer 1

Some become overweight simply because they've been fed the wrong diet while growing up & it then follows them into adulthood. The un-healthy eating habits have stuck with them & so it goes on......
*
I've yet to meet a person that's way out of control with their weight & put it down to disease or hunger.....the sad fact is that many overweight people normally have other issues going on, I'm not suggesting that these issues are what causes someone to become overweight but they certainly contribute to it.......some illnesses can also contribute & make losing the weight a little harder, but by no means do these conditions stop a person getting healthy if they're determined enough. The plus side of course is that mostly all ill-health conditions improve 100 fold by losing some weight & improving fitness.
You are right to inform your friend that obesity doesn't occur from disease but be kind & patient as coming to terms with this fact may be hard for them & they'll need a lot of support.......The more you hound them, the more they may turn to food as a comfort....

Answer 2

Bottom line is that obesity comes from putting more calories into you body than you are using. In some, extremely rare cases this may be a result of a medical condition which causes slow metabolism. In some instances it's because the sufferer can't keep their eating under control, this could be either a physical condition or a psychological one. It's not like a cold or flu which you get and your body fights automatically, in all but the tiniest minority of cases the condition is managable provide the sufferer is prepared and able to manage it. Often they aren't which is a shame.

Answer 3

I would say obesity can be caused by numerous things. Comfort eating, if someones unhappy they can start out as comfort eating but then it can get out of hand. Eating more food in a relationship, alot of people eat more when they settle down. Also pregnancy, not everyone can bounce back to being skinny after having kids. Once you start going down the route of eating more food its very hard to stop yourself. I wouldnt call it a disease and i definitely wouldnt say people that are obese are lazy because they are not, they merely have an eating problem.

Answer 4

Obesity has to be dealt with as a disease and despite the other answers The World Health Organisation defines it as ' A diet related chronic disease '. It is if you like a social disease.

Answer 5

Diabetes doesn't cause obesity. Obesity causes diabetes. Most people that stick to a diabetic diet tend to lose weight. Some people have a genetic predisposition to obesity so if that's a disease, I don't know. People also have a genetic predisposition to cancer and other diseases, so yours is a loaded question!

Answer 6

obesity isnt a disease because obesity is being over-weight, but binge eating is another situation. Binge eating is more like a disease because its an eating disorder. This is also similar to the underweight and anorexic controversy.

Answer 7

Unfortunately I do not think obesity is a disease. The same goes for alcoholism and/or drug addiction. All of the aforementioned are endogenous in nature, controlled soley by us. It is irrational to categorize any of these as diseases. They cannot be compared against a virus or bacterial infection.

But you know how it is in life. Money talks, and if you categorize them as diseases then big pharma can make drugs for these so-called "indications", thus rendering what I term the "pussifcation of society" characterized by a population of individuals who do not take control of their lives and make responsible decisions.

Answer 8

Obesity is not a disease! a disease is when some poor person gets cancer, they dont have a choice, your weight is something you control 100%... im sick of hearing it being called a disease, it's 100% your own fault if you are overweight...

Answer 9

Unfortunatly I am obese and have been my whole life. I have a medical condition that contributes to it but doesnt cause it. What causes it is all the ice cream, cookies, mashed potatoes, Mcdonalds, etc that my family used to feed me. Now being 23 and a mother myself I know the pain that I went through and refuse to allow my son to experiance it. He doesnt get sweet treats except on very limited occasions (his birthday) and most of the time it is sugar free.

He inspires me to eat better and get healthier. Just by watching what I eat alone I've dropped 31 lbs since December. And thats because I choose not to eat Mcdonalds, I choose not to eat pizza, I choose not to eat brownies, cake, ice cream ect.

we Obese people have no one and nothing to blame but ourselves.

Answer 10

obesity is the disease you get when you are obssesed with food, lazy to do any exercise, couch potato, eating junk food all the time will cause obesity