Obesity should not be labeled a disease. Obesity is defined as having an excessive accumulation and storage of fat inside the body. Being obese can make life very difficult as it makes movement very challenging and makes it very hard to exercise, therefore making it harder to reverse the effects of weight gain. Instead of being labeled a disease, obesity should be labeled as a preventable state of being. Obesity should not be labeled as a disease because it is a risk factor or direct cause for many health problems, labeling it as a disease encourages resignation in overweight people and breeds unhealthy habits/behaviors.
Obesity is a risk factor or direct cause for certain health problems. Having an unhealthy amount of fat can limit movement
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When obese individuals are told that it is okay to be grossly fat, it breeds unhealthy mindsets of body acceptance and self-image. “We wondered, however, if there also might be psychological ramifications inherent in that message. Would it reduce or add to the burden of body-image concerns and shame? Would it empower people to fight back, or lead to a fatalistic acceptance of being overweight” (Hoyt and Jeni). Labeling obesity as a disease could enable some people to strive to change their condition, while in others it could reinforce unwillingness to change their condition. “ Suggesting that one’s weight is a fixed state – like that of a long term disease – made weight management seem futile, and this undermined the importance that obese individuals placed on health-focused dieting and concern for weight”(Hoyt and Jeni). Accepting obesity makes an individual dangerous to themselves as they will likely be opposed to making healthy food choices and are likely to exercise less. Accepting obesity as a disease makes it seem like it is okay to have an unhealthy amount of fat, which does nothing but put obese individuals in a dangerous spiral towards a fatal