is obesity really a disability?
Posted: June 16th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Common Questions | Tags: Disability, obesity, REALLY | 4 Comments »There’s a whole family of obese ppl in my street, they all ride around on them mobility scooters, they don’t have jobs, so i guess they must be getting the highest rate of disability as they have a real nice house, and a nice cars too ?? … So is it obesity really a disability ?? … If so, why don’t ppl in the developing world get it, not trying to be rude, just curious…
That’s actually really interesting!
I don’t know if obesity CAN be called a disability though. I mean, I guess that could be called discriminatory in a sense. But then it also depends to what extent a person suffers from their obesity (just how obese are they)?
If someone is morbidly obese and it is impacting heavily on their lifestyle or not allowing them to live without the use of technology or some external assistance (ie. mobility scooters)… then yeah. I guess you could call that a disability. People in the developing world SHOULD see whether it could be classified as a disability considering it’s so common throughout society.
Ugh. I’m confusing myself now.
But wow. Nice question.
apparently so now days.. folks can get away by pillaging the tax payer with abuse such as improper dietary habits.
it’s very sad, there are seriously real live people out there with real live disabilities who have to go without because of this misuse of the system.
it’s not just obesity but other situations.. such as people faking not being able to walk… many other claims.
Last question first. People in developing countries don’t “get” obesity because they don’t have enough to eat.
And yes, obesity is considered a disability. However, it sounds like your neighbors are taking full advantage of it. But remember, if they sound like they are living the high life, they can’t do many of the things that “normal” people do. Like fly on airplanes (too big to fit into one seat), go to amusement parks, hike, run, have a touch football game with their kids, etc.
Maybe they became obese after they became disabled. I was always able to control my weight with exercise until I became disabled. I *thought* I had a healthy diet, I was following the government suggested diet, very low fat, high carb, adequate protein, lots of fresh fruit & vegetables & I kept getting sicker and fatter. I started Atkins almost 6 years ago just to get my appetite under control. I am disabled and can’t exercise & I didn’t think it was possible to lose weight without exercise (which was how I always controlled my weight before I was disabled). I never believed in low calorie diets, so refused to starve. I started Atkins (didn’t weigh first) and I shrunk quick. I have never tried to lose weight & I still lost weight without trying, just making different choices. I can’t worry about my weight until my health is better, but with low carb balancing my hormones, I am starting to heal. My cholesterol & triglycerides are now perfect (they were dangerously high before with the low fat diet).
But you say the whole family is obese. Obesity is the symptom of the problem in this country and other countries adopting our foods with their highly refined non nutritional carbs with man made fats (trans fats, hydrogenated fats) eaten in mass quantities produces the current obesity/health degradation epidemic that is of global concern. (Heart disease which was unknown before 1920, diabetes, etc.) They keep trying to blame it on the fat but fat is inert without carbs. Since 1980s, they have been pushing low fat and adding high fructose corn syrup to everything.
People weren’t built to withstand years of high carb levels and are becoming insulin resistant. You eat carbs in a properly functioning body, glucose goes to the muscles, in the insulin resistant, they go straight to the fat cells. Your body is screaming for nutrition but insulin (the fat storage hormone) is diverting it directly to the fat cells, you are driven to eat with this continuous blood glucose, insulin battle raging in your system. Your blood sugar gets low which signals you to eat, your tissues are screaming for nutrition, you try to feed it and you just get bigger. Full as a tick and still hungry.