Is obesity a choice or a disease?

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Here's an editorial by an individual who used to weigh 410 pounds. He's now under 300, and he's angered by the new designation by Medicare that obesity should be considered an illness. In his own words, If someone eats a bunch of Big Macs and fries and gorges himself on every food known to man, why should a skinny person who eats fine and is in good health have to bear the burden of paying for obese people's medical bills? It's not right!

There are a lot of people who agree with this assessment about obesity. There's no question that obesity is a result of a person's daily lifestyle choices. However, one problem with outright blaming obese people for being so obese is that educational information on nutrition, foods, grocery store products, soft drinks, fast foods and other dietary sources simply aren't readily available. There's no easy way for most people to actually get the information they need to make healthier choices. As a result, they may have no idea that what they're eating will cause obesity and chronic disease.

The federal government isn't helping, either. With virtually no money spent on disease prevention, the government is practically guaranteeing that an entire generation will end up hooked on a lifetime of prescription drugs thanks to the fact that they're all diseased from making poor nutritional choices. This policy to avoid prevention, by the way, helps ensure the profits of pharmaceutical companies (darlings of the Bush Administration). See, your good health isn't profitable to anyone, but your chronic disease helps generate billions of dollars in pharmaceutical profits.

On the other hand, even when most people are made aware of the health dangers of foods, they keep on eating the garbage foods anyway! People must certainly know that ice cream and soft drinks promote obesity, and yet you see it time and time again at the supermarket: loads of ice cream tubs and 12-packs of soft drinks in the shopping carts of 300-pound people who can barely squeeze into the checkout lanes. Clearly, this is a personal responsibility problem: these people need to stop making excuses and start making better choices about foods and groceries.

So, as always, it's a complex issue, and there's a little bit of blame for everyone. But there's no doubt that a properly informed individual can take control over their health outcome and utterly avoid obesity and chronic disease, especially if they engage in optimum nutrition, take various nutritional supplements and add superfoods to their diets.
About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored more than 1,500 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, 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 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a manufacturer of mercury-free, energy-efficient LED lighting products that save electricity and help prevent global warming. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, Pilates and organic gardening. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org

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