Obesity is a Disease
Trying to lose weight and keeping it off are harder to do than most people think, and it can be overwhelming.
Like, do you need to adjust your diet…or do you need to increase your physical activity…or is using medicine or having bariatric surgery “cheating?” (It’s not, by the way.)
Focusing only on one thing or area won’t likely fix the problem because obesity is more than just one thing being “wrong” or “off.”
In the 1990s, researchers discovered that fat cells (called adipocytes) were not only storing excess energy for us to use later, but they were also secreting hormones and other signaling chemicals that affect our health…just like every other endocrine organ in our body.
Through this discovery, more hormones and chemical signals were discovered…helping the medical and scientific community realize what people with obesity already knew — that obesity isn’t a choice or lack of willpower but a disease just like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol that’s driven by our hormones and affected by our genetics.
To better understand why obesity is a disease, let’s take a look at the definition of a disease and see how it applies to obesity.
By definition, something is a disease when it’s:
Chronic in nature
Affected by many different factors
Affects many aspects of our health
Doesn’t that sound like obesity?
I mean, there’s not just one factor that affects it…it’s a chronic, recurrent issue, AND it affects many aspects of our health, right?
Knowing that obesity is a disease not only empowers people affected with obesity, but it improves how we healthcare providers treat and manage it AND should remove the stigma of obesity being caused by laziness, gluttony, and choice as well.
Ok! I think looking at how we treat another chronic disease – like diabetes for example – will help make my point a bit better.
In a person with diabetes, a good treatment plan will include adjusting diet and nutrition to limit the influx of glucose and decrease the spikes in blood sugar, increasing physical activity to use up extra blood sugar, and possibly even using medicines and/or surgery to keep the disease under control depending on how severe a person’s case is.
We doctors don’t just recommend using one of these methods, though we could, but making adjustments in diet, physical activity, behaviors, and using medications is a much better management plan.
Similarly, this is how we should treat the disease of obesity. Not just adjusting one of these variables but creating a comprehensive approach that addresses all of these areas!
So, as you make a plan to treat your obesity or overweight, make sure it’s a comprehensive one that’s backed by evidence-based research AND honors your values and lifestyle because it’s not just a “one and done” thing...it’s a lifelong endeavor!