Obesity is preventable disease

Anna Wells

Anna Wells

Anna Wells

This week, the American Medical Association made the decision that obesity can now be classified as a disease.  On some levels this could be considered a great thing for people who suffer from obesity, but on the other hand calling obesity a disease is also slightly horrifying.

On a positive note, treating obesity like a disease will help change the way that doctors treat obese patients. Obesity expert Lou Arrone explained to CBS news that clinically obese patients cannot be simply expected to eat healthy and exercise in order to lose weight because their physical mechanisms have completely changed, and after a certain point the brain can no longer tell how much fat is stored in the body and how much fat is coming into the body.  This is a scary thought, and hopefully by considering obesity a disease, doctors will be able to fight the disease through various medical therapies and surgeries. By calling obesity a disease, insurance will also be changed to include various treatments and surgeries that could help alleviate obesity.

The fact that obesity will now be able to be treated as a medical disorder is great for those people who have obesity and are trying to change their lifestyle.  However, it is appalling that the epidemic of obesity has become so widespread that it needed to come to this. Calling it a disease is worrisome because people could not be as worried about obesity.  A person might get the idea that obesity is an issue that can just be written off on the insurance and solved medically, without doing anything themselves to solve the problem. Americans need to remember that obesity is a disease that can be fought and beaten at an early age.

It is hard to pinpoint the exact cause of obesity in the United States, but there are several factors that could have caused Americans to slide into one of the most obese countries in the world. Obesity starts young, so it is very important to monitor and watch what children eat at a young age.  The good health habits that you learn as a child can carry over into adulthood, and this includes eating habits and lifestyle habits. It is important to have an active lifestyle, because part of the problem with obesity is the sedentary lifestyle that we now live.  It is easy to play on the computer, but if you put forth a little more effort to go outside, whether to run, walk, jog or play a sport, not only are you fighting your chances against obesity but you are also giving yourself a healthier lifestyle.  Obesity might now be considered a disease, but is a disease that we can fight ourselves and nip in the bud before it spreads.