Obesity is not a choice

G-MAN2004

G-MAN2004

G-MAN2004

Caporegime
Joined
4 Jul 2004
Posts
30,759
In a time where obesity is now a leading cause of death in the UK, and treating obesity related illnesses is costing the NHS billions, the BBC decides to put out this article...

BBC said:
Obesity is not a choice and making people feel ashamed results only in them feeling worse about themselves, a report by top psychologists says.

It calls for changes in language to reduce stigma, such as saying "a person with obesity" rather than an "obese person".

And it says health professionals should be trained to talk about weight loss in a more supportive way.

A cancer charity's recent ad campaign was criticised for "fat shaming".

Obesity levels rose by 18% in England between 2005 and 2017 and by similar amounts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This means just over one in four UK adults is obese while nearly two-thirds are overweight or obese.

But these increases cannot be explained by a sudden loss of motivation across the UK - it is a lot more complicated than that, according to the British Psychological Society report, which concludes it "is not simply down to an individual's lack of willpower".
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https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49795808

Congrats. You've now given obese people another excuse to carry on as they are. It's not the junk food, sugary drinks and lack of exercise. It's got to be something more...

We risk turning the next generation of children into incredibly unhealthy people if things do not change, and articles like this certainly do not help. Get off your arse and stop eating crap, ffs. It's really not difficult.
 
It's just fundamentally rubbish too.

The country moves away from having a majority of 'manual workers', has technology and automation that means we physically have to do less, and has cheap readily available highly calorific food everywhere.

And you're telling me this has nothing to do with it, and instead it's just a psychological condition that just so happens to have come into existence as the aforementioned changes to society occurred? Poppycock.

It's really this simple: we move less because we don't need to, and we eat more because it's easy to do so. The result is obvious.

I don't doubt that telling a fat person in denial that they're fat makes them feel bad about themselves, and that eating something makes them feel better for a brief period of time. But honestly they should, it's not healthy. I'm overweight, I acknowledge it's no-ones fault but my own, I would rather play piano than go to the gym, a lasagne is nicer than a salad, I sat in a car for 3 hours a day and then a desk for another 8. I'm under no illusion that this is a mental condition or that it's not down to a lack of willpower. I'm doing something about it because I'm worried about my health. I go to the gym, I try to eat better, I'm losing weight. It's that simple.
 
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I love how the journalist has managed to change/misread what the report actually said: "is not simply down to an individual's lack of willpower"

Into a headline rather misrepresenting it: "Obesity not caused by a lack of willpower", as far as I can see the article they refer to has not made that claim.

Also that doesn't discount that some willpower with regards to sticking to a healthier diet and/or lifestyle can be a solution. Obviously there are other factors that influence obesity from genetic factors, lifestyle, poverty etc... but fixing it in a lot of cases likely does involve will power.
 
G-MAN2004 said:
We risk turning the next generation of children into incredibly unhealthy people if things do not change
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Made me think of

Wall-E-2-fat-humans.jpg
 
Mason- said:
It's just fundamentally rubbish too.

The country moves away from having a majority of 'manual workers', has technology and automation that means we physically have to do less, and has cheap readily available highly calorific food everywhere.

And you're telling me this has nothing to do with it, and instead it's just a psychological condition that just so happens to have come into existence as the aforementioned changes to society occurred? Poppycock.

It's really this simple: we move less because we don't need to, and we eat more because it's easy to do so. The result is obvious.

I don't doubt that telling a fat person in denial that they're fat makes them feel bad about themselves, and that eating something makes them feel better for a brief period of time. But honestly they should, it's not healthy. I'm overweight, I acknowledge it's no-ones fault but my own, I would rather play piano than go to the gym, a lasagne is nicer than a salad, I sat in a car for 3 hours a day and then a desk for another 8. I'm under no illusion that this is a mental condition or that it's not down to a lack of willpower. I'm doing something about it because I'm worried about my health. I go to the gym, I try to eat better, I'm losing weight. It's that simple.
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But all these factors mean that we have to eat fewer calories than our bodies are designed for, whilst having easy and tasty access to more calorific foods than nature should provide. We're fighting against our own programming. That's before getting on to the psychological challenges.

