Obesity is a medical condition

That's what I want some medical guru to come out and say. Say it loud and clear. Say it so that the ignorant, the uninformed and the misinformed can truly get it. Maybe then we can look for treatments that make sense without bias, discrimination or profit as the underlying themes.

An article in the Globe and Mail this morning about treating obesity at work caught my attention. Although I have some very serious questions about the suggested treadmill workstations, what annoyed me more were the comments. These comments are typical of many that you see in reaction to any article about obesity or obesity treatments such as weight loss surgery. The level of disdain for the plight of the obese is mind boggling. The level of loathing towards the "self inflicted" pain of the obese is so out there, no one even tries to hide it in the normal Canadian politically correct way. We are the land of the polite and tolerant until we talk about fat.

What is it about obesity that people find so repugnant? Sure we don't look sleek or streamlined but are we hideous? I think not. I've seen worse. Is obesity a transferable illness or state of being? No. Is it that people assume (as we all know the saying about assume and asses) that obesity is a character flaw and therefore not worthy of their time or attention. I think I'm getting closer. Is it that people are so afraid of it, because they "know" that they are only a few pizza's or buckets of KFC away from going down that slippery fat slope themselves?

Beliefs about obesity are so ingrained and usually based on incorrect information or assumptions. We really need the medical community to make the link... it is a disease not a lifestyle choice in many cases. Let's make it definitive. Let's move on from the judgments to the solutions. Solutions based in medical know-how not based in profit racketeering "innovative" solutions such as treadmill desks.