Argumentative Essay: Is Obesity A Disease?

Is Obesity a Disease?

Obesity never really had a specific date as to when it exactly started. However, there are definitely many factors as to why obesity is becoming a problem. The main reasons being gadgets like game consoles and phones, and the increase of fast food restaurants etc... These reasons make people gain weight. Rather than going outside and moving their body, some people choose to stay on their phone, or play video games for the whole day. Doing that, you cannot ignore your human needs, but in this case, hunger. You cannot ignore your hunger, and end up eating and playing at the same time, all the while staying put in one place. Do this everyday, every second, every minute, and every hour, you are slowly gaining weight.

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“Others argue obesity is a risk factor for health problems, but not a disease itself” (Rettner). You cannot ‘catch’ obesity from a person who is overweight. Imagine this, you sit beside a person who has obesity and suddenly the next day, you raid your fridge for food and suddenly, you gain a huge amount of weight? I do not think so. Otherwise, if it is a disease, then half of the country’s population would be obese. First, even if you were to have a disease, that sickness does not have to make you gain a huge amount of weight in such a short time. Also, even without an illness, healthy bodies can get obese. “Disease is when the body malfunctions...Perfectly healthy bodies can get obese. They may not remain healthy when they do so, but that is a tale of effects, not causes” (Geoffrey). Obesity is a risk factor, for example, depression. “Depression and anxiety disorders can fuel obesity because food becomes comforting for many, many people. Lipids actually exert mood-stabilizing and anti-anxiety effects on the brain and central nervous system. And that can set people up to become addicted to food, just like they become addicted to alcohol or tobacco” (Ablow). When a person is depressed, he or she may take comfort in drinking, or in this case, eating. It becomes some kind of tranquility for

The type of food you are eating is entirely your choice. For example, if you eat too much sweets, it is a risk factor for diabetes. Also, the fact that some people choose not to exercise, whether they be watching TV or laying in bed 24/7, and continue to eat a lot, it is the result of their obesity. “We are awash in highly-processed, hyper-palatable, glow-in-the-dark foods. We are afloat in constant currents of aggressive food marketing. We are deluged with ever more labor-saving technological advances, while opportunities for daily physical activity dry up” (Geoffrey). For some people, obesity can run in a family. However, most of the time, that is not always the case. People are not always obese, even at a young age. “Our bodies, physiology, and genes are much the same as they ever were. Certainly these have not changed much in the decades over which obesity went from rare to pandemic. What has changed is the environment” (Geoffrey). It is actually our environment that has changed. Several fast food restaurants are opening and people becoming lazy for electronics causes obesity. "If we call obesity a disease, it would mean automatically, a third of Americans are in a diseased state or sick," said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance, referring to the fact that about 35 percent of Americans are obese. "That's absurd," Cohen said”