I'm not overweight, BMI approx 22.5, but I have a certain amount of sympathy to those who are. It's taken some time to get to that point, though, having grown up with an overweight mother and seeing the **** that she eats.

The addiction side is interesting. There's not many addictions where you have no choice but to carry on consuming your vice, but food does it.
 
G-MAN2004 said:
In a time where obesity is now a leading cause of death in the UK, and treating obesity related illnesses is costing the NHS billions, the BBC decides to put out this article...



https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49795808

Congrats. You've now given obese people another excuse to carry on as they are. It's not the junk food, sugary drinks and lack of exercise. It's got to be something more...

We risk turning the next generation of children into incredibly unhealthy people if things do not change, and articles like this certainly do not help. Get off your arse and stop eating crap, ffs. It's really not difficult.
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Now before you assume im defending obese people im not but i am interested as to what your view is on drug, alcohol and smoking related costs on the nhs
 
I think the article makes a few valid points:

1: You don't engender change in people with ridicule, to engender change you must empower people to believe they can change. Perhaps a change in language and outlook facilitates that.

2: People who know no other way of living will live the only way they know. It's not really their fault, if you don't have the skills and knowledge to change, and positive role models to emilate then change isn't possible. While I accept that this probably the responsibility of parents, if its not being done at home then perhaps it should be done by society at large.

I'm not suggesting that obese people should be absolved of all responsibility for their situation, however I agree that they are perhaps not entirely to blame.

For example I work with a guy who is obese. He regularly starts fad diets which are completely unsustainable. He loses a small amount of weight but finds the diet too hard to maintain and soon strays from the diet, gaining weight. Upon gaining weight he loses what little motivation he has left for the diet and returns to his embedded eating patterns. He's tried the likes of Weight Watchers with some success however he doesn't see results quickly enough with them to keep going. He can't understand that proper, sustainable weight loss is a lengthy business. He was brought up in a household with violent alcoholic parents; as a child he learnt that food was frozen stuff heated in an oven, microwaved stuff and takeaways. His parents did not encourage or support him in sporting activities as a youngster and as a result he has no interest in being active.

His unhealthy habits are deeply ingrained and very difficult to turn around, how much of his obesity is his fault? He didn't choose to learn the habits outlined above and he lacks the skills and knowledge to overturn them. Yes he knows, in theory, what he needs to do but he is unable to do it himself. I know the only way to help him to lose the weight he needs to is to empower him to make better choices, and this probably involves a change in the way he's viewed.
 
I'm a Nurse for NHS and I can see back problems in my future rolling these obese patients, only 35 and already damaged my wrists and lower back turning these whales in beds.
 
cheesyboy said:
Common sense isn't a great argument when discussing addictions, tbh.
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Indeed.
phonemonkey said:
His unhealthy habits are deeply ingrained and very difficult to turn around, how much of his obesity is his fault?
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Ah jeez that discussion could get deep very quickly. I don't belive in trying to find excuses for such things. He just... Is.. That way. Some of it will be conditioning, some of it genetic, the rest of it down to him. And it's up to him to do the best he can and if he isn't, well... That IS his fault.

I don't look down on the obese by the way - I am myself and it's very much my fault.
 
I agree with the article to a degree but what do the studies show. For example I can eat many calories sometimes up to 4000 a day and I hardly put on weight, I think there's both a genetic and psychological aspect.
 
cheesyboy said:
The addiction side is interesting. There's not many addictions where you have no choice but to carry on consuming your vice, but food does it.
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The vice in this scenario would (generally) be bad, unhealthy food, no? So nobody *has* to keep consuming it.

As with many things, there needs to be better education around nutrition and, perhaps, the government needs to go further with things like the sugar tax etc.
 
I'm overweight. Am I bothered? No.

Is my life more enjoyable eating things I like to eat, yes.

Do I care what people think? No

Judge all you want. Watch what you eat. Stop worrying about things that don't concern you.

Not been to the docs in over a decade, costing the country nothing.
 
cheesyboy said:
Common sense isn't a great argument when discussing addictions, tbh.
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I was going to write a longer response, but I guess it really boils down to whether you hold people responsible for looking after themselves or not. I get it, breaking an addiction is tough, but it's entirely possible. There's a choice not to fill your face with rubbish food in the same way there's a choice for an alcoholic to stop drinking.
 
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