When looking at obesity there are a few key things our society has gotten wrong. We live in an age of science and information and all to often we neglect these powerful resources and go with the flow. We all want to live longer, be happier and generally be health but as it stands society is looking in the wrong direction in trusting media rather than information. We need to look at the evidence and make real choices that can improve our lives.
Obesity is not an epidemic. Being a heavy set person is not the result of a virus, infection, or genetic anomaly. The gaining of fat is a normal process and necessary for the sustainability of our species and is in no way a disease in the same vain that aging and adolescent tooth loss is not a disease. You simply can’t have an epidemic without disease unless you use the broadest definition of epidemic which could be applied to being short sighted, or left handed and any other group anomalies that can hinder “normal” function.
Ok so now the biggest weight loss myth, obesity can lead to early death and chronic illness. I’m not a doctor so I did what we all should do, I ignored the weight loss infomercials and went to credible medical sources. Articles in the Harvard Health Policy Review, New England Journal of Medicine, the National Institution of Health, The British Medical Journal and Journal of Women’s Health” indicate two basic things which can best be summed up in the following quotes.
“The data linking overweight and death, as well as the data showing the beneficial effects of weight loss, are limited, fragmentary, and often ambiguous. Most of the evidence is either indirect or derived from observational epidemiologic studies, many of which have serious methodologic flaws — In this age of political correctness, it seems that obese people can be criticized with impunity, because the critics are merely trying to help them. Some doctors take part in this blurring of prejudice and altruism by overstating the dangers of obesity and the redemptive powers of weight loss.” -Editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine, 1998 “These studies suggest that health problems frequently blamed on excess body weight are more likely caused by an unhealthy lifestyle rather than obesity itself.” -Letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 1998
Obesity is not a disease and there is no epidemic. Billions of dollars of resources are wasted in not only diet schemes but legitimate attempts at preventative medicine reducing body fat. What we need to do as a society is prioritize. Instead of trying to look better we should focus on being healthier, not eating less but making healthier choices and adding a little exercise into our lives. Weightloss may or may not come from a healthier lifestyle but fat or skinny by simply eating healthier and having a walk everyday we’ll have more time on the Earth to research it.