There's a lobbying effort underway to classify obesity as a disease. But to understand what's behind this effort, you have to examine the politics. As always, it's all about money: getting obesity classified as a disease opens up the doors to forcing insurance companies to pay for anti-obesity drugs, products and services.
The very fact that we even have an American Obesity Association (AOA) is rather frightening in the first place. The second fact that the AOA has Slim-Fast as one of its members is even more shocking (
Slim-Fast powder uses refined sugar as it's #1 ingredient and, in the opinion of many nutritionists, it promotes
obesity rather than reversing it).
So let's jump to the chase: is obesity really a
disease? Hardly. It's the result of overeating processed foods and avoiding
exercise. That's not a disease in the sense that, for example, Malaria is a disease.
The trend towards labeling every unwanted behavior a disease is actually a ploy to shift responsibility for obesity out of the hands of
patients and into the hands of
doctors. When you call something a disease, you imply that the patient has no control over it (which is blatantly false) and that only qualified doctors can treat it (which is also hogwash).
Let's get real, folks: finding a healthy
body weight is the
sole responsibility of each individual and has nothing to do with "disease" or invasion by microbes. Doctors can help, of course, by educating patients on making wise
food choices and engaging in daily exercise, but it is ultimately the patient who must decide what kind of
health outcome they wish to create. The
doctor cannot control a patient's
body fat.
All this doesn't mean that
losing weight is easy, or that nature hasn't programmed your
body to store a year's worth of caloric energy in the form of body
fat. Because, in reality, your body is programmed to work against you: it
wants you to overeat and doesn't want you to go on a diet and lose
weight.
But today, we have all sorts of workable solutions for losing weight. Hoodia gordonii turns off your appetite, allowing you to lose weight naturally, without all the jittery side effects of caffeine supplements.
Fitness programs, aerobics classes, and plain old walking paths give us easy access to forms of exercise that keep body weight under control. And now, thanks to good
information on the Internet about
nutrition and foods (along with the help of a long list of couragous authors, researchers and pioneering doctors), a person who wants to learn how to eat
healthy can rather easily do so.
Education is what will solve the obesity problem. The free flow information is the answer, not some profit-minded effort to classify obesity as a disease.
Make no mistake: calling obesity a disease will do nothing to reverse the problem at a national level, but it will certainly enrich a small group of
companies who strongly desire to profit from the suffering of overweight people.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams created NaturalNews.TV, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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