Do these idiots genuinely believe fat people don’t know they’re fat?
Last night I heard a radio commercial proclaiming "Obesity is a disease." No, it’s not. It’s a condition, usually brought on by voluntary behavior: eating too much and/or exercising too little. That’s like saying a broken leg is a disease. Get a tramatic blow to the leg and you’re likely to end up with a fracture. Put more calories in your body than you’re using and you’re likely to end up fat.
Think I’m one of those congenitally skinny people who has no understanding or sympathy for the overweight? Think again. I’ve been fighting the battle of the bulge all my life. I was one of those fat kids nobody picks to be on the team. Through torturous caloric restrictions (less than 1000 calories per day) and hard daily workouts, I managed to reach and maintain an average or below average weight for decades, but anytime I’ve deviated from that — during pregnancies, during the stressful time of caretaking for a mother dying of cancer, during any time when I let myself eat like those around me or didn’t have the time or self discipline to keep up the exercise, I’ve gained weight.
But I refuse to hide behind the excuse of a disease. I know from long experience that if I control what I eat, my "disease" goes away. That’s what makes it a condition rather than a disease. Real diseases don’t come and go. Their symptoms may be controllable by behavior, but that’s a different matter.
Sure, there are underlying diseases that can cause or contribute to obesity, but obesity is the symptom, not the disease. I’m tired of the "every bad behavior is a disease" mentality. And equally tired of of the Nanny State mode of governance that pours huge amounts of money into useless "cures" like laws requiring labels that tell people what they already know.
DEBRA LITTLEJOHN SHINDER, MCSE, MVP
deb@shinder.net www.debshinder.com
